Ayn Rand’s Literature of Capitalism

One of the most influential business books ever written is a 1,200-page novel published 50 years ago, on Oct. 12, 1957. It is still drawing readers; it ranks 388th on Amazon.com’s best-seller list. (“Winning,” by John F. Welch Jr., at a breezy 384 pages, is No. 1,431.)

The 1957 novel was harshly reviewed and widely read.

The book is “Atlas Shrugged,” Ayn Rand’s glorification of the right of individuals to live entirely for their own interest.

For years, Rand’s message was attacked by intellectuals whom her circle labeled “do-gooders,” who argued that individuals should also work in the service of others. Her book was dismissed as an homage to greed. Gore Vidal described its philosophy as “nearly perfect in its immorality.”

Harriet Rubin

We've had some lively discussions around Rand and her works here on the BP before. From a literary point of view, Atlas Shrugged doesn't have much to recommend it. It is too long, the characters are wooden, there are too many long-winded monologues. However, it absolutely changed my life when I read it for the first time over thirty years ago. While many cannot completely buy into Rand's morality of selfishness, no one but the most hard core left-wing extremists can deny that Rand's case against collectivism is devastating.

We owe Rand a debt of gratitude for being one of very few voices in opposition to the movement toward the left in the 1950s and 1960s. She expressed the most fundamental ideas that allowed other thinkers to argue for the morality of capitalism and the utter immorality of communism, socialism, and other totalitarian, collectivist systems.

If you haven't read Atlas Shrugged, you cannot consider yourself well enough vested in political and economic thought to even engage in the discussion.