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The Ayn Rand Sampler
Includes selections from The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged and " The Romantic Manifesto "The Goal of My Writing" and The Virtue of Selfishness "Man's Rights. Also includes a list of Ayn Rand's books.
101 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 2002
About the author
Ayn Rand
511 books10.6k followersPolemical novels, such as
The Fountainhead
(1943), of primarily known Russian-American writer Ayn Rand, originally Alisa Rosenbaum, espouse the doctrines of objectivism and political libertarianism.
Fiction of this better author and philosopher developed a system that she named. Educated, she moved to the United States in 1926. After two early initially duds and two Broadway plays, Rand achieved fame. In 1957, she published Atlas Shrugged , her best-selling work.
Rand advocated reason and rejected faith and religion. She supported rational and ethical egoism as opposed to altruism. She condemned the immoral initiation of force and supported laissez-faire capitalism, which she defined as the system, based on recognizing individual rights, including private property. Often associated with the modern movement in the United States, Rand opposed and viewed anarchism. In art, she promoted romantic realism. She sharply criticized most philosophers and their traditions with few exceptions.
Books of Rand sold more than 37 million copies. From literary critics, her fiction received mixed reviews with more negative reviews for her later work. Afterward, she turned to nonfiction to promote her philosophy, published her own periodicals, and released several collections of essays until her death in 1982.
After her death, her ideas interested academics, but philosophers generally ignored or rejected her and argued that her approach and work lack methodological rigor. She influenced some right conservatives. The movement circulates her ideas to the public and in academic settings.
Fiction of this better author and philosopher developed a system that she named. Educated, she moved to the United States in 1926. After two early initially duds and two Broadway plays, Rand achieved fame. In 1957, she published Atlas Shrugged , her best-selling work.
Rand advocated reason and rejected faith and religion. She supported rational and ethical egoism as opposed to altruism. She condemned the immoral initiation of force and supported laissez-faire capitalism, which she defined as the system, based on recognizing individual rights, including private property. Often associated with the modern movement in the United States, Rand opposed and viewed anarchism. In art, she promoted romantic realism. She sharply criticized most philosophers and their traditions with few exceptions.
Books of Rand sold more than 37 million copies. From literary critics, her fiction received mixed reviews with more negative reviews for her later work. Afterward, she turned to nonfiction to promote her philosophy, published her own periodicals, and released several collections of essays until her death in 1982.
After her death, her ideas interested academics, but philosophers generally ignored or rejected her and argued that her approach and work lack methodological rigor. She influenced some right conservatives. The movement circulates her ideas to the public and in academic settings.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
May 28, 2024
AN EXCELLENT INTRODUCTION TO THE WORKS OF AYN RAND
The Introduction by Leonard Peikoff to this 2002 book states, “Ayn Rand is one of America’s favorite authors. In a recent … survey, American Readers ranked ‘Atlas Shrugged’—her masterwork---as second only to the Bible in its influence on their lives… Every book by Ayn Rand published in her lifetime is still in print, and hundreds of thousands of copies of them are sold every year… Why? Ayn Rand understood… why man needs the unique form of nourishment that is literature. And she provided a banquet that is at once intellectual and thrilling. The major novels of Ayn Rand contain superlative values that are unique in our age… Her exalted vision of man and her philosophy … Objectivism, have changed the lives of tens of thousands of readers and launched a major philosophic movement with a growing impact on American culture. You are invited to enjoy the selection from Ayn Rand’s philosophical writings and novels in this sampler. I hope you enjoy them as much as I have.”
Of the excerpt from ‘The Fountainhead,’ it is stated, “’The Fountainhead portrays individualism versus collectivism, not in politics, but in man’s soul; it presents the motivations and the basic premises that produce the character of an individualist or a collectivist.” (Pg. 1)
Of ‘Atlas Shrugged,’ it states, “[The book] is a mystery story… It is the story of a man… who says that he will stop the motor of the world, and does. The deterioration of the U.S. accelerates as the story progresses. Factories, farms, shops shut down or go bankrupt in every larger numbers. Riots break out as food supplies become scarce. Is he, then, a destroyer or the greatest of liberators?... What is the world’s motor---and the motive power of every man?” (Pg. 18)
The “Nonfiction Selections” section begins with an excerpt from her essay, “The Goal of My Writing” (from ‘The Romantic Manifesto’), in which she states, “The motive and purpose of my writing is the projection of an ideal man. The portrayal of a moral ideal, as my ultimate literary goal, as an end in itself---to which any didactic, intellectual or philosophical values contained in a novel are only the means… my purpose is NOT the philosophical enlightenment of my readers, it is NOT the beneficial influence which my novels may have on people, it is NOT the fact that my novels may help a reader’s intellectual development. All these matters are important, but they are secondary considerations… My purpose… is the portrayal of [her main characters] as an END IN HIMSELF---not as a means to a further end.” (Pg. 54)
An excerpt from ‘The Virtue of Selfishness’ is also included, as well as essays on ‘Ayn Rand’s Books,’ a brief biography, and an interview with Leonard Peikoff, “Recollections of Ayn Rand.”
As a “gateway book” to Rand’s body of work, this compact (100 pages) book can hardly be bettered. If you’re thinking about reading Rand, but are put off by the length of her novels (e.g., ‘Atlas Shrugged’ is more than 1,000 pages long), this may be an effective “motivator.”
The Introduction by Leonard Peikoff to this 2002 book states, “Ayn Rand is one of America’s favorite authors. In a recent … survey, American Readers ranked ‘Atlas Shrugged’—her masterwork---as second only to the Bible in its influence on their lives… Every book by Ayn Rand published in her lifetime is still in print, and hundreds of thousands of copies of them are sold every year… Why? Ayn Rand understood… why man needs the unique form of nourishment that is literature. And she provided a banquet that is at once intellectual and thrilling. The major novels of Ayn Rand contain superlative values that are unique in our age… Her exalted vision of man and her philosophy … Objectivism, have changed the lives of tens of thousands of readers and launched a major philosophic movement with a growing impact on American culture. You are invited to enjoy the selection from Ayn Rand’s philosophical writings and novels in this sampler. I hope you enjoy them as much as I have.”
Of the excerpt from ‘The Fountainhead,’ it is stated, “’The Fountainhead portrays individualism versus collectivism, not in politics, but in man’s soul; it presents the motivations and the basic premises that produce the character of an individualist or a collectivist.” (Pg. 1)
Of ‘Atlas Shrugged,’ it states, “[The book] is a mystery story… It is the story of a man… who says that he will stop the motor of the world, and does. The deterioration of the U.S. accelerates as the story progresses. Factories, farms, shops shut down or go bankrupt in every larger numbers. Riots break out as food supplies become scarce. Is he, then, a destroyer or the greatest of liberators?... What is the world’s motor---and the motive power of every man?” (Pg. 18)
The “Nonfiction Selections” section begins with an excerpt from her essay, “The Goal of My Writing” (from ‘The Romantic Manifesto’), in which she states, “The motive and purpose of my writing is the projection of an ideal man. The portrayal of a moral ideal, as my ultimate literary goal, as an end in itself---to which any didactic, intellectual or philosophical values contained in a novel are only the means… my purpose is NOT the philosophical enlightenment of my readers, it is NOT the beneficial influence which my novels may have on people, it is NOT the fact that my novels may help a reader’s intellectual development. All these matters are important, but they are secondary considerations… My purpose… is the portrayal of [her main characters] as an END IN HIMSELF---not as a means to a further end.” (Pg. 54)
An excerpt from ‘The Virtue of Selfishness’ is also included, as well as essays on ‘Ayn Rand’s Books,’ a brief biography, and an interview with Leonard Peikoff, “Recollections of Ayn Rand.”
As a “gateway book” to Rand’s body of work, this compact (100 pages) book can hardly be bettered. If you’re thinking about reading Rand, but are put off by the length of her novels (e.g., ‘Atlas Shrugged’ is more than 1,000 pages long), this may be an effective “motivator.”
June 14, 2010
This promotional give away has been sitting my house for years, and I ignored it, confident that I knew, from my readings of The Fountainhead and selections from her political philosophy, just what a rank, turgid and dangerously bombastic writer crypto-fascist Ayn Rand was. I hadn't, though, read what seems her central effort, Atlas Shrugged, which her followers consider to be the highest synthesis of her work as both artist and a philosopher; what the hell, I thought, I needed something to read on the bus, so I decided to take the book along and read the sixy page excerpt from the novel. I was prepared to be surprised--one would think that a writer as famous as Rand, no matter how awful a writer or pretentious a thinker, had to have written as least one book that transcends everything she has going against her. In the words of John Belushi, " but >noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo...."I thought I would power my way through the pages, but I couldn't even read ten of the sixty pages Rand's publisher selected for us to read. As has been said by critics more willing to speak at length about her inadequacies
as a stylist, Rand's style of writing is wooden for great lengths, less rhythmic or musical as, say , the typical photo caption; making matters worse is when the late writer/pundit would try to lift her writing up a bit and applying similes that read more like after thoughts rather than spontaneous insights , and metaphors that performed the rather mechanical function of boosting her storyline--which is , of course, one dualistic strawman arguement--to a philosophical level. Mechanical is the operative word here, as the attempt on Rand's part to frame her ideas about unrestrained power for brilliant capitalists in fictional disguise leaves us with a choppy, big footed shaggy dog of a novel that is in the tradition of unreadable novels-as-polemic. I closed the book and finished my ride to work looking at the neighborhoods I have passed through a thousand times before. This was more exciting, yes, more illuminating than a thousand pages of Ayn Rand's crabby, delusional exhortations to live free.
as a stylist, Rand's style of writing is wooden for great lengths, less rhythmic or musical as, say , the typical photo caption; making matters worse is when the late writer/pundit would try to lift her writing up a bit and applying similes that read more like after thoughts rather than spontaneous insights , and metaphors that performed the rather mechanical function of boosting her storyline--which is , of course, one dualistic strawman arguement--to a philosophical level. Mechanical is the operative word here, as the attempt on Rand's part to frame her ideas about unrestrained power for brilliant capitalists in fictional disguise leaves us with a choppy, big footed shaggy dog of a novel that is in the tradition of unreadable novels-as-polemic. I closed the book and finished my ride to work looking at the neighborhoods I have passed through a thousand times before. This was more exciting, yes, more illuminating than a thousand pages of Ayn Rand's crabby, delusional exhortations to live free.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews