'Atlas' At 50
With that enigmatic opening line, author-renegade philosopher Ayn Rand began her 1957 novel "Atlas Shrugged," which remains a controversial book 50 years after publication.
Critics slam Rand for poor writing. Intellectuals ridicule Rand for sophomoric philosophy. And readers gobble it up.
More than 700,000 copies of Rand's books sold in 2006, 25 years after her death. Several years ago, when the Modern Library published readers' choices for the best novels of the 20th century, four books by Rand made the list: "Atlas Shrugged" (No. 1), "The Fountainhead" (No. 2), "Anthem" (No. 7) and "We the Living" (No. 8).
A survey in 1991 by the Library of Congress and the Book of the Month Club found "Atlas Shrugged" the second most influential book in the United States. The Bible was first.
Have you read the book yet? Why not? What are you waiting for an invitation?
Please visit The Ayn Rand Institute.
posted by Pat Campbell @ 6:00 PM
1 comments
1 Comments:
Ayn Rand was a paradigm of the reactionary movement. Her misconceptions of Marxism and socialism are often simultaneously comical and disturbing. As a fiction writer she wasn't very influential in her writing style. Quite frankly I'm surprised that "Atlas Shrugged" has kept the following that it has. Recently we have begun to see an Ayn Rand resurgence in the last few years and it should be a cause for concern for any who disavow chaos, selfishness, and exploitation.
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