Ayn Rand and the World She Made »

Anne C. Heller has written for such publications as Lear’s, Mademoiselle, TriQuarterly, and Esquire. She is the former fiction editor of Esquire and Redbook, and a former executive editor at Condé Nast Publications. She lives in Manhattan.

A New York Times Notable Book A Chicago Tribune Favorite Book of the Year A San Francisco Chronicle Best Book of the Year

Ayn Rand’s books have attracted three generations of readers, shaped the Libertarian movement, influenced White House economic policies throughout the Reagan years and beyond, and inspired the Tea Party movement. Yet twenty-eight years after her death, readers know very little about her life.
 
In this seminal biography, Anne C. Heller traces the controversial author’s life from her childhood in Bolshevik Russia to her years as a Hollywood screenwriter, the publication of her blockbuster novels, and the rise and fall of the cult that worshipped her in the 1950s and 1960s. Based on original research in Russia and scores of interviews with Rand’s acquaintances and former acolytes, Ayn Rand and the World She Made is a comprehensive and eye-opening portrait of one of the most significant and improbable figures of the twentieth century.

The Barnes & Noble Review

When Ayn Rand addressed a meeting of her publisher's sales staff shortly before the appearance of Atlas Shrugged in 1957, one of the salesmen asked her to summarise her philosophy while standing, as Rabbi Hillel had done to explain the Torah, on one leg. She did so: 'Metaphysics: objective reality. Epistemology: reason. Ethics: self-interest. Politics: capitalism.' Anne Heller tells us that the sales staff applauded, and so have many others since. Ayn Rand's books between them regularly sell half a million copies a year, and her influence has reached high places: egregious examples of her fans are Ronald Reagan and former Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan. The latter belonged for many years to her inner circle, and wrote articles for her newsletter The Objectivist. Her influence continues; actress Charlize Theron is said to be planning a television mini-series of Atlas Shrugged, and there is an Ayn Rand Institute which promotes her ideas and books and offers courses on her philosophy.

1 Before the Revolution: 1905-1917 1

2 Looters: 1917-1925 22

3 Freedom to Think: 1926-1934 52

4 We Are Not Like Our Brothers: 1934-1938 81

5 The Fountainhead: 1936-1941 107

6 The Soul of an Individualist: 1939-1942 123

7 Money: 1943 149

8 Fame: 1943-1946 161

9 The Top and the Bottom: 1946-1949 185

10 The Means and the End: 1950-1953 218

11 The Immovable Mover: 1953-1957 245

12 Atlas Shrugged: 1957 270

13 The Public Philosopher: 1958-1963 291

14 Account Overdrawn: 1962-1967 317

15 Either/Or (The Break): 1967-1968 352

16 In the Name of the Best Within Us: 1969-1982 383

Afterword 411

Acknowledgments 415

Abbreviation Key 417

Notes 419

Selected Bibliography 529

Permissions Acknowledgments 541

Index 543