To many people, the unusually high level of interest in the works of Ayn Rand and her surge in popularity are puzzling.
In January 2009, the Wall Street Journal’s Stephen Moore published an article called “’Atlas Shrugged’: From Fiction to Fact in 52 Years,” in which he wrote:
“Many of us who know Rand's work have noticed that with each passing week, and with each successive bailout plan and economic-stimulus scheme out of Washington, our current politicians are committing the very acts of economic lunacy that 'Atlas Shrugged' parodied in 1957, when this 1,000-page novel was first published and became an instant hit.”
Two months later, The Economist reported that according to “data from TitleZ, a firm that tracks best-seller rankings on Amazon, an online retailer, the book's 30-day average Amazon rank was 127 on Feb. 21, well above its average over the past two years of 542. On Jan. 13 the book's ranking was 33, briefly besting President Barack Obama's popular tome, ‘The Audacity of Hope.’”
Earlier this year, Marsha Enright and Gen LaGreca noted in The Daily Caller that Moore’s 2009 article “seemed to ignite an explosion of interest in Ayn Rand. Sales of this prescient novel tripled; two Rand biographies have been selling like hotcakes; and references to her in the media have skyrocketed.”
What explains this phenomenon: A philosopher/novelist who died in 1982 is more popular now than when she was actively writing and promoting her books?
Yesterday, the Charlottesville Libertarian Examiner put this question to one of the authors of the two Rand biographies that were published last year, University of Virginia historian Jennifer Burns. Burns wrote Goddess of the Market: Ayn Rand and the American Right.
She replied to the question in Charlottesville on April 15, just after moderating a panel discussion on whether libertarians should seek an alliance with liberals (with the resulting combination called “liberaltarian”).
Burns said that Ayn Rand “has become a rallying point for the opposition to Obama. Definitely, she has become a really strong presence in the Tea Party. I think a lot of people are seeing her writing as prophetic, both predicting what’s happening now and warning about what can happen if the state gets too big.”
In Burns’ opinion, Rand’s “time has come, in many ways.” She cautioned, however, that “it’s probably a temporary boom. She may fade away and then she’ll probably come back the next time we see this kind of state expansion.”
Burns said that so far her book has received “a very enthusiastic reaction.” Rand, she said, “is a really important figure in American intellectual life [who] hasn’t been recognized as such [and who] hasn’t been treated as such. Most readers of Rand simply appreciate that I take her on her own terms and explain just why she matters.”
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Comments
It's ironic that even though Ayn Rand's novels were intended to defuse the intentions of the Bible, right wingers are embracing the sections that fit their agenda.
Jake: Acting like all right-wingers are Christians/religious conservatives is as simplistic and ignorant as saying that all Democrats are Communists. There has always been a secular right in this country.
It is true, though, that since the 1930's the left has been out to discredit and destroy all significant non-state sources of power in American society - namely, corporations, organized religion, private medicine, and traditional family structures. In the late 1960's various groups who found themselves under assault from the left/statists - rural organized religion, businesses, medical doctors - came together under the GOP umbrella. So there are some strange bedfellows in the GOP. But they all have the same basic political goal - to keep the left from destroying all non-state (i.e. non-coercive) sources of power.
Also: Rand was like a one-woman army in the fight against the left. Her arguments stun liberals into silence.
I have read this book and can tell you that you will not get a good education about Rand's most important ideas from it. For that you will have to actually read her boks.
Jake: Acting like all right-wingers are Christians/religious conservatives is as simplistic and ignorant as saying that all Democrats are Communists. There has always been a secular right in this country.
It is true, though, that since the 1930's the left has been out to discredit and destroy all significant non-state sources of power in American society - namely, corporations, organized religion, private medicine, and traditional family structures. In the late 1960's various groups who found themselves under assault from the left/statists - rural organized religion, businesses, medical doctors - came together under the GOP umbrella. So there are some strange bedfellows in the GOP. But they all have the same basic political goal - to keep the left from destroying all non-state (i.e. non-coercive) sources of power.
Also: Rand was like a one-woman army in the fight against the left. Her arguments stun liberals into silence.
Jake - The country was founded on the idea that religion would be a private matter, unregulated by the state. I have no problem with religious people taking Rand's words about government to heart while discarding her atheism, so long as they also take to heart Rand's emphasis that other people's gods are none of their business. So long as the Tea Parties keep their religion off the main agenda, us should be able to work with them just fine.
99% of what I've read in the media about Ayn Rand is false, especially the statements that she was conservative or libertarian. Anyone who wants to know the truth should just read one of Rand's fiction or non-fiction books. Read and learn and think with your own brain instead of trusting what the media tells you.
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