Ayn Rand
Born Alisa Zinovyevna Rosenbaum on January 20 (Russian Old Style), 1905, in St. Petersburg, Russia, later Alice O’Connor (an Americanized married name), Ayn Rand became a disruptive force of nature in literature and philosophy by writing plays, novels, essays, economic and philosophical treatises, and establishing herself as a commentator on the society in the mid-20th Century.
Having cut a larger-than-life figure during her lifetime, Rand and her writings have not faded away since her death in 1982. Aspects of her stated philosophy, as inconsistent or idiosyncratic as it may be, have been adopted and proclaimed by a heterogeneous assembly of groups. Rand herself would have been delighted and appalled by the attention and the creative straying from the ideas in her works. She did not suffer dissent graciously, considering how much she glorified it, but that too is an path of interest for some readers of her books. There is an irony that the founder of the Objectivist movement/school/philosophy seems to generate passions for and against her that are anything but objective or rational.
At any rate, I have sold Ayn Rand steadily and consistently since opening Whistlestop in 1985. I have sold her books to True Believers and to skeptics and to the curious. I provide this page in appreciation of her ability to unsettle readers to this day.
The Letters of Ayn Rand
The Letters of Ayn Rand
The publication of the letters of Ayn Rand is a cause for celebration, not only among the countless millions of Ayn Rand admirers the world over, but also among all those interested in the key political, philosophical, and artistic issues of our century. For there is no separation between Ayn Rand the vibrant, creative woman and Ayn Rand the intellectual dynamo, the rational thinker, who was also a passionately committed champion of individual freedom.
These remarkable letters begin in 1926, with a note from the twenty-year-old Ayn Rand, newly arrived in Chicago from Soviet Russia, an impoverished unknown determined to realize the promise of the land of opportunity. They move through her struggles and successes as a screenwriter, a playwright, and a novelist, her sensational triumph as the author of The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged, and her eminence as founder and shaper of Objectivism, one of the most challenging philosophies of our time. They are written to such famed contemporaries as Cecil B. DeMille, Frank Lloyd Wright, H.L. Mencken, Alexander Kerensky, Barry Goldwater and Mickey Spillane
There are letters to philosophers, priests, publishers, and political columnists; to her beloved husband, Frank O’ Connor; and to her intimate circle of friends and her growing legion of followers. Her letters range in tone from warm affection to icy fury, and in content from telling commentaries on the events of the day to unforgettably eloquent statements of her philosophical ideas. They are presented chronologically, with explanatory notes by Michael S. Berliner, who identifies the recipients of the letters and provides relevant background and context. Here is a chronicle that captures the inspiring drama of a towering literary genius and seminal thinker, and–often day-by-day–her amazing life.