Ayn Rand was born on February 2, 1905 in Russia. She was always very intelligent and loved literature. She aspired to be a writer. She also loved many movies and most everything America stood for. She was very fortunate to visit America in 1926. She was given a car ride, and then a screenwriting opportunity by the famous director, Cecil B DeMille. On the set of King of Kings, she met actor and artist Frank O'Connor whom she would marry, a move which allowed her to obtain her green card. The rest is history. Look at all the things that needed to happen, just for her to get out of Soviet Russia, where she would have taken whatever state job, been an unknown, or even killed. Her philosophy is called Objectivism.
She wrote four relatively long works of fiction: We The Living, Anthem, The Fountainhead in 1943 and Atlas Shrugged in 1957. Supposedly, all of her philosophy, which took her 14 years to write, is contained in Atlas Shrugged. Most people, myself included, are not wise enough to understand all of the nuances from her fiction alone. Atlas Shrugged is also a beautiful novel in its own right.
She then turned to nonfiction, being sufficiently irked that her public just didn't get her. Her nonfiction includes: introduction to Objectivist Epistemology, The Virtue of Selfishness, Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal, the Romantic Manifesto, Philosophy: Who Needs It, Return of the Primitive, and several others. If one can only read one nonfiction work, I'd recommend Capitalism, though admittedly, politics is NOT a primary in Objectivist philosophy. One rightly needs the epistemology and ethics (rational selfishness) first.
For more information, please review the websites aynrand.org and atlassociety.org. These are two rival organizations devoted to Objectivism.
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