Ayn Rand: The Russian Radical - Softcover

Sciabarra, Chris Matthew

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0271014415 ISBN 13: 9780271014418

Publisher: Penn State University Press, 1995

Synopsis

Author of The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand (1905–1982) is one of the most widely read philosophers of the twentieth century. Yet, despite the sale of nearly thirty million copies of her works, there have been few extended scholarly examinations of her thought. Ayn Rand: The Russian Radical provides the first comprehensive analysis of the intellectual roots and philosophy of this controversial thinker.

Chris Sciabarra views Rand's "Objectivism" as a rejection—and affirmation—of key elements in the Russian tradition. Born in Russia during the Silver Age, Rand was educated at Leningrad University and studied with N. O. Lossky. She absorbed a dialectical method of inquiry that profoundly influenced her literary and philosophic project. Her distinctive libertarian synthesis is presented as a major contribution to radical social theory. Ultimately, Sciabarra challenges Rand's followers and critics to reassess her thought and its place in intellectual history.

In writing this book, the author conducted original historical research, using materials from the Leningrad archives, interviews with Lossky's descendants and other Russian contemporaries of Rand, and an astounding diversity of sources within the vast written and oral tradition of Objectivism.

About this title

About the Author

Chris Matthew Sciabarra is a Visiting Scholar in the Department of Politics at New York University. He is the author of Marx, Hayek, and Utopia (1995).

Review

“This book reveals the distinctively Russian aspects of Ayn Rand’s philosophy. As such, it is a major contribution to the public’s knowledge and understanding of this controversial and still popular writer.”

—Bernice Glatzer Rosenthal, Nietzsche in Russia

“Several books have been written about Rand, but none with the philosophical depth and scope of Ayn Rand: The Russian Radical. It brings to light information about Rand’s philosophical education that is not available elsewhere and shows that this education was substantial. Rand’s ideas will no longer be able to be dismissed as merely shallow ideology.”

—Tibor Machan, Auburn University

“Sciabarra shows that Rand is best understood as a postmodern thinker, for she was really concerned with creating a culture that overcame the dichotomies of modernity: empiricism/rationalism; facts/values; body/mind; and prudence/morality. This important and thoughtful work will change how the views of this deep and disturbing thinker are understood.”

—Douglas B. Rasmussen, St. John's University

“This is the most thorough and scholarly work ever done on Ayn Rand. It is also very engagingly written and commands attention throughout. Of all the noteworthy features of the book, the most unique is the lengthy description of Ayn Rand’s early years, her education in Russia, and particularly of the teachers who influenced her and had a lasting influence on the structure of her thought.”

—John Hospers, University of Southern California

“In light of her fierce individualism, it may seem odd that Mr. Sciabarra locates Rand's roots in the Russian Revolution. But in The Russian Radical, he draws on long-forgotten writing by Rand's professors at the University of Leningrad to illustrate her early exposure to dialectics, the process of overcoming contradiction between a given and its opposite through synthesis of the two.”

—Chronicle of Higher Education

“Chris Matthew Sciabarra wrote a powerful book. It is not easy reading, but it is a MUST for all Randians, all individualists, and all men and women who believe in and live by the precepts of truth, reason, and freedom.”

—Jack Schwartzman, Fragments

“[Ayn Rand’s] impact was through her fiction, and attempts to extract her philosophy have usually resulted in thin intellectual chicken soup. This book is an exception. . . . [Ayn Rand: The Russian Radical] is essential for Rand fans and for academics who want to analyze her thought.”

—Leslie Armour, Library Journal

“Ayn Rand: The Russian Radical is a fundamental challenge to everyone to reassess the remarkable thought of a remarkable woman.”

—David M. Brown, The Freeman

Edition details

• Publisher: Penn State University Press
• Publication date: 1995
• ISBN 10: 0271014415
• ISBN 13: 9780271014418
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 496