Ayn Rand - Hardcover

Britting, Jeffrey; Britting, Jeffery; Press, The Overlook

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1585674060 ISBN 13: 9781585674060

Publisher: Abrams Press, 2004

Synopsis

Ayn Rand made a profound impact as both a philosopher who founded a school of social thought, Objectivism, and as a novelist of penetrating insight and vision. Her works are founded on heroic ideals, demonstrating the maxim that, "man’s ego is the fountainhead of human progress."

The photos and illustrations in this volume have been hand-selected from the Ayn Rand Archives, and most have never been published. They include personal mementos of a Petersburg childhood, her family and their home on Nevsky Prospect; photos from her early years in America; personal papers, including her list of the twelve publishers who passed on The Fountainhead; original newspaper articles, film posters, notes, drawings, and much more.

In a recent poll conducted by the Library of Congress and the Book-of-the-Month Club, Rand’s Atlas Shrugged was voted the novel most influential to American readers. This latest volume of the acclaimed Overlook Illustrated Lives series gives her legions of fans an unprecedented chance to better understand the author they adore.

About this title

About the Author

Jeffery Britting was associate producer of the documentary film Ayn Rand: A Sense of Life, which was nominated for an Academy Award for best documentary. Since 1993, he has been archivist at the Ayn Rand Institute in Irvine, California.

Reviews

Adult/High School–Part of an excellent series, this biography of the vocal proponent of individualism and capitalism, and a cult favorite, is chock-full of photos and drawings. Written by an archivist of the Ayn Rand Institute and an award-winning documentary filmmaker, it is short on text but contains the vital information and a well-distilled sense of Rand's sensibilities. Tracing her belief in the supremacy of capitalism from her formative years in Soviet Russia, through her various stints as a Hollywood screenwriter, to her magnum opus, Atlas Shrugged, Britting describes his subject's early influences and developing philosophy. While there is not a great deal of time spent on Rand the woman, or her more scandalous endeavors, readers come away with an introductory understanding of her influences and her continuing impact as well as her dogged pursuit and promulgation of her ideals. Containing 50 color and 70 black-and-white illustrations of people, posters, notes, and book jackets, as well as a useful index and thorough notes, this is a quick and useful primer on Rand and superb starting point for more in-depth reports or background reading.–Susan H. Woodcock, Fairfax County Public Library, VA
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

At age nine, Ayn Rand (1905-1982) decided she would be a writer, and she achieved that goal with a speed and success most aspiring authors only dream of. (She published her first novel, We the Living, at the age of 28.) Britting, who produced the Oscar-nominated documentary Ayn Rand: A Sense of Life and is now an archivist at the Ayn Rand Institute, delivers her biography in short, manageable chapters that cover an average of 10 years each. Born in Russia in 1905, she immigrated to America as a young woman and worked in Hollywood film studios and theaters while trying to get her writing published. Like many authors, Rand experienced her share of initial rejection, but she soon became well known for controversial novels (i.e., The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged) that advanced her intensely individualistic philosophy. Britting’s writing is lively and engaging, and he doesn’t dwell on any single subject more than another. Anyone looking for an in-depth analysis of Rand’s thinking or of the fascinating periods in her life that Britting touches on, such as her role giving testimony for the House Un-American Activities Committee, should look elsewhere, but as a quick, general primer, this book does the job admirably. It features an impressive array of photos, many of which are published here for the first time, as well as reproductions of book jackets, letters, notes and artwork, which add richness to the narrative. A proponent of individualism and selfishness, Rand herself would no doubt be pleased with this to-the-point overview of her life and achievements. 50 color and 70 b&w illustrations.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Edition details

• Publisher: Abrams Press
• Publication date: 2004
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1585674060
• ISBN 13: 9781585674060
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 144