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AYN RAND Page

"If a dedication page were to precede the total of my work, it would read: To the glory of Man."
         — Ayn Rand (in "The Romantic Manifesto", 1969)

32-cent stamp                  short profile
links
Around The World
Ayn Rand's Favorite Things
groups & organizations
                33-cent stamp of 1999 by Nick Gaetano: click for details

Ayn Rand was one of the most important
philosophers of the XXth Century.

        Ayn Rand was born 2 February 1905 in St. Petersburg [Leningrad], Russia, nee Alissa Zinovievna Rosenbaum. She came to America in 1926, lived for a while with relatives in Chicago, then moved to Hollywood, where she worked for Cecil B. DeMille and others. She met and married Frank O'Connor on 15 April 1929, and she became a U.S. citizen in 1931.
        She and Frank moved to New York City, after which her first major work, the play now known as "The Night of January 16th", was produced in Los Angeles & on Broadway (1934-35); her first published novel was "We The Living" in 1936. The novel "Anthem" was published in 1938; her stage play "The Unconquered" had a short Broadway run in 1940; and her novel "The Fountainhead" was published in 1943. She and Frank then returned to California, partly due to her involvement in the filming of "The Fountainhead", which was released by Warner Bros. in 1949.

        Before she and Frank moved back to New York City in October, 1951, she met future associates Nathaniel & Barbara Branden and Leonard Peikoff. Her most famous work and final novel "Atlas Shrugged" was published in 1957, which remained on the New York Times bestseller list for 21 weeks. Thereafter, she wrote non-fiction and worked in a range of media – lectures, radio shows, The Objectivist Newsletter, magazine articles, a column in the Los Angeles Times, and personal appearances on "The Tonight Show", "Today", and other television programs.
        A major breakup with the Brandens occurred in 1968, resulting in their public 'repudiation' and the disbandment of the Nathaniel Branden Institute. Leonard Peikoff was designated Ayn Rand's sole legal heir, and is now her self-appointed intellectual heir. The Objectivist ceased publication in September 1971, succeeded by the bi-weekly Ayn Rand Letter the month after.
        She survived a diagnosis of lung cancer in 1974, though her activities were slowed somewhat; the Ayn Rand Letter was discontinued in 1976. Frank O'Connor died in November 1979, a heart-wrenching event from which Ayn Rand never quite recovered.

        "The Objectivist Forum" began publication in February 1980 (it continued after her death, until 1987), and the "Ayn Rand Library" book series was begun. Ayn Rand died of heart failure in New York City on 6 March 1982, and was buried at Valhalla, NY.

        Many non-fiction compilation books and the six books of the "Ayn Rand Library" were completed and published posthumously. Many books by others about Ayn Rand – both for and against her theories – are still being written and published successfully, and her own works sell 300,000 copies each year. The Ayn Rand Institute continues to spread her ideas and ideals, while the expulsion of several staff members in 1990 resulted in the competing Institute for Objectivist Studies, retitled recently as The Objectivist Center.

        A seeming renaissance in Ayn Rand's popularity began in the 1990's, with two U.S. postage stamps in her honor [at top of this page], the 1998 documentary feature film, "Ayn Rand: A Sense of Life" was nominated for an Oscar, and inclusion of both "Atlas Shrugged" and "The Fountainhead" in the top ten of many lists of 'Best (or Most Important) Novels of the XXth Century'. A restoration of the Italian "We The Living" was re-released in December 2003.

        After years of on-again, off-again 'development hell', the three-part TV miniseries version of "Atlas Shrugged" finally began filming in June 2010 and is being released theatrically in three parts: Part 1 in April 2011, Part 2 in October 2012, and Part 3 after that.


awarded January 2001

"I am not primarily an advocate of capitalism, but of egoism; I am not primarily an advocate of egoism, but of reason.
If one recognizes the supremacy of reason and applies it consistently, all the rest follows.
This – the supremacy of reason – was, is and will be the primary concern of my work, and the essence of Objectivism."
— Ayn Rand (in "The Objectivist" of September 1971)

Who Is John Galt?

Mini-version of John Galt's Speech from "Atlas Shrugged"

  Francisco's 'Money' Speech from "Atlas Shrugged"  

Ayn Rand Quotations Page

Ayn Rand's movie & TV credits [since 1927] at Internet Movie Database
Ayn Rand's credits [1935-1940] at Internet Broadway Database

details on the novel and the 3-part movie at
Maison d'Être Philosophy Bookstore's "Atlas Shrugged" Page

Ayn Rand Institute    The Objectivist Center [formerly IOS]

The Atlas Society

The Atlasphere: Connecting admirers of The Fountainhead & Atlas Shrugged
ARI's Ayn Rand Novels website [est. 2002]
'Atlas Shrugged' Celebration Day on September 2nd in Ouray, Colorado
Thomas Gramstad's Post-Objectivism Site
Matthew Stoloff's Objectivism Reference Center
Ayn Rand Quote Generator
Ellen's very pictorial Ayn Rand fansite
Objectivist Bar & Grill [msg board +]
Quent Cordair Fine Art Gallery [est. 1996] - art by Objectivists & others, 1301 First Street in Napa, CA
artist Nick Gaetano [Ayn Rand book covers & stamp] at Cordair Art Gallery
'The Objectivist' website {blog + sells insurance}
Objectivism Online website
Rebirth of Reason™ Objectivism website
Randex blog [est. 2/2005]
Spanish-language 'Objetivismo' website [est. 2009]
article about Ayn Rand in The Nation Magazine, June 2010
this page listed among 'The 50 Best [Sites] for Ayn Rand Readers' (August 2010)


Maison d'Être Philosophy Bookstore
Ayn Rand Pages

Ayn Rand In Her Own Words documentary film  "Ayn Rand: In Her Own Words" documentary film [2010]
The life and work of Ayn Rand described thru film and television, including
never-before-seen footage from the archives of the Ayn Rand Estate.

Directed by John Little & Robert Anderson
Entertainment One widescreen color/b&w DVD [5/2011] for $14.98
full credits at IMDbwatch official trailer [1:43] on YouTube
Objectivism Research CD-ROM  "The Objectivism Research CD-ROM: The Works of Ayn Rand" [2001]
by Leonard Peikoff & Ayn Rand

Oliver Computing CDROM [5/2001] for only $59.95

Purchase AR's two best-selling novels via Amazon.com
"Atlas Shrugged" [1957]   •   "The Fountainhead" [1943]

Purchase 6-volume 'Ayn Rand Library' at Maison d'Être Philosophy Bookstore

Ayn Rand Box Set  
Ayn Rand Box Set [2009]
includes "Atlas Shrugged: 50th Anniversary Edition" [1957]
and "The Fountainhead" [1943]

Penguin/Signet slipcover mass pb box set [10/2009] for $12.91

Around The World
Ayn Rand groups at Meetup.com [130+ worldwide]
Front Range Objectivism in Colorado
Kansas Objectivists [HQ = Lawrence KS] {website disappeared 2009}
Hamilton College [Clinton NY] Objectivists Club
University of Southern California Objectivist Club

German-Language AR/Objectivism Site
Brasilian Ayn Rand Website [in Portuguese]
Russian Ayn Rand Website
Dutch Objectivism Website
Society for the Study of Ayn Rand in Japan
U.K. Objectivist Association
Ayn Rand Australia {website disappeared 2009}
Objectivism / Ayn Rand site in Turkish or English
Spanish-language 'Objetivismo' website [est. 2009]


The objectivist ethics holds man's life as the standard of value
– and his own life as the ethical purpose of every individual man.

v            v

The three cardinal values of the Objectivist ethics ... are:
Reason, Purpose, Self-Esteem,
with their three corresponding virtues:
Rationality, Productiveness, Pride.


Text Sites
Dr. Goldberg's AR Chronology
O.R.C. texts of "Anthem": HTML version  |  plain text version
Playboy Magazine/Alvin Toffler Interview of AR [March 1964]
USA Today Sept 2002 article about CEOs' admiration for Ayn Rand
Dec 2003 essay "The Cultural Ascendancy of Ayn Rand" by Chris Matthew Sciabarra




Ayn Rand's Favorite Things

Ayn Rand's Favorite Poem

Dismuke's 'Ayn Rand Music' Site

Ayn Rand: "..the greatest of all artists"

Ayn Rand: "..the greatest novelist in world literature"
books at Amazonfree etextsJN's Victor Hugo fansiteWikipedia

Ayn Rand's 'Favorite Form of the Dance'

Ayn Rand: "..as close to a great work of art as the films have yet come" [1969]
"Die  Nibelungen: Siegfried" [U.F.A. Germany Feb 1924]
Co-written & directed by Fritz Lang [1890-1976]; full credits from IMDb

Ayn Rand's Favorite Modern Novelist: Mickey Spillane [1918-2006]

Ayn Rand: "..one of the greatest plays in all world literature"
"Monna Vanna" [1902] by Count Maurice Maeterlinck

1843 "The Works of Jeremy Benthem"

Ayn Rand's Hobby: Stamp-Collecting

If Ayn Rand were alive today, noir graphic artist Frank Miller would be one of her favorites.
(He has stated that he began his comic artist career after reading Ayn Rand's book "Romantic Manifesto" [1969].)

Ayn Rand's Least-Favorite Things
Ayn Rand: "..the most evil book in serious literature"
Ayn Rand: "..the worst and most dangerous magazine in America" (1964)
"Immanuel Kant is the real villain of our age, the villain of European history." — Ayn Rand, 1979



Groups & Organizations
Capitalism Magazine
'Full Context' AR Overview
'We The Living' Objectivist Forum
Ayn Rand Webring [est. 6/2001]
usenet / Google Groups – humanities . philosophy . objectivism

The Official Capitalism Site

Ayn Rand Society

The Objectivism Reference Center

There was a group of American poets called 'Objectivists' circa 1931 that had nothing to do with Ayn Rand's work;
they did however get their own issue of the prestgious Poetry Magazine [est. 1912].



here on the Ayn Rand Page at Working Minds
short profilelinksAyn Rand Around the World
Ayn Rand's Favorite Thingsgroups & organizations

details on the novel and the 3-part movie are at
Maison d'Être Philosophy Bookstore's "Atlas Shrugged" Page

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