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Product Description

Product Description
Published in 1957, Atlas Shrugged was Ayn Rand's greatest achievement and last work of fiction. In this novel she dramatizes her unique philosophy through an intellectual mystery story that integrates ethics, metaphysics, epistemology, politics, economics, and sex. Set in a near-future U.S.A. whose economy is collapsing as a result of the mysterious disappearance of leading innovators and industrialists, this novel presents an astounding panorama of human life-from the productive genius who becomes a worthless playboy...to the great steel industrialist who does not know that he is working for his own destruction...to the philosopher who becomes a pirate...to the woman who runs a transcontinental railroad...to the lowest track worker in her train tunnels. Peopled by larger-than-life heroes and villains, charged with towering questions of good and evil, Atlas Shrugged is a philosophical revolution told in the form of an action thriller.

About the Author
Ayn Rand's first novel, We the Living, was published in 1936. With the publication of The Fountainhead in 1943, she achieved spectacular and enduring success. Through her novels and nonfiction writings, which express her unique philosophy, Objectivism, Rand maintains a lasting influence on popular thought.

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First Sentence
"Who is John Galt?" Read the first page

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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover

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Customer Reviews

79 Reviews

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3.9 out of 5 stars (79 customer reviews)

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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Don't mention the S-word, 10 Jun 2009

By	Paul T Horgan (UK) - See all my reviews

The author saw the Russian revolution of 1917 at first-hand. She experienced its economic effects directly when her father's business was nationalised by force.

The Russian revolution took place as a result of the country's military defeats during the First World War. It is interesting to note that there was also a revolution in 1905, after the national humiliation experienced in the Russo-Japanese war. It is open to speculation as to whether the autocratic Czar would have survived with a reformist government (Perestroika 1917?) if it has not rushed to the aid of Serbia in 1914 as part of its ill-fated pan-slavic foreign policy. However that debate is for another day.

Ayn Rand depicts a socialist takeover of the United States, one that is as drastic but not as dramatic as Russia's. She also shies away from actually using the word 'socialism' or 'communism' in her novel. To her this would be shorthand and what she wants to do is describe the effects of collectivism without resorting to labels. The descent into socialism is depicted as the non-violent triumph of ideas, where the political, media and some of the business elites gradually come to accept the principle of 'from each according to their abilities, to each according to their needs' as a consequence of legally sanctioned industrial cartelisation, until it becomes national policy and full state control of the economy takes place, ostensibly to mitigate the effects of the cartels. Unlike Russia, this takes place in a democracy with an ostensibly free media so the changes that take place are gradual and more or less consensual amongst the majority. Somewhere along the way the US Constitution has been amended out of existence and the President is now known as the Head of the State. He works with a Politburo in all but name consisting of business cronies and power brokers. Rand maps the effect of the political and social changes throughout the novel in an intelligible fashion that people in a free country would understand and demonstrates how this socialism utterly depends on people to whom this concept is anathema.

As the novel opens the economic collapse is under way, but no-one understands why. Rand depicts in her story the theory that collectivist economies only survive by coercing the most productive to continue to produce while at the same time denying them the true rewards of their labours by redistributing all the value they create while providing subsistence. One man, John Galt, realises this and organises a strike of the mind, of the creative entrepreneurs who drive or sustain progress through their creativity, innovation and organisational and management skill. As the skilled and competent disappear (this is done by having them choose 'voluntary simplicity', working in low-paid, menial positions that require no thought, or retreating to a valley concealed by a cloaking device) their successors find themselves unable to maintain the technological civilisation and the country regresses into a new stone age as supplies of raw materials and food diminish.

The country also slides into dictatorship, as force replaces the price mechanism as the only way to drive the economy. State terror and the threat of unleashing WMDs on the populace are contemplated, but by then it is too late. The only people left to terrorise are simply not productive enough to sustain the economy.

The novel was published in 1957 and it is interesting to note that a 'strike of the ablest' was actually under way in East Germany, where the young and the skilled were making use of an open border in Berlin to escape to West Germany. It was in response to the impending economic collapse (the only people left in the country was rapidly becoming the old, infirm and very young) that the Berlin Wall was constructed.

Ayn Rand's motivation? Well she saw the rise of socialism in otherwise free countries like Britain and revolutionary movements in Cuba and South America. Soviet domination of Eastern Europe was a fact and perhaps she felt that a cautionary tale, in line with her developing philosophy, was necessary to prevent the growth of 'People's States' as she depicts taking over the world except the USA in her novel. She may have been worried that Free-Market Capitalism was in fact in decline.

There has been a lot of criticism of the writing style of the novel. It is not generally fast-paced or dramatic and a lot of space is given over to philosophic thinking and speeches, especially John Galt's speech, which runs to several pages.

However it has to be recognised that this is a book of ideas and these ideas are presented very well indeed. I have not read Mein Kampf or Das Kapital and nor do I intend to. I do however suspect that they do not project their ideas in such a concise and entertaining manner. This book defends and justifies free-market capitalism and gives commerce a soul. It has enhanced my understanding of the socio-economic environment I was brought up in and is arguably the only book I sincerely wish I had read in my teens.

Although the book rejects altruism and self-sacrifice, it is my strong opinion that if you know anyone with a mind who is 15-20, this is the best present you can get them as it will give them something that is life-improving and life-affirming. However this is a book that can by people of all ages as it does not target a specific age range.

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36 of 43 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting, but better to wait for the movie., 23 April 2007

By	P.Vineaux (London) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Atlas Shrugged (Penguin Modern Classics) (Paperback)

Atlas Shrugged is a 1100 page(small print!) novel in which 4 or 5 people stride about like nationalistic heroes building railroads, inventing things, and being proud of it; while the rest of the world mooches off them and complain that the industrialists have too much money.

Even though I'm a liberal, I have to admit this book was interesting. It's like a dystopian novel for capitalists (God knows how many there are for socialists). The ideas are challenging and thought-provoking whoever you are, and the writing is pretty nice, Rand obviously put a lot of energy into the book.

But it's pretty clunky, the plot goes on so many boring tangents, the love scenes are ridiculous, the characters are uninteresting, and most of all it's too repetitive. A quarter of the way through the book I was already familiar with all aspects of Rand's philosophy, and I could tell precisely where the book was going, so reading it felt like a bit of a chore, especially since I never skim pages.

If you're an anti-union, hardcore capitalist then buy the book and revel in it, but if you're not, then wait for the expected movie, with Angelina Jolie coming out in 2008.

I gave this a 4 because the people who would like this would love it, and it's quite a novelty to read a writer who isn't a liberal/socialist/hedonist/romantic/bum.

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15 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars you haven't lived if you haven't read this book, 24 Jul 2008

By	A. G. Czajkowski - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Atlas Shrugged (Penguin Modern Classics) (Paperback)

movie-schmovie. Read Atlas Shrugged when you're in college, when you're starting your first firm, when you're escaping the corporate world later in life... you'll get a very different experience each time. But read it you must.. sure it's long and, at times, very heavy handed. Many of the characters seem to be charachtiures to me, 30 years since my first exposure. But you haven't lived, or exercised your brain in sufficient dimenions, unless you've read Atlas Shrugged. THEN hate it or love it or simply respect it--great compelling reading, interesting philosophy and ultimately as bedrock classic 20th century literature as it comes.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Atlas Shrugged
This Ayn Rand Book of the 1950's is prescient. Welfare cannot replace work. Prosperity cannot be created by dividing up current wealth. Read more

Published 1 month ago by J. A. Barney

5.0 out of 5 stars We could be living this book right now
Atlas Shrugged is a daunting book with over 1200 pages. Yet from the very beginning I was involved with the story and the characters. Read more

Published 2 months ago by woody

4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting, Thought Provoking but Overlong
This novel hardly needs a review to encourage someone to buy it, when you consider one point alone: It is over 50 years old and people still read it and enjoy it. Read more

Published 3 months ago by Sir Furboy

5.0 out of 5 stars Quite possibly the best book I've ever read
This is a deeply thoughtful book, every few pages present philosophical questions firmly rooted in the everyday transactions of business and politics. Read more

Published 3 months ago by Andrew Redfern

2.0 out of 5 stars UGLY WRITING FOR AN UGLY PHILOSOPHY
Having read the book, I felt used, abused and, above all, dirty.

Fair play, two stars for hammering home your philosophy in a work of fiction, but the point IS... Read more

Published 3 months ago by Easily Me

5.0 out of 5 stars This book made an impact on me!
In case this is your first encounter with this book, It is a fresh story but a continuation to Ayn Rand's philosophy that started out with books like "We the living" where she new... Read more

Published 4 months ago by bernie

4.0 out of 5 stars A classic everyone should read
Atlas Shrugged is more about Rands's philosophy than Fountain Head which I had read previously. While Fountain Head does introduce the reader to Rand's philosophy Objectivism,... Read more

Published 5 months ago by Senior Consultant

4.0 out of 5 stars Thinking properly!
Given the utterly pervasiveness of socialised thought in the UK these days, I'm supprised that most of the reviews are positive. Read more

Published 5 months ago by Mr. I. Leadbetter

4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting philosphy in a flawed novel
As novel this book is undeniably flawed; the characters are two dimensional, the plot beyond implausible and every word of dialogue is a lecture. Read more

Published 8 months ago by MarkE

5.0 out of 5 stars The Deeper Meaning to Atlas Shrugged
how can you people say it's a bad book. it has much deeper meanings than you realise. its all about the illuminati and them taking over. Read more

Published 9 months ago by Kieran J. Durcan

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