Toronto freelance writer Walker characterizes the Objectivist movement that grew up around the Russian emigre Rand (1905-85) and her novels The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged, as a classic cult. Though its emphasis on self-interest, rationality, and atheism are unusual, he says, it includes the familiar elements of guru worship, thought control, trial and excommunication and deviants, and hostility to the outside world. He includes no scandalous photographs. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.
Ayn Rand and her philosophical school, Objectivism, have had a considerable influence upon American popular culture, yet the true story of her life and work has yet to be told. In this book, Jeff Walker debunks the cult-like following that developed around the author of the classics Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead--a cult that persists even today.
