No tricks, all treats...
Ayn Rand and the World She Made
by Anne C. Heller
“Starting now, anyone curious about the extraordinary self-created woman who became the complex, contradictory, and utterly fascinating Ayn Rand will have to begin with Anne C. Heller's brilliant biography. Reading this book will be the only way to comprehend the totality of the woman whose swashbuckling life was an epic that could rival any screen play or novel she ever wrote, any political theory or philosophy she ever espoused or created."
-- Deirdre Bair, author of Samuel Beckett: A Biography
Delving into research in Russia, dozens of interviews with Ayn Rand’s acquaintances and former disciples, and previously unexamined archives of tapes and letters (though she was denied access to the Ayn Rand Institute archives because she was not absolutely partisan), journalist Anne C. Heller’s ambitious Ayn Rand and the World She Made chronicles the author of the perennially bestselling novels The Fountainhead (1943) and Atlas Shrugged (1957), which have sold more than 12 million copies in the United States, attracted three generations of readers, inspired the Libertarian movement, and influenced White House economic policies throughout the Reagan years and beyond. Born in Russia in 1905 to Jewish parents, Alissa Zinovievna Rosenbaum, after a childhood as a brilliant loner, left for America in 1926 and, as an advocate of laissez-faire capitalism and individual rights, founded her anticollectivist philosophy, Objectivism, a philosophy of free market capitalism and the pursuit of self-interest as a moral good, along with a distrust of altruism. In addition to her career writing novels and books of philosophy, Heller also covers Rand's work as a playwright and screenwriter.
On the personal front (Rand died in 1982), the depressive, control-freaking philosopher was engaged in a secret affair with Nathaniel Branden, self-esteem guru, who was Rand’s designated financial and intellectual heir until he betrayed her for a younger woman. At the same time, the tempestuous Rand was married to the more acquiescent Hollywood actor Frank O'Connor. Heller also describes Rand's feuds with William F. Buckley, and the more courtly relationship Rand had with publisher Bennett Cerf. Whether exploring the personal or professional side of the paradoxical Ayn Rand’s life, Heller offers a well-documented, objective, and all-encompassing biography for fans and scholars.
Article comments
1 - Rob Quinn
"she was denied access to the Ayn Rand Institute archives because she was not absolutely partisan"
What is the source of this claim?
2 - Gordon Hauptfleisch
Kirkus Reviews, Aug 1, 2009: "...because she is not purely partisan, she was denied access to the Ayn Rand archives."
Library Journal, Sept 1, 2009, Stacy Russo, Chapman Univ. Libs., Orange, CA: "Although Heller was denied access to the Ayn Rand Institute's archives, because she is not an advocate for Rand's ideas, she still performs beautifully."