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Ayn Rand’s books have attracted three generations of readers, shaped the Libertarian movement, influenced White House economic policies throughout the Reagan years and beyond, and inspired the Tea Party movement. Yet twenty-eight years after her death, readers know very little about her life.
In this seminal biography, Anne C. Heller traces the controversial author’s life from her childhood in Bolshevik Russia to her years as a Hollywood screenwriter, the publication of her blockbuster novels, and the rise and fall of the cult that worshipped her in the 1950s and 1960s. Based on original research in Russia and scores of interviews with Rand’s acquaintances and former acolytes, Ayn Rand and the World She Made is a comprehensive and eye-opening portrait of one of the most significant and improbable figures of the twentieth century.
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Question: Many people discover Ayn Rand’s novels The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged as young adults, but you read her novels and essays in your forties. What, at that time, sparked your interest in Rand? What moved you to write her biography?
Anne C. Heller: It's true that I didn’t read Ayn Rand’s popular novels in high school or college. I read them for the first time seven or eight years ago, while I was editing a trial issue of a new financial magazine at Condé Nast Publications. Suze Orman--the personal-finance author, who was contributing an article to the magazine--sent me a copy of the well-known "money speech" from Atlas Shrugged. In the novel, the speech is delivered by a young copper baron to an assembled crowd of liberal bureaucrats and corporate welfare-statists. He argues that money, far from being the root of all evil, as the liberals in the novel pretend to think, is really "the root of all good," and "the barometer of a society’s virtue." The speech surprised me with its passion and seemingly air-tight logic and aroused my curiosity. So I read the books.
At that time, Rand and her work weren’t in the news, as they are now. Once I had finished Atlas Shrugged for the second time, I looked around to see what had been written about her. Later, I learned that the novels were still selling in the hundreds of thousands of copies every year and that she was influential among libertarians and certain conservatives; yet no full-scale, impartial biography of this extraordinary woman had been written. Only former disciples and detractors had published books about her. The time seemed right to take a fresh approach.
Question: Do you think your experience with her work, philosophy, and life was different from those who read her in their adolescence?
Anne C. Heller: Yes. I appreciated Rand’s insights into the nature of power and her spectacular ability to integrate plot, character, and theme more than I might have when younger. And, I was less susceptible to her romantic celebration of heroic achievement.
Question: Ayn Rand and the World She Made is the first objective, investigative biography of Ayn Rand. What new sources did you use for your research? Did you travel for your research?
Anne C. Heller: The only other biography was written in the 1980s by Barbara Branden, who was Rand’s friend and disciple as well as her young lover’s former wife. The book was partly in the form of a memoir and was also based on limited information; for example, Rand was born and educated in Russia, but at that time the Russian archives were closed. Thus Branden had to take Rand’s word for most of the events of her childhood. I used a Russian research team to gather new details of Rand’s family background, her parents’ professional lives, and her schooling up to and throughout her university studies, some of which contradicted what Rand had said about herself. I used published and unpublished letters and hundreds of hours of taped, unpublished interviews to document many episodes in Rand’s life that she never talked about, including influences she buried and help she later denied.
I traveled all over the United States to work in relevant archives and to conduct interviews with her former friends and followers, many now in their eighties and nineties, who spoke surprisingly candidly about her capacity for cruelty as well as her genius and personal magnetism. I had three lengthy interviews with her long-time lover, Nathaniel Branden, now eighty, and spoke with most members of what used to be called the "inner circle" of her cult following. I also had access to interviews with her elderly Russian sister and with close friends from the 1920s and 1930s, all now deceased.
Question: What surprised you most?
Anne C. Heller: I was surprised by many things--by how deeply her hostility to liberal social programs was rooted in her Russian childhood, by her remarkable insight into the psychology of envy and mediocrity, by her personal courage, and by her unfailing ability to spot a flaw in any opposing argument. I was also surprised to discover that many of her former followers, though personally damaged by her temper and her moral absolutism, remembered her as the most important and beneficent person in their lives. They had been wounded by her and yet loved her and were protective of her memory and legend.
Question: Why does Rand remain a bestseller?
Anne C. Heller: She certainly does remain popular. In a 1991 poll, sponsored by the Library of Congress and the Book of the Month Club, Americans named Atlas Shrugged the book that had most influenced their lives after the Bible. In a separate 1998 poll by Modern Library, readers chose Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead as number one and two on a list of the one hundred greatest novels of the twentieth century, and Rand’s other two novels, Anthem and We the Living, placed seventh and eighth on the list. Combined, more than twelve million copies of her two best-known novels have been sold in the U.S. alone, and sales this year have reached an all-time high.
Like Holden Caulfield and Huckleberry Finn, Rand’s fictional heroes strike each new generation as timelessly American in their self-reliance and revolt against timidity and conformity. And her passionate, brainy arguments on behalf of limited government and unfettered individual rights strike a strong chord, especially in times of economic trouble and increased government activism.
(Photo © Brennan Cavanaugh)
--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.From Publishers Weekly
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
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** Sound familiar?
** So who was Ayn Rand and why is she still relevant today?
** In my view, what's most impressive - and what makes "Ayn Rand and the World She Made" feel like a book that will never go out of print - is author Anne C. Heller's even-handed (and easy-to-read) summaries of Rand's complex ideologies about American individualism, capitalism and democracy - along with synopses of ALL of Rand's books and lectures - explained in ways that are sometimes more lucid than Rand's original works.
** In addition, Ms. Heller's book has a story-telling momentum that's unusual compared to other biographies. With the help of researchers digging through archives in Russia and throughout the United States, the author brings Ayn Rand's childhood and adult years excitingly to life - making more clear to mainstream readers why Rand's experiences were critically important to understanding how her ideas against socialism and collectivism were formed - and how she refined them over time. Ms. Heller further illustrates how Rand integrated these ideas into all of her novels, particularly "The Fountainhead" (1943) and "Atlas Shrugged" (1957) - and how she subsequently became world famous - while carrying a torch of stubborn dismissiveness toward her detractors, all the way to her death in 1982.
** "Ayn Rand and the World She Made" reads more credibly than all previous treatments of Rand's life to date - because author Heller approaches Rand as a critical admirer - and not as a blind-faith fan. Her ability to make Rand's ideas come alive - illustrates her respect and admiration for Rand's intellect. This "closed the sale" for me as a reader - and wipes out criticisms I've read from some of Rand's followers obsessively parsing every word in this book. Even Cliffs Notes versions of "Atlas Shrugged" and "The Fountainhead" feel somewhat tainted by being written by authors possessing an over-eager zealotry of her ideas. Not once did I feel Ms. Heller was presenting Rand as being anything more than a tremendously intelligent, charismatic and charming figure - who could also be frighteningly eccentric, petty and cruel.
** Most reviews have been favorable. But while reading a few negative reviews, I detected an undercurrent of resistance to Ms. Heller's work from people, 1) who believe themselves to be more intellectually gifted than Heller to discuss Rand's life and work (hence are perhaps too biased), 2) who are horrified that lurid and less-than-flattering material about Rand's life is included (despite being too compelling to be ignored), 3) who are upset that they weren't contacted for inclusion - or if they were included - that their testimonies weren't published in full, 4) who take issue with the lack of cooperation from the Ayn Rand Institute and Leonard Peikoff, Rand's "intellectual heir," or 5) who hate Rand so much that they feel any book about her should be treated with contempt.
** In my view, these complaints are a by-product of Rand's fans or haters who are dissatisfied about the content and approach of Ms. Heller's book. Had the author included comprehensive interviews from peripheral supporters and detractors - her book would have exceeded the page count of "Atlas Shrugged" and "The Fountainhead" combined. (Yet Heller's book is exhaustively researched, with 151-pages of notes and an index.)
** The author's positive summations of Rand's complex ideas - mixed with true tales which reflect poorly on her behavior and treatment of others - proves that Ms. Heller is neither a Rand follower nor a detractor. This obviously irks rabid fans and haters of Ayn Rand alike.
** Ayn Rand's key journal entries and letters have already been published worldwide and/or are available in other venues. There's not much left to be discovered that's earth-shattering. Ms. Heller's success is consolidating Rand's ideas into a marvelously coherent single volume - and finding new, previously untapped sources to construct a more fully formed picture of Rand - that goes beyond what we already know.
** Leonard Peikoff's testimony from the Ayn Rand Institute, while useful had he agreed to cooperate, would have added little that's new - because he himself has already published numerous analyses about Rand's work everywhere. His contributions to Rand's legacy HAVE been noted by Heller. But in fairness, Peikoff's testimony would only be relevant, in my view, to those mainstream readers who would want him to ADD to what Ms. Heller has already satisfactorily provided - about Ayn Rand's final months AFTER she stopped making public appearances - before eventually succumbing to cancer.
** In sum, this book is NOT aimed at Ayn Rand intellectuals, and this is NOT a criticism. (Though I believe they will still enjoy reading every page.) "Ayn Rand and the World She Made" feels aimed at mainstream readers seeking an unbiased, all-in-one-reference of Rand's ideas. I do NOT know Anne C. Heller personally, but I believe she has painted a superb image on an enormous canvas - of a controversial genius of titanic and electrifying importance - that will still feel relevant many years from now.
** If you doubt this, then why are people still talking about Ayn Rand today - nearly 30 years after her death - and more than 50 years after "Atlas Shrugged?"
Listening to this on audiobook while doing various domestic chores was a real treat. Having read *Anthem*, *Atlas*, *The Fountainhead* twice, and a number of Rand's essays, I have always been interested in her philosophy--not so much as an adherent but out of recognition that Rand's philosophical and political perspective merits consideration in its own right and as an ideological reality on the American political landscape.
Heller weaves Rand's unique and impressive life story (horrified as a youngster at the brutality of the Soviet revolution she escapes to America to pursue the improbable dream of being a novelist) with her evolving formal philosophy celebrating the primacy of the individual, the virtue of enlightened selfishness, the inherent moral superiority of capitalism over collectivism, and the rejection of all forms of mysticism in favor of her Objectivist view of the world as real, knowable, and enjoyable by rational men and women of virtue.
The biographical sketch also presents a picture that, while noxious to many of Rand's admirers (see below) does not surprise: Transfixed by her romantic vision of human potential and herself and her work as its embodiment, Rand ultimately coped with the contradictions between her ideal world and reality (her limitations and irrational impulses, the failures of followers to conduct themselves according to her stringent standards of virtue, the inability to find in either husband Frank O'Connor or lover Nathaniel Brandon a genuine exemplar of the Ideal Man) with the self-delusion and blind hysteria to which I fear most hopeless and frustrated romantics eventually devolve. That her inner circle of devotees was routinely purged of dissent and presumed treason through bizarre ritualistic "psychotherapy" sessions and/or public censure as one adjutant after another fell short of Rand's impossible and self-contradictory demands for intellectual and social conformity was the most salient manifestation of this.
But in the end the book is more about Ayn Rand the person than her philosophy. I was nearly brought to tears myself when I read the books final pages, about how Ayn slept and sat by ailing and demented Frank in his final weeks, and then wept for days upon his death. I think most of us would accept death and all its attendant grief and regret as just the final of life's ambiguities, but I cannot help but wonder if this weak and lonely rendition of Ayn Rand in her last three years was not, in a way I imagine she would have bitterly denied, a more "real" version of her.
Ayn Rand was clearly a genius, and in some ways an ideal American in pursuing a singular passion with a dogged determination that would shame most of us "mediocritie." She also at times embodied the very real human tragedy that can result from an impossible interpretation of oneself and the world.
Note on other reviewers' take:
Before writing this I took the time to read the comments of those who gave the book one star. The most compelling was by an acquaintance of Rand who said Heller's particular version of the physical writing of *Atlas Shrugged* was inaccurate. If taken at face value this proves simply that a vast journalistic investigation can include error. It strikes me as peripheral to the overall quality of this impressive work of biography synthesized with philosophical critique (in the literary sense of the word.) One critic lamely argued that Heller at one point said the early Soviets such as Lennon were not anti-Semitic, then later indicated that subsequent Soviet regimes were brutal to Jews, and thus contradicted herself. The critic grossly overestimated his own cleverness in posting this jab about what is, when you examine it, not a contradiction at all.
Other negative reviewers bemoaned Heller's "total lack of understanding of Rand's ideas" or that it "failed to acknowledge the impact" Rand had on her numerous enthusiasts. These accusations are simply false. It is true the book contains no formal exposition of Rand's Objectivist philosophy, but this was not its purpose. Instead Rand's ideas are woven throughout the story as they become progressively relevant to the political and social contexts in which she worked and lived. (People can read John Galt's speech whenever they wish without Heller reciting it verbatim.) Further, Heller fully acknowledged in later chapters that Rand's works attracted an impressive following, such as the jokingly named "collective" which included Alan Greenspan and a survey of American readers which voted *Atlas* and *The Fountainhead* the first and second most influential books read, respectively.
In fact Heller in numerous places noted Ayn Rand's perspicacity (such as her recognition of the inherent corruption and brutality of the Bolshevik revolution when many in the American left still held the new regime in delusional high regard). Heller also defends Rand's legacy against the unreasonably derisive screeds written by hostile reviewers of *Atlas* and *The Fountainhead*. She writes admiringly of Rand's ability to charm audiences with her charisma and entrancing idealism, culminating in her speech at West Point that was only marred by a cavalierly jingoistic response to a question by a Native American cadet regarding the morality of the US government's treatment of native peoples. Heller admits in the beginning of the book that she is no ally of Rand's philosophy but nonetheless goes out of her way to acknowledge all that was worth admiring in this amazing and complex figure.
I fear these dismissive readers (if they read the book at all) of Heller simply cannot tolerate the iconic figure of Ayn Rand being held in anything less than the unrealistic regard in which she held herself.
The first thing to pop out at me relates to Frank Lloyd Wright. Early on, Rand used him as and ideal whose outsider life and creativity became the model for Howard Roark. After visiting Taliesin she commented that Wright did not pay his assistants, but did she realize that his "Fellowship" was a collectivist operation? Wright's 3rd wife, Olgivanna, who like Rand was a Russian émigré, developed this cult-like following on his behalf. Wright's fellowship engrossed the full lives and careers of its closest followers who designed buildings, planted crops and did construction and maintenance work for their "Fellowship". Fellowship, The: The Untold Story of Frank Lloyd Wright and the Taliesin Fellowship. He and his lifestyle were the antithesis of Howard Roark.
The next impressions are about Rand's family. What of Frank O'Connor? Was this love? Friendship? Fear? Awe? Inertia? 50's values? The Chicago relatives are not re-imbursed for their help in Rand's resettlement in the US (neither are those left behind in Russia). Is this a cognitive demonstration of selfishness or a representation of Rand, herself, for which she built an elaborate philosophy to justify? What should be made of the sister from Russia whose comparative contentment with her life essentially mocks Rand's life work?
I was surprised at the involvement of Alan Greenspan. I knew his name was associated with Rand, but a lot of people went to the lectures. I didn't know how plugged in he was and how long he stayed with it.
Aside from the above associations which may or may not be micro-issues, I'm digesting the person of Rand herself. First, you have to consider her tremendous accomplishments. She wrote and debated in a second language. She achieved fame as an intellectual totally defying entrenched stereotypes of and expectations for both women and immigrants. She developed her following, not as Olgivanna Wright did through her husband nor economic necessity (the Wrights "needed" their followers, Rand, essentially didn't), but on her own independent power.
There is the issue of the role of her philosophy in her own life. Did she walk her talk? How did selfishness work out for her? The strength she speaks of was not there when she needed it. She behaved worse than most when her romantic world shattered world and health waned. It makes Bertha Krantz's observation about fear a logical explanation for this person who can't seem to handle even small dissent or criticism.
Anne Heller has done a tremendous job with this book. I highly recommend it for anyone with an interest in Ayn Rand.
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