Customer Reviews

Judgment Day

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This book gives keen insight into the minds of two people who have influenced many through their writings, philosophical and otherwise. As the author reveals in extreme detail, their relationship was an extremely intense one, and this is not surprising given the capacity and power of their intellects. Their eventual separation was bitter, and even before this book came out, in fact long before, those who are familiar with their early writings could sense that something very bad had happened between them. Their break however did not affect their productivity and in spite of the pain they no doubt felt after it, both of them still exhibited a brilliance that is still being felt today through their writings.

Some who read the book may say that it is the age difference between Rand and Branden that exacerbated their problems. This no doubt played a factor, and the author acknowledges this also, but as the book reveals, there were other things that aggravated such a relationship between two intellectual powerhouses as these are (were). Rand would like to say that it is the rational intellect that serves as the glue for a lasting and true relationship. Her limited definition of rationality though results in a narrow bandwidth that limits any alternative notions of love and friendship from getting through to her. The aesthetic quality of two people can play a large role in their attraction, and this should cause no surprise if one thinks of it in the context of human evolution. In addition, two people can be quite at odds philosophically and still have a satisfying relationship, a notion though that Rand would not be able to entertain.

One can only imagine the pain that the spouses of these two individuals felt during their affair, which, interestingly, was known and revealed to them beforehand. The 'rational' decision that all four of them agreed to, namely that such an affair was 'meaningful' given the context, and to be shouldered lightly by their spouses. But such adventures, no matter how sophisticated the morality that brings them about, can be a heavy burden to those that decide to engage in them. Rand herself spoke of the proper identification of the facts of reality in order to live a successful life, but she had no prior experience in the affair she decided to participate in. Its consequences, and the feelings brought about therein, were not, and perhaps could not, be predicted by the moral system that all parties believed in at the time. It is easy to engage in the thinking about such systems; it is quite another to give them empirical content, and to show that they indeed are the ultimate guide to human conduct.

In the beginning of the book, the author, in spite of their break, still expresses deep feelings for Rand, and deep regret at the announcement of her death. One can only wonder if Rand herself, after their break, ever, in the privacy of her thoughts, missed the author and the times they spent together. Anger takes much concentration to sustain itself, and is contrary to the natural human state of optimism, the latter both Rand and the author arguing well for. But these two individuals, through their personal interactions with each other, and via their writings, have had an enormous influence on many individuals, both positive and negative, but mostly positive...indeed overwhelmingly positive. In spite of the pain brought to others and themselves because of their affair, this influence is something both of them should be proud of.

How did Ayn Rand affect your life? Are you infatuated with her infallible logic, or are you repulsed by her cold-hearted nature? Did her novels inspire you to greatness, or did they make you retch? Have you embraced her philosophy, or have you sworn to destroy it? Was she someone you wanted to emulate, or was she someone you wanted to kill?

Whether or not you agreed with her, Ayn Rand was a woman who provoked extreme reactions. And no matter how much she affected your life, she had far more impact on the life of Nathaniel Branden.

Earlier, I tried to read a couple of Branden's other works, but couldn't wade through all the Objectivist head-shrinker jargon. He wrote like someone who spent too much of his life in college.

However, Judgment Day is surprisingly readable. Though he's sometimes a bit wordy, Branden uses plain English for a change. Most of his psychologizing is kept down to a paragraph or less at a time, and these explanations are generally helpful.

Branden writes from personal experience, and usually goes into detail. He concentrates mostly on the 18-year association with Ayn Rand that dominated his life, as she progressively became his mentor, friend, lover, and business partner. While he still defends her philosophy, he also provides a full account of her erratic personality.

Rand could patiently discuss all sorts of worldly topics, but would lose her temper at the most trivial annoyances. Jammed locks, missing buttons and broken toasters conspired against her. She never learned to drive, and had a hard time mastering any real technology, despite writing extensively about it.

Branden entered Rand's life while she was writing Atlas Shrugged. He soon persuaded a few relatives and close friends (including Alan Greenspan) to join her inner circle. They met weekly in her apartment to read the ongoing manuscript, and jokingly referred to themselves as "the Collective". In exchange for letting them into her life, Rand demanded total allegiance and unquestioning loyalty.

Over the years, the Collective became increasingly cult-like. A follower who was charged with some treasonable offense, like associating with the wrong people or not adequately defending Ayn Rand, would be brought before the whole group to be tried, with Branden acting as prosecutor. If the charge was serious enough, the defendant would be banished.

Rand did nothing to discourage these dictatorial tendencies; if anything, she enhanced them. Nobody was immune to her self-righteous moral condemnation. She couldn't trust anyone who didn't share her artistic, musical, literary and theatrical tastes. She was quick to judge people by their looks, even before getting to know them. She was coolly ruthless when dealing with the feelings of others. The Collective was a very emotionally repressed group, though she was free to lose her temper at any time. She boasted that she could rationally explain every emotion she had.

Branden writes about the good times too, and there were plenty of those, though they happened less frequently after the affair ended. Still, he evaded the inevitable confrontation for over 4 years because he didn't want to relinquish his position as the "intellectual heir" to Ayn Rand.

While Branden admits his past mistakes and seems apologetic for many of his actions, the old arrogance is still there. For instance, he brags about the breakthroughs he's made in psychology. Shouldn't his peers in the field, or perhaps independent studies, determine whether he was a great innovater or an ineffective experimenter?

He commits a few errors, too. He calls anarchism a political philosophy when it should be defined as the absence of politics, much like atheism is the absence of religion. He misrepresents Murray Rothbard as an anarchist because he claimed to be one, when Rothbard actually advocated mob rule.

Branden's role in founding the Objectivist movement seems to have gotten lost among the protests, riots, assassinations, wars, cultural upheavals, and other events of the 1960s. This book may be his attempt to claim a spot in that era, since he often relates the feeling that he was participating in history. Nathaniel, you don't work for a cause because you think you'll be remembered, you do so because it's right.

The front of Judgment Day's dust jacket is perhaps the most striking summary of Branden's life: no matter what he does, says or thinks, Ayn Rand will always be lurking in his background.

It's obvious that Ayn Rand's immediate inner circle spent FAR too much time and energy analyzing and re-analyzing the living daylights out of every single minute facet of their existence -- they spent so much paralysis-by-analysis time mulling over life, that they didn't HAVE much genuine life. And as things turned out, the true living in which they bothered to engage got fouled up beyond belief. I have never encountered a situation not involving crime/violence that was as much of a pluperfect MESS as Ayn Rand and Nathan Branden (abetted by their spouses) made of their lives.

It it, however, a fascinating tale, if you only lightly skim the occasional bouts of psycho-babble in which Branden engages. I speak not with disdain or ridicule, for I buy into objectivism about 96 percent -- it's not at though, like many others, I denounce objectivism due to the personal problems Ayn Rand caused herself. Her work was marvelous, and it generated thinking that completely changed (upgraded) my view of the world -- but Good Grief, she certainly did botch her personal life, and she dragged young Nathan (and his wife, and her husband Frank) right down into the mud with her.

Nathan spoke with odd affection for a softball game the Collective played one time, how they simply played baseball for awhile and avoided philosophy completely. They should have engaged in such activities more frequently, they should have gotten out more... and really enjoyed life (in addition to getting some much-needed physical exercise).

A lot has been said about the memoirs of Nathaniel Branden. JUDGMENT DAY, published in 1989 in part as a response to his ex-wife's 1986 memoir/biography THE PASSION OF AYN RAND, presents a somewhat different take on Ayn Rand. Instead of the repressed genius of Barbara Branden's book, we get a Rand who, although a genius, was conventionally nasty and ungrateful (worst of all to Nathaniel Branden).

Branden also tries to settle some scores, not only with Rand, but with his cousin, Leonard Peikoff, and his ex-wife. Personally I don't find this particularly edifying. Nor am I interested in learning about how Rand was in the sack.

Nathaniel Branden revised this book in 1999, using the more modest MY YEARS WITH AYN RAND as a title. It's a bit more toned down with respect to others, but the description of Rand is basically the same.

Of the three books, I think Barbara Branden's biography is the best. Those interested in Rand should start there.

Recounting his struggle with romance, Nathaniel Branden takes us from his teenage fascination with "The Fountainhead" to the height of his career with Objectivism and his affair with the woman who started it all, Ayn Rand. Anyone interested in the people who built this movement will be fascinated with this memoir.

The focus of the story is on Branden's marriage with Barbara Branden and his affair with Ayn Rand leading to their eventual break, but the author takes the time to develop the personalities (including his own) that led to this unique, dramatic situation.

With the dispositions involved, Branden skillfully unravels the events in a telling worthy of a novel filled with hope, success, and disappointment. In addition, we see Branden balance his professional challenges with psychology, the Collective (a group of Ayn Rand's closest friends), and the Objectivist movement at large.

This could have been an angry rant against Ayn Rand, but instead an honest and introspective Branden narrates the story. He admits the mistakes he made and shares blame in the part he plays.

There have been other accounts of the story, including a revised version of this memoir entitled My Years with Ayn Rand, but I have not yet read any of these. Certainly I am interested the factuality of Branden's account and will follow up on this, but Branden's sense of drama for these real-life events already makes this book worth reading.

Ayn Rand, author of "The Fountainhead" and "Atlas Shrugged," discovered more important philosophic truths than any other thinker of the 20th century. She held that morality is derived from the facts of reality. "Good" doesn't mean following the orders of an incomprehensible God or the whims of society. "Good" means "good for life." And since men can only survive by thinking and discovering what is needed for survival, she named rationality as the primary virtue. Recognizing that you can only prosper by thinking for yourself, constitutes the virtue of independence. Recognizing that you have to work for a living constitutes the virtue of productiveness. Being true to facts as a matter of principle, is the virtue of honesty. Being true to yourself is the virtue of integrity. Being rational in judging other men is the virtue of justice. And recognizing that you're able to live as a rational being and worthy to live, constitutes the virtue of pride.

During the 1960s Nathaniel Branden, who at that time was a brilliant thinker, formed a lecture organization to help spread Ayn Rand's ideas. I was one of the students who attended his courses on philosophy and psychology. No one suspected it at the time, and there was no independent confirmation of it until years after Miss Rand's death in 1982, but she and Nathaniel Branden had an affair. All relationship between them came to an end in 1968, when Miss Rand discovered that Branden was not practicing what he preached.

This is Nathaniel Branden's version of their relationship-or rather, one of his versions, for he's changed his story several times. Branden has never heard the adage "a gentleman never tells." Or perhaps he doesn't mind not being considered a gentleman.

This is a long book; but the reader should not lose sight of an essential fact. Branden confesses, on page after page, that he lied to Miss Rand and to others-not once, but repeatedly, for a number of years. His excuse-"she made me do it"-rings hollow, coming from a man who lectured on the virtues of honesty, integrity, and independence.

After confessing his prevarications and being so "candid," Branden expects us to believe what he's saying now. Instead, I suggest we ask the question: "How do we know you aren't still lying, given that you've had so much practice?"

The charming Dr. Branden explains in this sympathetic and heart-wrenching memoir how he was going to bed with three fantastic women simultaneously--his teacher, his wife, and his girlfriend--and, despite the complaisance of the husband of the teacher, and his own wife, and making an exciting living for everyone, and his own notable psychological acumen, simply blew it, and but good.Anyone who wishes to make like the Latin Lover should read this instruction manual of taking a simple matter to FUBAR--and beyond--with care.

Still, would those who laugh at Branden and Rand's romantic difficulties been cheered if it had all worked out? No, they would have been denouncing Rand and her menage a cinq as a threat to dull marriages everywhere, that's for sure.

What went wrong? I am reminded of the Spanish saying--repeated in the Dorsai series--that who annoys a philosopher annoys the lion in the den. The lioness got annoyed, particularly given her regimen of medicine that made her quite irritable.

Branden tells the tale better than expected of people who handled living a fantasy or perhaps a dream better than most. And anyone who has been torn by divided loves, and yet tried to make things work, will be with him. The rest was rotten luck and tuesday night quarterbacking.