Read Rand's own never-before-scene journal entries about the Brandons. Author Valliant shines light on the truth hidden by the Brandens' biographies and sets the record straight.
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Editorial Reviews
Review
"This book is going to be the Objectivist sensation of the year." -- Autonomist
"This is a vital work, perhaps a bible, for the serious students and supporters of Ayn Rand." -- Robert Middlemiss, editor-in-chief Durban House Publishing
"This is a vital work, perhaps a bible, for the serious students and supporters of Ayn Rand." -- Robert Middlemiss, editor-in-chief Durban House Publishing
From the Publisher
YOU HAVE A SIMILIAR TITLE WITH ALL THE WORDS LISTED FROM THE LIBRARY JOURNAL REVIEW: THE PASSION OF AYN RAND BY BARBARA BRANDEN... AS THE PUBLISHER WE SIMPLY ASK FOR THE SAME COURTESY FOR THE BOOK, THE PASSION OF AYN RAND'S CRITICS, WHEN IT COMES TO A KIRKUS REVIEW... In the "heroic-capitalist" novelist’s centenary year, prosecuting attorney Valliant skillfully cross-examines two previous biographers’ accounts of her tumultuous love affair with a younger man.
The affair itself is notorious: In the middle of the 1950’s, having first obtained the blessing of their respective spouses, brilliant, best-selling Rand, then 50, began a sexual relationship with her 25-year-old protégé, Nathaniel Branden, who became her public spokesman. Fourteen years later, the affair blew up after Rand learned of a longstanding extra-extramarital liaison between Branden and one of his female students. He later became a psychologist and author of popular books on self-esteem, but he still had a score to settle with Rand. His memoir-cum-biography, My Years with Ayn Rand (1989), portrayed her as an especially ruthless, hysterical version of the woman scorned, and former wife Barbara Branden did much the same in The Passion of Ayn Rand (1986). Valliant disputes this view, bringing to bear a persuasively close reading of internal contradictions and implausibilities in the Brandens’ books and subsequent statements. The author also makes use of previously unpublished personal journals kept by Rand in 1967-68, when her vast Objectivist following split into camps and drifted away over the rupture between the philosopher-queen and her "intellectual heir". Valliant appears to be a member of the still-very-active pro-Rand camp, but if the excerpts and editing of these journals can be trusted, they show the Brandens in a harsher light and offer a new glimpse of Rand as a remarkably patient, even "objective" expositor of facts that must have pained her.
Far too arcane and cumbersome to enthrall most fans of The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged, but deserves a place on the lengthening shelf of books about the influential Rand’s accomplishments and character.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
60 of 86 people found the following review helpful
Let's start with my context. I am not a member of any Objectivism faction. I have never met or had anything to do with any of James Valliant, Nathaniel Branden, Barbara Branden, or Ayn Rand. I'm just a guy who has read Ayn Rand's work with interest and enthousiasm, and read both Brandens' books on her. I don't know that I call myself an Objectivist, but I am in basic agreement with all of its core premises.
And the most important of those, as Rand herself claimed, is reason. And so it was in accordance with reason that I wanted to read this book, to get the other side of the story and judge for myself.
Sadly, reason is what this book is wholly lacking. I wasn't even able to get more than a few chapters into it before I was forced to judge it worthless and not worth my time. Paragraph after paragraph, sentence after sentence was filled with claims and assertions that simply did not meet the basic test of logic. There were very specific errors in logic, but also a broad one underlying (and undermining) the whole affair: the assumption that anything the Brandens say must be taken with great skepticism, but anything that Rand says is unquestioned Truth, to be taken at face value. The result is that this is not a scholarly work that objectively examines the evidence and draws negative conclusions about the Brandens' accounts. This is a deliberate hatchet job, determined to focus on any negative aspect it can find or manufacture, and ignore any possible positive evidence, inference, or interpretation. The Brandens never get the benefit of doubt on any point, while Rand never gets the detriment of even a single doubt.
And it's a shame, because an even-handed examination of the veracity of the Brandens' accounts would be valuable. It is rather a shame that the main biographical information we have about Ayn Rand comes from two people who had complex personal relationships with her (in this case, leading to unpleasant breakups), which certainly has the *potential* to distort their account, even if unintentionally. As a parallel, consider the way that Schindler's biography of Beethoven is shown by later scholarship to be very flawed. But sadly, Valliant is no Thayer. I suspect that scattered about in Valliant's vitriol are some nuggets of truth. But it was just way too much effort for me to try to mine them.
What's more, the book isn't even well written. I found it poorly organized, flitting somewhat jarringly between seemingly unrelated harping points. It is certainly tedious, belabouring its points relentlessly and in minute detail.
But the main problem remains the poor logic. The unproven assertions, the drawing of conclusions not warrented from the evidence, the direct contradictions. I truly regret spending my money on this book.
And the most important of those, as Rand herself claimed, is reason. And so it was in accordance with reason that I wanted to read this book, to get the other side of the story and judge for myself.
Sadly, reason is what this book is wholly lacking. I wasn't even able to get more than a few chapters into it before I was forced to judge it worthless and not worth my time. Paragraph after paragraph, sentence after sentence was filled with claims and assertions that simply did not meet the basic test of logic. There were very specific errors in logic, but also a broad one underlying (and undermining) the whole affair: the assumption that anything the Brandens say must be taken with great skepticism, but anything that Rand says is unquestioned Truth, to be taken at face value. The result is that this is not a scholarly work that objectively examines the evidence and draws negative conclusions about the Brandens' accounts. This is a deliberate hatchet job, determined to focus on any negative aspect it can find or manufacture, and ignore any possible positive evidence, inference, or interpretation. The Brandens never get the benefit of doubt on any point, while Rand never gets the detriment of even a single doubt.
And it's a shame, because an even-handed examination of the veracity of the Brandens' accounts would be valuable. It is rather a shame that the main biographical information we have about Ayn Rand comes from two people who had complex personal relationships with her (in this case, leading to unpleasant breakups), which certainly has the *potential* to distort their account, even if unintentionally. As a parallel, consider the way that Schindler's biography of Beethoven is shown by later scholarship to be very flawed. But sadly, Valliant is no Thayer. I suspect that scattered about in Valliant's vitriol are some nuggets of truth. But it was just way too much effort for me to try to mine them.
What's more, the book isn't even well written. I found it poorly organized, flitting somewhat jarringly between seemingly unrelated harping points. It is certainly tedious, belabouring its points relentlessly and in minute detail.
But the main problem remains the poor logic. The unproven assertions, the drawing of conclusions not warrented from the evidence, the direct contradictions. I truly regret spending my money on this book.
139 of 207 people found the following review helpful
Kudos to Mr. Valliant. His new book The Passion of Ayn Rand's Critics has made me proud to call myself an Objectivist once more. This thoroughly researched and readable book reveals the scope of the premeditated and self-serving dishonesty of Nathaniel (and Barbara) Branden against the person and character of Ayn Rand. These lies (made while she was alive and especially after her death) smeared the reputation of Ayn Rand to the point that a mere mention of her name or ideas in certain quarters is met with a chorus of ad hominem attacks.
The book thoroughly exposes the Branden's and their motives, finally laying to rest all of the urban myths surrounding these private affairs, assisted by portions of the unpublished journals of Ayn Rand herself. I care little for the private lives of philosophers, but these matters have become an impediment to the serious discussion of Ayn Rand's ideas. Valliant's deft dispatch of the Branden's should clear the path for more rational consideration.
More interesting, the book reveals the amazing focus and moral clarity of Ayn Rand; remarkable given the painful personal nature of the context. Few who are familiar with the consistency and systematic nature of her values will be surprised that she was able to discover, despite the evasions and misdirection of her psychotherapist business-partner/lover, the true nature of Nathaniel Branden. But her ability for rational introspection during difficult emotional circumstances, while still feeling the emotions, is truly inspiring.
One the greatest contributions and innovations of Ayn Rand is her integration of the fields of Ethics and Metaphysics -morality based on reality, with `life' as the objective standard of value for human beings. In an age dominated by mystics on one side and relativists and skeptics on the other, the philosophical alternative offered by Objectivist ethics is a desperately needed (and much more rational) option.
Thanks to Mr. Valliant's efforts in The Passion of Ayn Rand's Critics, the growing popularity for the ideas of Ayn Rand can enjoy a further renaissance of careful consideration and genuine debate, and we can put all that other rubbish behind us.
The book thoroughly exposes the Branden's and their motives, finally laying to rest all of the urban myths surrounding these private affairs, assisted by portions of the unpublished journals of Ayn Rand herself. I care little for the private lives of philosophers, but these matters have become an impediment to the serious discussion of Ayn Rand's ideas. Valliant's deft dispatch of the Branden's should clear the path for more rational consideration.
More interesting, the book reveals the amazing focus and moral clarity of Ayn Rand; remarkable given the painful personal nature of the context. Few who are familiar with the consistency and systematic nature of her values will be surprised that she was able to discover, despite the evasions and misdirection of her psychotherapist business-partner/lover, the true nature of Nathaniel Branden. But her ability for rational introspection during difficult emotional circumstances, while still feeling the emotions, is truly inspiring.
One the greatest contributions and innovations of Ayn Rand is her integration of the fields of Ethics and Metaphysics -morality based on reality, with `life' as the objective standard of value for human beings. In an age dominated by mystics on one side and relativists and skeptics on the other, the philosophical alternative offered by Objectivist ethics is a desperately needed (and much more rational) option.
Thanks to Mr. Valliant's efforts in The Passion of Ayn Rand's Critics, the growing popularity for the ideas of Ayn Rand can enjoy a further renaissance of careful consideration and genuine debate, and we can put all that other rubbish behind us.
53 of 79 people found the following review helpful
James Valliant, prosecuting attorney and graduate philosopher, aptly demonstrates a superior grasp of both professions with his book, "The Passion of Ayn Rand's Critics." The prosecutor meticulously delves into the voluminous fabrications, misrepresentations and outright lies perpetrated against Ayn Rand by her former associates, Nathanial and Barbara Branden. The philosopher exhibits the insight essential to a proper analysis of the facts in a highly philosophical context.
As an Objectivist on the scene when Ayn Rand denounced the Brandens in 1968, I can attest to the ensuing turmoil among her admirers due to the sudden necessity to face the distasteful fact of the Brandens' betrayal. In the confusion, they manipulated the unwary for years, strategically waiting until after Ayn Rand's death to unleash their main vitriol via "biographies," which in turn created a never-ending onslaught of attacks by a bevy of Ayn Rand haters. These books, notably Ms. Branden's "The Passion of Ayn Rand," are the primary source for virtually all the hatchet job op-ed misrepresentations that have appeared over the years of Ayn Rand, of her philosophy, Objectivism, and of her associates. The Brandens' fabrications have gone unanswered for decades.
Now comes James Valliant to set the record straight. Every Objectivist should read his book in order to grasp the incomprehensible depth and breadth of the scurrilous injustice perpetrated against our heroine. Every skeptic with an abiding respect for ideas should read his book in order to free himself of falsehood. Every detractor (and anonymous reviewer) should read his book; then look in a mirror.
Valliant's work is a tour de force. His is the dynamite to clear the logjam of deceit that has impeded the flow of Objectivism into the mainstream of popular thought; it will render the Brandens and their ilk just so much flotsam. As John Galt would say, "The road is cleared."
As an Objectivist on the scene when Ayn Rand denounced the Brandens in 1968, I can attest to the ensuing turmoil among her admirers due to the sudden necessity to face the distasteful fact of the Brandens' betrayal. In the confusion, they manipulated the unwary for years, strategically waiting until after Ayn Rand's death to unleash their main vitriol via "biographies," which in turn created a never-ending onslaught of attacks by a bevy of Ayn Rand haters. These books, notably Ms. Branden's "The Passion of Ayn Rand," are the primary source for virtually all the hatchet job op-ed misrepresentations that have appeared over the years of Ayn Rand, of her philosophy, Objectivism, and of her associates. The Brandens' fabrications have gone unanswered for decades.
Now comes James Valliant to set the record straight. Every Objectivist should read his book in order to grasp the incomprehensible depth and breadth of the scurrilous injustice perpetrated against our heroine. Every skeptic with an abiding respect for ideas should read his book in order to free himself of falsehood. Every detractor (and anonymous reviewer) should read his book; then look in a mirror.
Valliant's work is a tour de force. His is the dynamite to clear the logjam of deceit that has impeded the flow of Objectivism into the mainstream of popular thought; it will render the Brandens and their ilk just so much flotsam. As John Galt would say, "The road is cleared."
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Refutes all "cult" accusations
The cult of Ayn Rand's critics won't like this book. Presents only facts and evidence that they can't refute. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Tsook
This book was unreadable...and I am "Moderate" about Rand
Having loved Rand's novels when young, and failing to live up to the "standards" of her heroes, I have always been interested in the woman, her followers and what made us all tick. Read more
Published 6 months ago by meltheobscure
The other side of the story.
Ayn Rand, a brilliant novelist and philosopher, was involved in an odd romantic relationship for a number of years with a much younger admirer of hers, Nathaniel Branden. Read more
Published 15 months ago by Joseph McHugh
Ham-fisted smear
It is hard to know whether this assiduously cobbled, book-length smear of two former associates of Ayn Rand (there was a bitter parting of the ways in 1968) is more stupid than it... Read more
Published 17 months ago by David M. Brown
Makes Everyone Look Bad
I don't even know how many stars to give the book, because it does an excellent job at one thing, which is making everyone involved, including the author, look bad. Read more
Published 22 months ago by SummerHope
This book takes aim at Rand's critics but hits her instead
This book accomplishes the opposite of what it intends. The author is trying correct Rand's public image; the author seems to think that the two Brandens destroyed or damaged it. Read more
Published on September 24, 2009 by Anaximander
Bravo! One of the best books I've ever read!
Could not out this book down. Read the whole book in two sittings. Like watching Sherlock Holmes put all the clues together to find out what REALLY happened. Read more
Published on June 22, 2009 by Tracey L. Ross
Justice is Served
For over 20 years I have studied everything that Ayn Rand has written and I have read both Barbara and Nathaniel Branden's books regarding their time spent with Mrs. Rand. Read more
Published on October 28, 2008 by Billy Jacobs
The Weird Obsession With Ayn Rand
[...] A non-Objectivist, or more specifically, a person not thoroughly familiar with Objectivism and much of its lousy history, will definitely not find this book understandable,... Read more
Published on December 18, 2007 by G. Charles Steiner
About time
Like many supporters of Objectivism, who for various reasons are too busy leading their normal lives to delve into the background and politics, I had often wondered about the... Read more
Published on October 6, 2007 by C. M. MARSH
Inside This Book
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Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs):
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stylized universe, social metaphysician, social metaphysics, physical alienation, conscious convictions Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Ayn Rand, Barbara Branden, Nathaniel Branden, The Fountainhead, Atlas Shrugged, Rands Critics, Frank O'Connor, Leonard Peikoff, New York, Howard Roark, Empire State Building, John Galt, Twentieth Century, Bennett Cerf, Peter Keating, Soviet Union, Studio Club, Archibald Ogden, Objectivist Epistemology, The Night of January, The Psychology of Self-Esteem, Valliant Branden, Valliant Rand New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
stylized universe, social metaphysician, social metaphysics, physical alienation, conscious convictions Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Ayn Rand, Barbara Branden, Nathaniel Branden, The Fountainhead, Atlas Shrugged, Rands Critics, Frank O'Connor, Leonard Peikoff, New York, Howard Roark, Empire State Building, John Galt, Twentieth Century, Bennett Cerf, Peter Keating, Soviet Union, Studio Club, Archibald Ogden, Objectivist Epistemology, The Night of January, The Psychology of Self-Esteem, Valliant Branden, Valliant Rand New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 57
books:
See all 57 books this book cites
- Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand on 46 pages
- The Passion of Ayn Rand by Barbara Branden on 19 pages
- We the Living by Ayn Rand on 13 pages
- The Voice of Reason: Essays in Objectivist Thought (The Ayn Rand Library) by Ayn Rand on 10 pages
- Judgment Day by Nathaniel Branden on 9 pages
See all 57 books this book cites
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