Ayn Rand Nation: The Hidden Struggle for America's Soul - New Book and it does not look promising!

[Selene]

Anyone heard about this one?

Ayn Rand Nation: The Hidden Struggle for America’s Soul

Publishers Weekly| Book review: Ayn Rand Nation: The Hidden Struggle for America’s Soul, by Gary Weiss.In this riveting and disturbing inquiry into Ayn Rand’s widespread influence on American economics and politics, Weiss (Wall Street Versus America) tackles the history and the present of objectivism, emphasizing its paradoxical return to prominence in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis. Enshrined in Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead, Rand’s philosophy spawned a cult following that included Alan Greenspan, and whose current purveyors include Glenn Beck, Paul Ryan, and members of the Tea Party.

[Selene]

In an Al Jazeera, "in depth" piece, commenting on the new book:

Writer (

and illegal immigrant

) Ayn Rand's paean to selfishness in books like

Atlas Shrugged

popularised the ideology that today drives the Tea Party, almost all of the Republicans' candidates, and even the extreme austerity movement in Europe and parts of the US.

It is the subject of financial journalist Gary Weiss' brilliant new book,

Ayn Rand Nation

, which investigates the close political relationship between Greenspan and Rand. (Rand, however, called Greenspan "the Undertaker" for the way he dressed.)

In those years, Greenspan even wrote a letter to the

New York Times,

defending Rand's brilliance after the newspaper carried a denunciation by anti-communist stalwart Whittaker Chambers, who wrote dismissively, "Out of a lifetime of reading I can recall no other book in which a tone of overriding arrogance was so implacably sustained. Its shrillness is without reprieve. Its dogmatism is without appeal." Gore Vidal called her work "nearly perfect in its immorality".

What interested me is why, despite this intellectual opposition on both right and left, Greenspan and Rand were given a mostly free ride by a mainstream media that glorified and promoted Greenspan's financial acumen and Rand's work - labeled a "nightmare" by a

Time

reviewer - into bestseller status.

http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2012/02/2012226141935500502.html

[9thdoctor]

From what I've seen he doesn't impress.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb2K4AzZsUM

[Brant Gaede]

Financial writers tend to get Rand lite and mostly wrong. Rand was an Austrian insofar as she was into academic economics championing von Mises. Greenspan was a Keynesian at the head of the basically socialistic enterprise of central banking. As such he revealed himself to be a master politician and a lousy economist. Most economists are lousy economists. Greenspan left New York for Washington. Galt said stuff it. But because Rand took a conservative bent of sorts she sanctioned Greenspan in Washington never knowing what he would end up actually doing. Greenspan could have been successful in Washington if he had had the guts to take away the "punch bowl" when the party got too hot. Instead he kept adding more gin. State of the central banking world today, BTW. He also advocated partial deregulation of banking that resulted in standard banking mixing it up with investment banking driving the whole system to the edge of a disaster that will probably still happen.

--Brant

[Selene]

From what I've seen he doesn't impress.

Agreed. His statement about the Founders exposed his biases and blind spots to me.

Additionally, he appears reasonably clueless, and arrogantly so, about Objectivism. To claim that Rand is the "darling" of the "far right," undefined, illustrates why most of her critics just do not get it.

Adam

[studiodekadent]

Additionally, he appears reasonably clueless, and arrogantly so, about Objectivism. To claim that Rand is the "darling" of the "far right," undefined, illustrates why most of her critics just do not get it.

Absolutely.

Leftist hysteria over libertarians "hijacking" the Republican party is insanely knee-jerk, especially given Santorum's Surges and Ron Paul's relatively poor showing so far.

Rand and her intellectual descendents are hardly on the cusp of dominating the "right."

[Dennis Hardin]

Apparently both Nathaniel and Barbara Branden agreed to be interviewed for the book. According to this brief excerpt (which I found on Amazon), Weiss does have an accurate grasp of some aspects of Objectivist history.

Despite a curse that Rand placed on his head like a Gypsy queen in a bad movie, Branden has done quite well for himself in the post-Rand era. Since his split with Rand his career veered away from Objectivism toward pop psychology, and he has authored numerous books on self-esteem, in addition to his tell-all memoir My Years with Ayn Rand. Generally speaking he has not asserted his Randian seniority, though he has occasionally appeared on panels. “I’ve had a lot of health problems. I’ve sort of withdrawn from the world,” he said. He didn’t seem to be following the nation’s political struggles, but did have an opinion on the Tea Party movement. It wasn’t very positive. “Their whole approach is not intellectual,” he said. “I have no quarrel with the Tea parties but I don’t know what they’re going to accomplish in the long run.”

In a conventional political, philosophical, or social movement, old warriors like the Brandens would be considered a valuable resource, and their spat with Rand would be viewed as ancient history. But Objectivism is anything but conventional. The ARI, still dominated by Peikoff, continues to view the Bandens as unspeakable traitors, even though Rand’s accusations against them were false and both remain stout defenders of Objectivism and Rand’s works. “All [Peikoff] knows is that Ayn broke with me, and that’s all he has to know. I’m evil. I’m really the devil incarnate,” Barbara said laconically. In Sense of Life, the ARI-sanctioned propaganda film, the Brandens are referred to only briefly and disparagingly, and without giving their side of the story. That was not a fluke or oversight. The filmmaker’s access to the ARI archives was conditioned on not interviewing the Brandens and largely omitting them from the film.

Based on this, I'll give him the benefit of the doubt until I read his book.

[Reidy]

This generation has found its Jeff Walker.

[Selene]

This generation has found its Jeff Walker.

Reidy:

Ok, I'm confused. I had to look the name up. Do you mean the punk rocker or the "internet marketing 'guru'?"

Or, someone else?

Adam

[Reidy]

He was the author of a long-forgotten hatchet job entitled The Ayn Rand Cult. The definitive review is Bradford's aptly-titled Ayn Rant. If you've never heard of him, QED. I predict a similar fate for Weiss. Before that Walker had done a valuable collection of oral histories for the Canadian Broadcasing Corporation, interviewing, among others, NB, BB, Peikoff and the Blumenthals.

I'm in the book, but then so is just about everybody who got past reading Anthem in middle school.

(PS to #7: I once attended a book tour event by Michael Paxton, director of Ayn Rand: a Sense of Life. In answer to a question from the audience, he expressly denied that ARI or the estate had set any conditions on him as the price of access; as far as I know Weiss made this up. They already knew him and presumably trusted him to toe the line, but that isn't what Weiss said.)

[Dennis Hardin]

.

(PS to #7: I once attended a book tour event by Michael Paxton, director of Ayn Rand: a Sense of Life. In answer to a question from the audience, he expressly denied that ARI or the estate had set any conditions on him as the price of access; as far as I know Weiss made this up. They already knew him and presumably trusted him to toe the line, but that isn't what Weiss said.)

I have a bridge in Brooklyn for sale if you're interested.

[Dennis Hardin]

I just received the book in the mail yesterday, and it is fascinating. The author is no fan of Ayn Rand, but, as he states in the preface, any reader expecting an “anti-Rand polemic” is going to be disappointed. Weiss opens with a virulent attack on Rand’s philosophy and works, basically characterizing all of it as total, mind-numbing garbage, but then proceeds to offer a fairly well-researched study of the contemporary Objectivist movement. The premise of the book seems to be “know thy enemy.”

Some of the topics he covers include detailed looks at both ARI and TAS, a report on the rumored meeting between Yaron Brook and David Kelley (Yes! It really happened! And it was not all that amicable), a discussion of ARI’s new policy of embracing some libertarian groups, and an interview with Oliver Stone about his sordid plans (now thankfully shelved) to morph The Fountainhead into a freakish monstrosity of a movie.

Some choice sentiments from Yaron Brook:

On Sarah Palin: “Generally I don’t think she’s very intelligent.”

On Glenn Beck: “He’s just way too religious for my taste… I think this taints his ability to understand key concepts that are crucial for the fight for freedom…”

On the “soft & wooshy” Atlas Society: “A lot of people have called them ‘Objectivism Lite.’”

I’ve read the first 50 pages or so and skimmed several chapters. I’m looking forward to reading the whole book. It offers a wealth of insight and information that would likely attract the interest of anyone interested in Objectivism.

[Selene]

I just received the book in the mail yesterday, and it is fascinating. The author is no fan of Ayn Rand, but, as he states in the preface, any reader expecting an “anti-Rand polemic” is going to be disappointed. Weiss opens with a virulent attack on Rand’s philosophy and works, basically characterizing all of it as total, mind-numbing garbage, but then proceeds to offer a fairly well-researched study of the contemporary Objectivist movement. The premise of the book seems to be “know thy enemy.”

Some of the topics he covers include detailed looks at both ARI and TOC, a report on the rumored meeting between Yaron Brook and David Kelley (Yes! It really happened! And it was not all that amicable), a discussion of ARI’s new policy of embracing some libertarian groups, and an interview with Oliver Stone about his sordid plans (now thankfully shelved) to morph The Fountainhead into a freakish monstrosity of a movie.

Some choice sentiments from Yaron Brook:

On Sarah Palin: “Generally I don’t think she’s very intelligent.”

On Glenn Beck: “He’s just way too religious for my taste… I think this taints his ability to understand key concepts that are crucial for the fight for freedom…”

On the “soft & wooshy” Atlas Society: “A lot of people have called them ‘Objectivism Lite.’”

I’ve read the first 50 pages or so and skimmed several chapters. I’m looking forward to reading the whole book. It offers a wealth of insight and information that would likely attract the interest of anyone interested in Objectivism.

Thank you Dennis.

Now I have another damn book to read. I still have not read either of the Branden's books.

Adam

[Dennis Hardin]

Thank you Dennis.

Now I have another damn book to read. I still have not read either of the Branden's books.

Adam

Huh? The Branden's books? Did Barbara write another book I don't know about? (Barbara's Rand bio was published in 1986.)

You're spending entirely too much time on OL, Adam.

[caroljane]

[quote name='Dennis Hardin' timestamp='1331941967' post='15885

Thank you Dennis.

Now I have another damn book to read. I still have not read either of the Branden's books.

Adam

Huh? The Branden's books? Did Barbara write another book I don't know about? (Barbara's Rand bio was published in 1986.)

You're spending entirely too much time on OL, Adam.

His only respite is the Field Training Handbook for his militia troupe.

[Selene]

Thank you Dennis.

Now I have another damn book to read. I still have not read either of the Branden's books.

Adam

Huh? The Branden's books? Did Barbara write another book I don't know about? (Barbara's Rand bio was published in 1986.)

You're spending entirely too much time on OL, Adam.

Dennis:

I never read either Barbara's 1986 book or Nathan's books on Ayn. I have read some of Nathan's books like Breaking Free, Discovering the Unknown Self and Honoring the Self.

Adam

[Dennis Hardin]

Dennis:

I never read either Barbara's 1986 book or Nathan's books on Ayn. I have read some of Nathan's books like Breaking Free, Discovering the Unknown Self and Honoring the Self.

Adam

We all have our priorities, I suppose.

[BaalChatzaf]

Additionally, he appears reasonably clueless, and arrogantly so, about Objectivism. To claim that Rand is the "darling" of the "far right," undefined, illustrates why most of her critics just do not get it.

Absolutely.

Leftist hysteria over libertarians "hijacking" the Republican party is insanely knee-jerk, especially given Santorum's Surges and Ron Paul's relatively poor showing so far.

Rand and her intellectual descendents are hardly on the cusp of dominating the "right."

The Jesus Freaks have that dishonor.

Ba'al Chatzaf