The Rand band
August 3, 2009Jon Brooks Comments Off
The New York Time ran a story yesterday on John A. Allison IV, the former head of North Carolina banking success BB&T. Allison, now retired, is a vocal adherent of “objectivism,” the philosophical system developed by author Ayn Rand that embraced pure free-market capitalism. Another Rand acolyte is, famously, Alan Greenspan.
The laissez-faire set, which has had a great run since Ronald Reagan declared that “government is not the solution… government is the problem,” has taken a bit of a beating lately, what with the near collapse of the financial system and all. But the Times reports that in the first half of 2009, Penguin Books has shipped more than 300,000 copies of Rand’s 1957 opus on the joys of self-interest, Atlas Shrugged. That’s a 25 percent increase over all of 2008.
Obviously, with government bailouts and increased regulation the order of the day, a lot of free marketeers-in-exile must be getting really Rand-y, taking refuge in the book that excited many a CEO, or would-be CEO, at the beginning of his or her climb up the corporate ladder. But now that so many have discovered, or re-discovered, the book, what do they think of it?
Well, Atlas Shrugged has prompted over 1800 user reviews on Amazon.com, 60% of whom assigned the book 5 stars, the top rating. Only 11% rate the book 1 star, and 29% give it 2, 3, or 4 stars.
Over on Goodreads, more than 24,000 users have rated the book, averaging out to just under 4 stars out of 5.
A good representative of the laudatory posts on Amazon is titled “Very Timely in in this ‘Day of the Progressives”:
“I first read this book in the mid-70s. It was very inspiring, and literally changed my belief systems. Now in the era of the progressive (Obamamania) it is just as germane and compelling. It tells a great story of what happens to society when the “Looters” take over. Those intellectuals who think man is just a greedy [...] and that the public good is far more important than the individual. The individual (as conceived in the U.S. Constitution) is the one who actually produces, while the bleeding hearts just loot from his achievements; because they are incapable of their own. It is a great read and makes you think hard about what is happening in the good ‘ol US of A.”
Of the pans, a post called “Philosophy if you do not think” opines:
This book may be the most simplistic take on humanity ever written and thus does appeal to the masses as “philosophy.” Utter garbage, but it is the tome that many doomsday right wingers are quoting so it is worth reading to understand their paranoia.
Not much agreement there, but why would there be?
And if you want to vote yes on the Randian view, become a fan on Facebook.
