Who Is Ayn Rand?

Who is Ayn Rand?

Cover of the first edition
Authors	Nathaniel Branden Barbara Branden
Country	United States
Language	English
Subject	Ayn Rand
Publisher	Random House
Publication date	1962
Media type	Print (Hardcover and Paperback)
Pages	239 (first edition) 191 (1964 edition)
ISBN	0-394-45179-1
OCLC	313377536

Who Is Ayn Rand? is a 1962 book about the philosopher Ayn Rand by Nathaniel Branden and Barbara Branden. It comprises four essays addressing Rand's life and writings and her philosophy of Objectivism. The book's title essay is Barbara Branden's authorized biography of Rand. The Brandens subsequently repudiated the book, deeming its approach too uncritical toward Rand.

Summary

The first section of the book contains three essays by Nathaniel Branden, under the heading "An Analysis of the Novels of Ayn Rand". The first discusses the ethical philosophy presented in Rand's novel Atlas Shrugged (1957). The second discusses the implications that Objectivism has for the field of psychology. The final essay in this section discusses Rand's literary techniques.

The book's second section contains a biographical essay of Rand by Barbara Branden, which was written with Rand's full cooperation and review. ^[1]

Background and publication history

At the time the book was written, Nathaniel and Barbara Branden had been close friends with Rand for over a decade. The couple worked through the Nathaniel Branden Institute and The Objectivist Newsletter to spread Rand's philosophical ideas. The book was inspired by a series of radio talks that Nathaniel Branden gave on radio station WBAI in New York. He suggested the idea of basing a book on the talk to Bennett Cerf, Rand's editor at Random House. Cerf suggested including a biographical essay about Rand. Nathaniel Branden turned this portion of the book over to his wife Barbara, who conducted a series of audiotaped private interviews with Rand to collect biographical information. ^[2]

In 1968, several years after the publication of Who Is Ayn Rand?, Rand terminated her relationship with both Brandens. ^[3] Subsequently, the Brandens repudiated their own book, saying the approach they took was too uncritical towards Rand. ^[1]

The book was first published in June 1962 in a hardcover edition from Random House. ^[4] A paperback edition was released in June 1964 by Paperback Library. ^{[5] [6]}

Reception

Rand scholar Mimi Reisel Gladstein said Nathaniel Branden's essays are "illuminating", but the biography is limited because it required Rand's review and approval. ^[1] Historian Jennifer Burns called it "hagiographic". ^[7] In an essay accusing the Objectivist movement of being a cult, Murray N. Rothbard described the book as an "authorized exercise in uncritical adulation". ^[8] Other critics of Rand have called it "gushingly adulatory" ^[9] and "sycophantic". ^[10]

References

1. Gladstein 1999 , p. 98
2. Branden 1999 , p. 249
3. Branden 1986 , pp. 344–358
4. Branden 1999 , p. 263
5. Branden 1999 , p. 296
6. Gladstein 1999 , p. 133
7. Burns 2009 , p. 192
8. Rothbard 1972
9. Walker 1999 , p. 151
10. Weiss 2012 , p. 89

Works cited

• Branden, Barbara (1986). The Passion of Ayn Rand . Garden City, New York: Doubleday & Company. ISBN   0-385-19171-5. OCLC   12614728.
• Branden, Nathaniel (1999). My Years with Ayn Rand . San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN   0-7879-4513-7. OCLC   39391081.
• Burns, Jennifer (2009). Goddess of the Market: Ayn Rand and the American Right . New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN   978-0-19-532487-7. OCLC   313665028.
• Gladstein, Mimi Reisel (1999). The New Ayn Rand Companion. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press. ISBN   0-313-30321-5. OCLC   40359365.
• Rothbard, Murray N. (1972). "The Sociology of the Ayn Rand Cult". LewRockwell.com . Retrieved November 4, 2013.
• Walker, Jeff (1999). The Ayn Rand Cult . La Salle, Illinois: Open Court Publishing. ISBN   0-8126-9390-6. OCLC   39914039.
• Weiss, Gary (2012). Ayn Rand Nation: The Hidden Struggle for America's Soul . New York: St. Martin's Press. ISBN   978-0-312-59073-4. OCLC   740628885.