Ayn Rand [1905-82] at Maison d'Être Philosophy Bookstore

Ayn Rand was born 2 February 1905 in St. Petersburg [Leningrad], Russia, nee Alissa Zinovievna Rosenbaum. She came to America in 1926, lived for a while with relatives in Chicago, then moved to Hollywood, where she worked for Cecil B. DeMille and others. She met Frank O'Connor and they married on 15 April 1929, and she became a U.S. citizen in 1931.
She and Frank moved to New York City, after which her first major work, the play now known as "The Night of January 16th", was produced in Los Angeles & on Broadway (1934-35); her first published novel was "We The Living" in 1936. The novel "Anthem" was published in 1938; her stage play "The Unconquered" had a short Broadway run in 1940; and her novel "The Fountainhead" was published in 1943. She and Frank then returned to California, partly due to her involvement in the filming of "The Fountainhead", which was released by Warner Bros. in 1949.

        Before she and Frank moved back to New York City in October, 1951, she met future associates Nathaniel & Barbara Branden and Leonard Peikoff. Her most famous work and final novel "Atlas Shrugged" was published in 1957 and remained on the New York Times bestseller list for 21 weeks. Thereafter, she wrote non-fiction and worked in a range of media: lectures, radio shows, The Objectivist Newsletter, magazine articles, a column in the Los Angeles Times, and personal appearances on "The Tonight Show", "Today", and other television programs.
        A major breakup with the Brandens occurred in 1968, resulting in their public 'repudiation' and the disbandment of the Nathaniel Branden Institute. Leonard Peikoff was designated Ayn Rand's sole legal heir, and is now her self-appointed intellectual heir. The Objectivist ceased publication in September 1971, succeeded by the bi-weekly Ayn Rand Letter the month after.
        She survived a diagnosis of lung cancer in 1974, though her activities were slowed somewhat; the Ayn Rand Letter was discontinued in 1976. Frank O'Connor died in November 1979, a heart-wrenching event from which Ayn Rand never quite recovered.

"The Objectivist Forum" began publication in February 1980 (it continued after her death, until 1987), and the "Ayn Rand Library" book series was begun. Ayn Rand died of heart failure in New York City on 6 March 1982, and was buried at Valhalla, New York.

Many non-fiction compilation books and the six books of the "Ayn Rand Library" were completed and published posthumously. Many books by others about Ayn Rand – both for and against her theories – are still being written and published successfully, and her own works sell 300,000 copies each year. The Ayn Rand Institute continues to spread her ideas and ideals, while the expulsion of several staff members in 1990 resulted in the competing Institute for Objectivist Studies, renamed recently as The Objectivist Center.

A seeming renaissance in Ayn Rand's popularity began in the 1990's: two U.S. postage stamps in her honor [at top of Links Page]; the 1998 documentary feature film "Ayn Rand: A Sense of Life", which was nominated for an Oscar; and inclusion of both "Atlas Shrugged" and "The Fountainhead" in the top ten of many lists of 'Best (or Most Important) Novels of the XXth Century'. In 1998, Random House & Modern Library ran an online readers poll on 'The Best Novels Published In The English Language Since 1900', and voters placed four Ayn Rand novels in the Top Ten!: "Atlas Shrugged" was #1, "The Fountainhead" was #2, "Anthem" was #7, and "We The Living" was #8.

A restoration of the Italian film "We The Living" was re-released in December 2003.
After years of on-again, off-again 'development hell', the three-part TV miniseries version of "Atlas Shrugged" finally began filming in June 2010 and was released theatrically in three parts: Part 1 in April 2011, Part 2 in October 2012, and Part 3 in September 2014. {See below}

The objectivist ethics holds man's life as the standard of value
– and his own life as the ethical purpose of every individual man.

The three cardinal values of the Objectivist ethics . . . are:
Reason, Purpose, Self-Esteem,
with their three corresponding virtues: Rationality, Productiveness, Pride.

"We The Living" [1936]
placed #8 on the 1998 Random House/Modern Library online readers poll on 'The Best Novels Published In The English Language Since 1900'

"Anthem" [1938]
placed #7 on the 1998 Random House/Modern Library online readers poll on 'The Best Novels Published In The English Language Since 1900'

"The Fountainhead" [1943]
placed #2 on the 1998 Random House/Modern Library online readers poll on 'The Best Novels Published In The English Language Since 1900'

Ayn Rand's 1957 novel "Atlas Shrugged" has influenced Western thought for over fifty years now,
although political and academic critics often miss the point. The movie version released in three parts (2011 and 2012 and 2014) stirred things up anew,
so the growing catalog of books and films and video was cut to its own separate page in Fall 2012.

"To Lorne Dieterling" (working title) was a novel worked on during the 1950s and abandoned in the 1960s;
it had the theme of joy lasting out against irrelevant pain.

In 1974, Ayn Rand was under contract to produce another novel, which was apparently about a lighthearted hero
named Faustin Donnegal; nothing seems to exist among her papers.

"Ideal" [novel written 1934, stageplay 1989, book 2015]
Ayn Rand wrote a novel in 1934 about Garbo-esque actress Kay Gonda who is on the run from the police and seeks help from six fans
who wrote letters to her; but Rand was not happy with the result. She then wrote a stageplay version that was not performed until 1989.
New American Library announced in late 2014 plans to publish both the novel and the play in one volume, set for July 2015.

"Ideal" [2004 video release]
Ayn Rand's play 'Ideal' was produced in 1989 at the Melrose Theater in Hollywood, under the direction of Michael Paxton
credits at IMDb; available as an extra on the 2004 "Ayn Rand: A Sense of Life" 2-disk DVD

"Ideal" [novel written 1934, stageplay 1989, book 2015]
see details about playscript/novel book and 2004 video of the play {above}

	"For The New Intellectual" [1961] N.A.L. pb [3/84] for $6.39 Blackstone audio CD [11/2000] for $69.99
	"The Virtue of Selfishness: A New Concept of Egoism" [1964] N.A.L. pb [7/89] for $6.39 Blackstone UNABR audio [3/2001] for $39.95 Blackstone audio CD [3/2001] for $48.00
	"Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal" [1967] N.A.L. pb [8/84] for $7.99 Blackstone UNABR audio [11/2000] for $69.95 Blackstone audio CD [11/20001] for $96.00
	"The Romantic Manifesto: A Philosophy of Literature" [1969] Kindle Edition from Signet/Penguin [1971 edition] for $7.99 N.A.L./Signet mass pb [10/71] for $7.99 World Publng Co. 8x5¼ hardcover [1969] out of print/used
	"The New Left: The Anti-Industrial Revolution" [1971] Penguin 8x5 pb [2/94] out of stock/used
	"Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology" [1990] Meridian 8x5 pb [12/90] for $14.36

	Volume I: "Philosophy: Who Needs It?" [1982] N.A.L. pb [4/85] for $6.39
	Volume II: "Early Ayn Rand" [1984] includes novella "Red Pawn", stageplays "Ideal" and "Think Twice", short stories "The Husband I Bought", "Good Copy", "Escort" and "Her Second Career", and portions removed from "The Fountainhead" N.A.L. pb [12/86] for $5.59
	Volume III: "The Ominous Parallels" [1982] by Leonard Peikoff Plume 8x5 pb [10/97] for $11.16
	Volume IV: "The Ayn Rand Lexicon: Objectivism from A to Z" [1986] Edited by Harry Binswanger N.A.L. 9x6 pb [1/90] for $14.36
	Volume V: "The Voice of Reason: Essays In Objectivist Thought" [1989] Meridian 8x5 pb [7/90] for $13.56
	Volume VI: "Objectivism: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand" [1991] by Leonard Peikoff Meridian 8x5 pb [12/93] for $13.56

	"Ayn Rand: In Her Own Words" documentary film [2010] The life and work of Ayn Rand described thru film and television, including never-before-seen footage from the archives of the Ayn Rand Estate. Directed by John Little & Robert Anderson Entertainment One widescreen color/b&w DVD [5/2011] for $14.98 full credits at IMDb • watch official trailer [1:43] on YouTube
	"The Objectivism Research CD-ROM: The Works of Ayn Rand" [2001] by Leonard Peikoff & Ayn Rand Oliver Computing CDROM [5/2001] for only $59.95

	N.A.L. pb [1/96] for $7.99 Dutton 9.3x6.4 hardcover [12/95] for $29.95 Blackstone UNABR audio [8/97] for $85.95 adapted as "The Unconquered" [1940 Broadway play]
	"Noi Vivi" [Italian feature film 1942] Restored/subtitled version released 1986 Directed by Goffredo Alessandrini; screenplay by Oreste Biancoli & Anton Giulio Majano, based on "We The Living"; starring Alida Valli, Rossano Brazzi & Fosco Giachetti Scalera Films/Duncan Scott Prodns b&w DVD [8/00] 2 disks for $26.96 Scalera Films/Duncan Scott Prodns b&w VHS [5/94] 2 tapes out of prodn/used credits from IMDb: 1942 version \| 1986 version
	"Essays on Ayn Rand's We The Living" [2004] by Robert Mayhew R&L/Lexington 8¾x5¾ pb [2/2004] for $28.95 R&L/Lexington 9x6 hardcover [4/2004] for $75.00

	"Anthem by Ayn Rand" graphic novel [2011] Adapted by Charles Santino, Illustrated by Joe Staton Kindle Edition from N.A.L./Penguin [2/2011] for $9.99 New American Library 9x6 pb [2/2011] for $10.11
	"Anthem by Ayn Rand" graphic novel [2017] Adapted by Jennifer Anju Grossman, Artwork by Daniel Parsons available only by reserving a copy at The Atlas Society website (9/2017)

	Ayn Rand Boxed Set [2009] includes "Atlas Shrugged: 50th Anniversary Edition" [1957] and "The Fountainhead" [1943] Penguin/Signet slipcover mass pb box set [10/2009] for $13.59
	Ayn Rand Centennial Editions Boxed Set [2005] using cover artwork from the original hardcover editions Plume 9½x6½ pb box set [9/2005] for $31.68
	Double paperback: "The Fountainhead" & "Atlas Shrugged" [1997] Signet/N.A.L. mass pb [10/97] out of print/used

Maison d'Être Philosophy BookstoreAyn Rand [1905-1982]

Maison d'Être Philosophy Bookstore
Ayn Rand
[1905-1982]