Posted on 01/14/2026 6:31:38 AM PST by dynachrome
This is not my usual fare. I typically summarize books that expose institutional capture, medical corruption, or the mechanisms by which official narratives diverge from observable reality. Atlas Shrugged is not that kind of book. It is a novel—a thousand-page philosophical novel published in 1957 about railroads and steel mills and a mysterious man who stops the motor of the world. It came up recently in conversation with a close friend, and I realized that despite its enormous cultural footprint, almost no one I know has actually read it. They know the name Ayn Rand. They have opinions about her. But they have not sat with the book itself.
(Excerpt) Read more at unbekoming.substack.com ...
I had an English professor in college that told me, you can lecture in a novel, but don’t get caught. Rand didn’t care, and being surrounded by sycophants in there social circle, didn’t have an editor to snap her up short. It could have been a much better novel.
As a former philosophy major, I just skip the “This is John Galt Speaking” section. You a just picture people all over the world turning off their radios.
Also, it was a depression era themed book written in the 50’s, a much more prosperous time.
“Atlas Shrugged is NOT a literary classic like Shakespeare or Tolstoy, ....”
Yep, they indoctrinated us with those two as required reading. How dare they push us to read Rand. Biggest libs I know get real phallic when you mention Shakespeare or Tolstoy!!
If you have read as far as John Galt’s speech, there is no need to read his speech.
“We owe it to ourselves.”
Yes, it largely is a lie but Not entirely.
Much of the national debt is held by foreign nations.
But that debt is serviced by stealing from those foreign nations and ourselves by inflating (devaluing) our currency.
Good point on foreign holders of debt.
That said—it is a lie on other levels as well.
The “we” who owe the debt are different than the “we” who collect interest of the debt—as just one example.
Equally important is that none of us as individuals signed up for this debt—we just inherited it.
In fact children not yet born inherit it as well.
Future generations are the “we” who are getting stabbed in the back.
bookmark
Me too. I mean, I read it 27 years ago, but... definitely opened my eyes.
And it's so unnecessary, because by the time you've gotten to that part of the book, you have gotten the point she's trying to make.
Most of my buds have read it multiple times. I've read it 4 times. Amazing how 0bama followed the government plans.
Each time I read it I just couldn't finish John Gault's radio address. Just had to skip to the end of the chapter. One day I decided to read chapter VII first. Painful
I love Atlas Shrugged!!
I’ve read it twice and seen the movie which was marginal.
Fountain Head is another but not as significant.
Time to read A S again. By the way, Atlas Shrugged was the first book I acquired through Amazon in the late 1980’s or so.
My office mate ordered a dozen and handed them out like candy.
And... he’s liberal but not stupid.
Some of his supporters encourage people to think that.
I read it in Jr high (my father’s copy!), again high school (my copy) and again in college!
I even read the entire John Galt speech.
I read it and used it in arguments with the left at “The Shelter Half” in Tacoma, Washington outside of Fort Lewis, during the Vietnam War.
https://grokipedia.com/page/the_shelter_half
I just watched the 3 part series (again). Not the best made in the world but love the story
Same here and about the same time line.
Wife and I so influenced by it that we bought cases of the paperback edition and distributed them to family, friends and business associates.
I’ve long contended that she should have employed the help of a good editor. A lot of superfluous verbiage could have been pared out. Properly edited it would not have weakened the story or impact and made it much more readable.
Read it myself probably 15 times in the past 30 years. Ayn Rand’s atheism was very off-putting but she gave great insight into the collectivist mindset.
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