| Ayn Rand for Beginners, Andrew Bernstein, 2009, | | | | not? |
| ISBN 9781934389379 | | | | In Atlas Shrugged, America is being pushed toward |
| Here is a simple introduction to the life and philosophy | | | | socialism by politicians and intellectuals; also, America's |
| of Ayn Rand. Along with being the founder of | | | | greatest minds are literally disappearing. Where are |
| Objectivism, she also wrote Atlas Shrugged and The | | | | they going? |
| Fountainhead, two of the 20th Century's most | | | | In an isolated part of the Colorado Rockies, Dagny |
| famous novels. | | | | Taggart, railroad owner, finds America's missing smart |
| The Fountainhead takes place in the 1920s and | | | | people. They are on strike against a moral code |
| 1930s, and is about Howard Roark, a modernist | | | | which says that moral goodness is found in sacrificing |
| architect in a society that prefers buildings that look | | | | one's self for others, not in finding personal happiness. |
| like Gothic cathedrals or Greek temples. He is expelled | | | | Taggart also meets John Galt, inventor of an |
| from college, gets fired from one job and loses | | | | ultra-efficient motor, and leader of the strike. The |
| commissions because of his absolute refusal to | | | | state kidnaps Galt, and tortures him, in order to force |
| compromise his principles. After, unwillingly, working in | | | | him to become economic dictator of America, and to |
| a quarry, because he was forced out of the | | | | fix America's precarious economy. Does Galt give in, |
| architecture field, Roark designs a revolutionary | | | | or stay true to his principles? |
| apartment house in New York City. As part of a | | | | For anyone who has read either of Rand's books, |
| socialist plot to neutralize Roark, his revolutionary | | | | and still don't understand them, this is the book. For |
| design for a religious temple is criticized as sacrilege, | | | | anyone who wants to know more about |
| so Roark is branded an enemy of religion and a public | | | | Objectivism, this is the book. For anyone who simply |
| enemy. Commissioned to design a government | | | | wants to know more about a famous person of the |
| housing project, Roark's design is changed without his | | | | 20th Century, this is the book. It is a gem. |
| knowledge or consent. Does Roark let it go ahead, or | | | | |