Now in a completely revised, updated, and expanded edition, Mimi Gladstein's The New Ayn Rand Companion continues to be a critically important, essential guide to the life and works of author/philosopher Ayn Rand. Gladstein chronicles and summarizes Rand's writings, presents information about her national and global impact (and the response to it) and provides the most comprehensive bibliography published to date. Gladstein is neither an Ayn Rand enthusiast or detractor and therefore takes a scrupulous, scholarly, methodical, and emotionally neutral approach to her meticulous research as she covers the complete Rand corpus. New materials about Rand's posthumous publications, the latest biographical information, and summaries of books and articles about Rand published since her death have been added to make The New Ayn Rand Companion a "must" for all serious students of her writings.

The first edition of this book was published within a couple years of Rand's death, so there is much updating to be done (although that earlier edition did benefit from a preview of Barbara Branden's biography of Rand, then still in progress). In addition to The Passion of Ayn Rand, many of Rand's private journals and letters have now been published, and a number of important secondary sources as well, such as Chris Matthew Sciabarra's full-throttle philosophical and historical study Ayn Rand: The Russian Radical. Almost every work of significance pertaining to Rand is described or at least mentioned, making this volume a reference of first resort for Rand studies.

What's covered here? Let Gladstein answer: "The organization of this Companion follows a logical heuristic: Who? What? and So what? 'Who is Ayn Rand?' is the question answered partly by the brief biographical chapter. The main body of this book, however, responds to the question, 'What has she written?' That is covered in the chapters on her fiction, her nonfiction, and in the compendium of characters. 'So what?' is the question that calls for critical reaction and that is provided in the chapter on criticism."

The author also provides a comprehensive bibliography of works by and about Rand. Even such obscure pieces as David M. Brown's hitherto unheralded survey of "The Critics of Barbara Branden" (published in the May 1988 issue of Liberty magazine) are included.

Gladstein has much that is both positive and on-point to say about Rand's character, her fiction, her nonfiction, and the various critical assessments of her work. She doesn't shy away from negative judgments when such are appropriate, either.

On Rand Herself: "Regardless of what pressures were brought to bear, regardless of how many of those in power told her that she must change her style, regardless of what obstacles she found to 'doing it her way,' Rand remained true to her purposes in writing." "Intellectually, she could best anyone in argument.... Bennett Cerf concurred, 'You can't argue with Ayn Rand. She's so clever at it, she makes a fool out of you.' " Rand's personal shortcomings are mentioned, as well as the troubling circumstances that surrounded the Objectivist Crackup in 1968; but Gladstein does not dwell on such matters. Of course the works cited, the most important of which is The Passion of Ayn Rand, tell the whole story of Ayn Rand's often triumphant, sometimes tragic life.

On Rand's Fiction: "Rand's major literary works follow similar plot patterns. In each, an exceptionally able and individualistic protagonist battles the forces of collectivism and mediocrity that are threatening or have destroyed the nation or the world." "Rand's heroes are tall, straight and strong. As with their feminine counterparts, defiance is a keystone to their characters." "The major theme of Rand's fiction is the primacy of the individual. The unique and precious individual human life is the standard by which good is judged." Mention is also made of such leitmotifs as "recurring whip imagery" and "romanticized rapes" that are "symbolic of the head-on clash of two strong personalities." (Gladstein is quick to add that readers of "raised consciousness about the nature of rape might find this symbolism unpalatable," but neglects to state clearly that the vigorous sexual encounters in Rand's fiction cannot be taken as actual rape-not if the text itself is to be admitted in evidence.) Gladstein's summaries of Rand's stories are uniformly excellent.

On Rand's Nonfiction: "Montaigne, author of the book Essais which created the genre of the essay, defined the essay as 'an attempt,' a brief discussion as opposed to a thesis or dissertation. [The essays of The Virtue of Selfishness] are just that-compressed discussions, forays into their subjects. As such, they are appealing to interested nonacademic or nonspecialist readers as well as to the more serious student of Objectivism." "Rand says capitalism is the only moral politico-economic system in history, a system that has been a great boon to humankind [TDO thinks Gladstein means "mankind" here].... Her purpose [in Capitalism: the Unknown Ideal] is to clearly identify the benefits of capitalism while also exposing the nature of its arch enemy, altruism." "One of Rand's greatest gifts is her ability to cut to the heart of a contemporary event or issue and analyze its philosophical implications." "The specific referencts of [The Objectivist Newsletter] were events of the early sixties. What makes them intellectually satisfying today is that the basic premises Rand uses to criticize government, education, or literature apply now as they did then."

The chapter on "Criticism of Rand's Works" includes a summary of every work about Rand that has been published, and mentions a great many of the critical articles. As you can imagine, the criticism is a very mixed bag, as assessments of Rand run the gamut in tone and objectivity. To her great credit, Gladstein's sensibility in criticizing the criticism is almost infallible. Any palpable blunders in The New Ayn Rand Companion? One or two. In the introduction the author states that Rand "presented herself as representative of her fictional ideal: rational, objective, uncompromising, unswerving. Her followers can find no imperfections. This tends to create a situation in which all who are not fully in accord with Rand are seen as part of the opposition." The gist of the observation is correct, but some qualification should have been made. Elsewhere in the book Gladstein herself documents the growth of more tolerant wings of the Objectivist movement, including the birth of The Institute for Objectivist Studies (now The Objectivist Center) and the publication of David Kelley's Truth and Toleration. (Alas, the Companion went to press just around the time The Daily Objectivist was being founded, so TDO's rapid ascendancy as the premier arbiter of non-orthodox Objectivist thought, displacing Kelley's organization, is not mentioned at all. Hopefully this omission will be rectified in the third edition.)

Another little glitch we could mention appears in the description of Hank Rearden. "Although [Rearden's] feelings for Francisco d'Anconia are strained by Francisco's superficial public image, their friendship grows until Rearden finds out that Francisco had been Dagny's lover." But in fact the great breach in the friendship occurs earlier in the novel, when Rearden realizes that Francisco had had the means to prevent a disaster from befalling Rearden Steel but chose not to prevent it. The discovery of Francisco and Dagny's past romance only increases but does not inaugurate the tension between the two men when they finally next encounter each other in Dagny's apartment. Anyone who has read Atlas Shrugged a million times cover to cover would be familiar with this sequence of events.

However, these points are trivia. Ninety nine point nine nine percent of the time Gladstein is completely accurate, not to mention astonishingly concise given the wealth of information she presents. She acknowledges the assistance of a number of major figures in the Objectivist movement, including Chris Matthew Sciabarra, Nathaniel Branden and Barbara Branden, Peter Saint Andre, Michelle Marder Kamhi and Lou Torres. Anyone with any serious interest in the work of Ayn Rand and its growing influence on our culture should own a copy of The New Ayn Rand Companion.--David M. Brown, Editor, The Daily Objectivist (www.dailyobjectivist.com)

Begun as her health deteriorated, Rand seeks to demonstrate in these intriguing letters how philosophy determines even minute seeming events--and how the apparently most unphilosophical matters soon reveal an underlying philosophy after a hard look. Insightful, entertaining, she proceeds as the philosopher on the mountain seeing lush valleys beyond, who leads us to understand the ideological mechanics of the decadent world about her. Some essays, such as her classic "review of a review" of John Rawls 'Theory of Justice'(where she outlined how incestuous academic cottage industries got started and soon acquired a life of there own) actually demonstrate her method by appearing rather nutty too many at the time--but sardonically prescient today. This is a very good education on how to see and seek the deeper truth of events critical to real intellectual analysis, whether you like Rand or not.

This book excerpts and encapsulates Ayn Rand's philosophy. It includes the John Galt speech from Atlas Shrugged.

From being secretly admired yet shunned for his bizarre modernistic architectural style, from being loved and loathed alike by the only woman he will ever have, this story of Howard Roark is both compelling and heartbreaking. Set in the roaring 20's, though not any of the focus of the book, Howard Roark sets off to do what he loves, having no one stand in his way and having no one tell him how to do what he is meant to do. To have the only woman he is ever to love marry the man he hates the most, and to make it at what he does the best. Architecture.

Jerome Tuccille documents his journey from Ayn Rand to Goldwater to Rothbard -- and back, beyond, and in between. This is a hilarious book if one knows the names and ideas being discussed; a newcomer may want to familiarize himself with names like Murray Rothbard, Karl Hess, Nathaniel & Barbara Branden, Leonard Liggio, Henry Paolucci, and the like before reading this book. Tuccille combines fiction and fact -- with much exaggeration -- to document the young libertarian movement from the mid-fifties to 1971. If the sequel is ever finished, I hope it can match this great book!

Business is NOT necessarily corrupt; honest profit does NOT have to be apologized for; "...the unearned cannot be had, the undeserved cannot be given, and the destruction of a value which is will not bring value to that which isn't." Honesty is not a social duty. The quest for personal joy, derived from achievement, is the most honorable goal of any life. I wish I had said all of the above.

While an undergraduate student at Seton Hall between 1997 and 2000, I had the distinct and memorable pleasure of being a student of the author of this book, Robert Mayhew. I sat for 7 of his course offerings over 3 years, and he continues to stand out in my mind as one of the most competent, engaging, and effective instructors with whom I have dealt in 22 years of schooling. Mayhew has the unique ability to satisfy the mildly curious as well as the most discriminating academician. In the years since graduation, I've paged through several of his volumes on the ancient Greeks, and I found them more interesting than any of the work I was doing in law school. You cannot go wrong with him.

Ayn Rand describes the necessary elements to take a theme abstraction and present it as a set of concretes directly related to the theme abstraction - the Romantic style. To help convey her reasoning she analyses examples from writers, herself included, who fit in, and some who don't. Victor Hugo and Isak Dinesen are two examples that are consistent with her preferences. Sinclair Lewis and Thomas Wolfe being two that aren't.

When I reviewed, The Fountainhead, I stated that Ayn Rand had an unfortunate tendency to indulge in 'eye poppingly bad' literary prose, which in this book she goes into great detail to point out its merits. Whilst her defence of these sections is logical, it still doesn't take away from their basic quality: they're still eye poppingly bad. As badly written as the pieces she has chosen from elsewhere to demonstrate how not to write. Unlike Victor Hugo's, and Isak Dinesen's, which is very smooth . When she writes more plainly, as she does for most of the time, her intention is conveyed perfectly well without any need for colourful and distracting prose.

That was the only real contradiction and failing of this book. Everything else is very appropriate for those who have the inclination and determination to write well in the Romantic style.

Her Non-fiction follow up is worth reading as a companion volume

The Art of Nonfiction is taken from a series of informal lectures that Ayn Rand gave to students in 1969 on the topic of the art of nonfiction writing. It was not prepared for publication by Rand, but the material in it was culled from these lectures, for which Rand had only an outline to prepare her. The Art of Nonfiction serves as a companion piece to The Art of Fiction, both from an author who wrote some of the Twentieth Century's most important and influential fiction and nonfiction works.

This work aims to teach the reader the principles behind the art of nonfiction writing. The chapters, which follow the order of the lectures given by Rand, cover such topics as how to get ideas for writing, the importance of and how to create an effective outline, the role of the conscious and subconscious in writing, editing, and how to prepare an article for publication. The book focuses on nonfiction article writing (all of Rand's published nonfiction works are compilations of her nonfiction essays), but also offers advice on nonfiction book writing. Rand was convinced of the omnipresence of one's philosophy in one's life and work, and this is evident in this book, which is replete with tie-ins to her philosophy and fascinating philosophical analysis of such topics as the nature of the subconscious mind and how to properly allow one's philosophical convictions influence one's writing.

Although the content is excellent and the progression is logical and persuasive, the reader should bear in mind that the material in it was neither prepared by nor intended for publication by Rand, who did not believe that the material as presented in these lectures would be good enough for publication. Still, it is remarkable how solid the material is, considering that it was done with little preparation on Rand's part.

One need not agree with Rand's philosophy to gain value from this book, so well reasoned and persuasive is her presentation. Both writers and readers have much to gain from this important addition to Ayn Rand's literature.

Like Rand, Bernstein is a philosopher and novelist. His extensive study of Rand's thought is evident in this masterful recapitulation of Rand's great novel. He understands Rand's ideas and characters, leading to a sympathetic treatment. However, he avoids being an overbearing propagandist. For those of us who were riveted by the action the first time we read Atlas, this will serve as a discussion with a 'friend' as we recall the events and characters. Enjoy.

I've pushed my way through many years of school without buying a single Cliffsnotes. I found it funny that my first purchase would be for a book I choose to read on my own accord. Rand's novel can't be praised enough, but I also have to give the Cliffnotes for the novel their fair due. This little book was a great help in gaining a better understanding of this massive novel. I really enjoyed the in depth character analysis, the tight summary of the book, and the critical essays offered at the end. If I were to write a paper on the book, I would definitely gain from having these notes. More importantly, by reading the book chapter by chapter, then going to the Cliffnotes and reading along to cover what I had just read, I was able to get through a work that covers a TREMENDOUS amount of ground, with a huge scope, and not get lost. After gaining as much as I did from using the Cliffnotes as a study tool while reading this novel, I made sure to pick up the Cliffnotes for "Fountainhead" so I could do the same for that book. I will definitely give consideration to purchasing Cliffnotes for my longer, more challenging future reads.

If the value of CliffsNotes was only to help readers discover with clarity what a particular author meant to convey in their novels, this book on _Atlas Shrugged_ would be trash. The reason is that Ayn Rand, more than any other author, wrote perfectly lucid novels about which no clarification is needed.

However, these books (of which I've only read a few) do offer another value that makes this one especially, not trash, but a book to be treasured. What they offer is this: the CliffsNotes books condense often-lengthy, important works of art so that they can be grasped--and remembered--with ease. And, as _Atlas Shrugged_ comprises some thousand plus pages with enough action and subplots to rival any novel by Hugo or Dumas, this value can perhaps never be more evident than with this new addition to the CliffsNotes series by Andrew Bernstein.

Cognizant of the task at hand, Dr. Bernstein condenses the entire book in a solid nine pages. From there, he lays down who the characters in the book are--as well as their relation to one another. And, after that, the reader is given a host of "critical commentaries" on each of the books thirty chapters which summarize what happened, pose questions to the reader that will be answered later, and reveal a number of instances where Miss Rand's overall theme can be seen.

Any person who is reading _Atlas_ for the first or second time ought to find these commentaries very helpful in understanding and appreciating the book. Unfortunately, as someone who has read the novel many times, I had to read many of the author's observations with a bitter-sweet sense of joy. ("Bitter" because I wish such a book was around when I first started reading Rand's novels and "sweet" because one finally is.)

Complete, undiluted happiness did not have to wait long however. Immediately after the "critical commentaries" is a section on the most important characters giving a detailed analysis of each. Then, at the end of the book, are two magnificent essays--one on the overall theme of _Atlas Shrugged_ and another on Miss Rand's portrayal of the common man which tells why the book's main "common man" (Eddie Willers) has an unresolved fate at the end. These two essays were a nice finishing touch for the book, making even a self-titled "veteran" reader like myself glad to have read it.

Taken all together, from the brief biography of Miss Rand at the beginning to the quizzes and projects to stimulate learning at the end, this book proves that Dr. Bernstein was the right man to pick for the job. And so, my gratitude goes out to the author and this last word of advice goes out to you, the person reading the words I've written here: "get this book whether you are reading _Atlas_ for the first time or not--as a supplement to Miss Rand's magnum opus there's nothing better on the market."

Facets of Ayn Rand is an enjoyable behind-the-scenes look at Ayn Rand, the person. For those familiar with Ayn Rand's philosophy (which holds integrity as one of seven virtues), it will come as no surprise that her personal life was consistent with her philosophy. Reading this book is probably as close as one can get to actually spending time with Ayn Rand these days.

Facets Of Ayn Rand is an impressive and informative memoir that collects 48 hours of interviews from two people who remember Ayn Rand as their friend and as a person who was totally unafraid to voice her convictions, no matter how unpopular or controversial they were at the time. Facets Of Ayn Rand offers moving testimony filled with personal touches, rendering a closer and more intimate understanding of the life and thought of a truly great and influential woman. Facets Of Ayn Rand is "must" reading for her many admirers and students of her work.

This memoir brings the novelist-philosopher back to life in the form of a delightful interview full of her benevolent metaphysics. It is told not with anger or mocking cynicism, but with the fond admiration that Miss Rand deserves. Whether you just want to know more about Ayn Rand the person, or whether you want to feel the joy of Ayn Rand's presence, this is your book.

I have found this very useful for locating quotes and references. The interface is a little clunky for reading, but this was not the intention of the product, so that's okay. The magnification feature is useful. I wish it were possible to cut and paste more than a couple of lines at a time when using quotes in my research, but I can understand why they would be worried about large scale copying. Definitely worth the money.

Perhaps noone understands that "time is money" as much as an Objectivist does--and that's why I think this cd-rom has been greeted with such enthusiasm by Ayn Rand fans everywhere. (It is, after all, the ultimate time-saver when it comes to finding that quote of hers you barely remember yet have not entirely forgotten.)

Regarding the contents of the cd, it (obviously) contains Ayn Rand's ideas. Now, if you're reading this at all, Im assuming you already know the power and the importance of those ideas. About these, then, I will say nothing lest I be found guilty of "preaching to the choir."

Nevertheless, I would like to make one observation. Miss Rand was the first to fully and consistently defend the efficacy of man's mind against all attackers. How fitting it is, then, that the power of a computer (itself an obvious example of the efficacy of man's mind) is now being used as a tool to help study her ideas further.

Before this CDROM came along I depended on Binswanger's _Lexicon_ to find the relevant Ayn Rand quote in a hurry. This has so much more. It has just about EVERYTHING -- philosophical, literary, and personal -- Ayn Rand ever wrote and you can find what you want in seconds. I wouldn't want to be without it.