Although Ayn Rand and her philosophy have influenced many nascent feminists, particularly those of the individualist inclination, Rand was openly hostile to the feminist movement and declared that she would not vote for a woman for president. The author analyzes Rand's position and reasoning about a woman president, finding it contradictory to the rational principles Rand professed.

This essay compares audio recordings of Ayn Rand's question and answer sessions with Robert Mayhew's renditions as published in the Estate-approved volume Ayn Rand Answers. Mayhew, it turns out, rewrote nearly every answer included in the book. He abridged long answers, rearranged parts of answers, left transcription errors uncorrected, and was frequently insensitive to Rand's style of speaking. Mayhew even deleted portions of a few answers deemed embarrassing to Leonard Peikoff and the Estate of Ayn Rand (e.g., references to cigarette (...) smoking or to Nathaniel Branden) and kept other answers (e. g., about homosexuality or amphetamine use) out of the volume entirely. (shrink)

Two complementary biographies of Ayn Rand were published in 2009: Goddess of the Market, by Jennifer Burns, and Ayn Rand and the World She Made, by Anne Heller. Burns focuses on Rand's influence on American political thought, while Heller's concern is Rand the screenwriter, novelist, and author of her personal mythos. Both books are meticulously researched and well written; neither author espouses Rand's philosophy or agrees with her politics. Such books establish that Rand's ideas have become part of American culture (...) and are no longer set over and against it. (shrink)

The bestselling biography of one of the 20th century's most remarkable and controversial writers. Author Barbara Branden, who knew Rand for nineteen years, provides a matchless portrait of this fiercely private and complex woman.

Robert L. Campbell views Nathaniel Branden's The Art of Living Consciously as an example of a popular book, written by a clinical practitioner, which nonetheless has many important implications for academic researchers. These include questions about: the correct theoretical understanding and successful measurement of self-esteem; the nature of free will; and the relationship between "cognitive" and "social" issues in psychological research.