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Jennifer Burns is Assistant Professor of History at the University of Virginia.

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Liberalism for a New Century (2007) — Medewerker — 15 exemplaren

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Ayn Rand continues to sell hundreds of thousands of books each year many years after her death. One reason is the deeply personal reactions many people have to the ideas in her novels. Her ideas have influenced generations of conservatives, libertarians, and even liberals.

Jennifer Burns has written an absorbing and wonderfully readable biography of Ayn Rand. It is a biography and not an explanation of her ideas. Although sympathetic to Ayn Rand it provides the voices of her many critics. It is very much worth reading for the background it provides on the development of America's right-wing movements. In particular, I was fascinated by the stories about the anti-FDR factions who opposed the New Deal. Also interesting was how her ideas spread and were modified after the schism in the Objectivist movement.

My personal favorite quote about Ayn Rand unfortunately does not appear in the book: “Two novels can change a bookish fourteen-year old’s life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged. One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world. The other involves orcs.” [Kung Fu Monkey -- Ephemera, blog post, March 19, 2009]”
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M_Clark | 6 andere besprekingen | Mar 31, 2023 |
 
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nicdevera | 6 andere besprekingen | Oct 1, 2020 |
Disappointing: incomplete and not well-written.

This reads more like a brief than a book about a very rather complex topic & there are chapters referenced that do not exist. In addition, grammatical errors and some of the wording are very distracting. Perhaps this is a first draft?
 
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laukibbe | Apr 9, 2019 |
I really didn't know a whole lot about Ayn Rand. I read [b:Atlas Shrugged|662|Atlas Shrugged|Ayn Rand|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1358647812s/662.jpg|817219] about 15 years ago and liked the overall idea presented, although I thought it was way too long and heavy handed.
So, I saw this one come through the library one day and remembered that I had seen the author discuss the book with Jon Stewart on The Daily Show awhile back.
This is a pretty thorough book. Burns went to a great deal of research and has extensive notes and sources, including an essay on the reliability of the sources themselves (some of the works written about Rand after her death by her followers are shown to have tweaked and edited source material). The best part is, it is extremely balanced toward Ms. Rand.
She essentially "escaped" Communist Russia in the mid-1920's after the Bolshevik's completed their revolution and Rand's father went from successful businessman to poverty. Having seen the effects of Communism firsthand, no one could begrudge her the intense hatred she had toward the system. And so, as she adjusted to life in the U.S., it is no surprise that she should be hyper-vigilant to the growing interest in Communism that she saw in her new home country.
I completely agree with her on many things, largely economic issues and government involvement in people's lives, but unfortunately, Ms. Rand wasn't satisfied with simply being a loud voice against big government (largely in response to the overreaching tentacles of FDR's "New Deal"). No, Rand wanted to essentially be some sort of philosophical guru.
Her creation was Objectivism, a philosophy intended to show people the best way to live. Emotion was something to be overruled and replaced by logic (Hmmmmm... are Vulcans Objectivists?). There's a lot of other stuff to it, but if you don't know then I suggest you read the book.
At any rate, as her movement gained steam and more people flocked to her, she became power hungry and despotic... pretty much she acted the opposite of what taught. She ended up alienating nearly everyone she ever met and went from admired to tolerated by all but her staunchest supporters. And her critics despised her. Although, in fairness, she despised her critics and often despised people that still cited her as a positive influence.
And there was no political faction that she didn't find fault with. Obviously, she had nothing nice to say about the Liberals. But she couldn't stand the Republicans due to the increasing influence of Christianity (Rand was an atheist). She found the Libertarians, a group she indirectly helped create, a nuisance at best. Anarchists were just ridiculous.
In the end, she resembled L. Ron Hubbard more than a serious thinker. She was a Draconian in how Objectivism was to be used and any student (She and her small inner circle were the only Objectivists... all others were students of Objectivism) that attempted to start they're own little branch (i.e. school clubs, local newsletters, etc) were told in no uncertain terms that they were not allowed.
Simply put, she was a complex person who had some fascinating ideas but fell victim to her own hubris, insecurities, and intellectual shortcomings.
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RottenArsenal | 6 andere besprekingen | Jul 28, 2014 |

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5
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2
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345
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#69,185
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½ 3.6
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8
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