...One of Rand's most famous devotees is Alan Greenspan, the former chairman of the Federal Reserve, whose memoir, "The Age of Turbulence," will be officially released Monday.
Mr. Greenspan met Rand when he was 25 and working as an economic forecaster.
...Shortly after "Atlas Shrugged" was published in 1957, Mr. Greenspan wrote a letter to The New York Times to counter a critic's comment that "the book was written out of hate." Mr. Greenspan wrote: " 'Atlas Shrugged' is a celebration of life and happiness. Justice is unrelenting. Creative individuals and undeviating purpose and rationality achieve joy and fulfillment. Parasites who persistently avoid either purpose or reason perish as they should."
...Rand's magazine, The Objectivist, later published several essays by Mr. Greenspan, including one on the gold standard in 1966.
...Rand's free-market philosophy was hard won. She was born in 1905 in Russia. Her life changed overnight when the Bolsheviks broke into her father's pharmacy and declared his livelihood the property of the state. She fled the Soviet Union in 1926 and arrived later that year in Hollywood, where she peered through a gate at the set where the director Cecil B. DeMille was filming...He offered her a ride to the set, then a job as an extra on the film and later a position as a junior screenwriter.
...Every year, 400,000 copies of Rand's novels are offered free to Advanced Placement high school programs. They are paid for by the Ayn Rand Institute, whose director, Yaron Brook, said the mission was "to keep Rand alive."
...Last year, bookstores sold 150,000 copies of the book. It continues to hold appeal, even to a younger generation. Mark Cuban, the owner of the Dallas Mavericks, who was born in 1958, and John P. Mackey, the chief executive of Whole Foods, who was 3 when the book was published, have said they consider Rand crucial to their success.The book's hero, John Galt, also continues to live on. The subcontractor hired to demolish the former Deutsche Bank building, which was damaged when the World Trade Center towers fell, was the John Galt Corporation.
Edited by Rogerdodger, 15 September 2007 - 11:52 AM.
