Ayn Rand originally envisioned Atlas Shrugged as a socio-political novel that would build on the ethical ideas of The Fountainhead, but as she worked on Atlas, she developed and revised her ethical thought in unexpected ways. In his lecture course “Ayn Rand’s Ethics: From The Fountainhead to Atlas Shrugged,” available at ARI’s eStore, Darryl Wright explores how, and why, her ideas changed — as well as what did not change.
One of the Ayn Rand Institute’s most popular education programs is its annual essay contests. Contests on Anthem, The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged collectively attract the attention of approximately fifteen to twenty thousand students each spring, as they compete to win a share of more than $130,000 in cash prizes. ARI’s goal, however, is that participation in an essay contest should mark the beginning of a lifetime’s interest in Ayn Rand’s works.
“I got the blue one, which one did you get?” “I’m reading the red one first.” This is some of the chatter I hear as a group of about thirty high school students rush up to the front of a Santa Ana classroom to choose a free book from a cardboard box. These students have just listened to Yaron Brook, chairman of the board of the Ayn Rand Institute, speak to them about selfishness.
Tara Smith has published an article designed to clarify the terms used in discussing freedom of speech in America. “The Free Speech Vernacular: Conceptual Confusions in the Way We Speak About Speech” appears in the current issue of the Texas Review of Law & Politics.
To celebrate Valentine’s Day, we asked Jeff Britting, curator of the Ayn Rand Archives, to supply us with images and text from an article he wrote that originally appeared in the Ayn Rand Institute’s newsletter, Impact, in 2012. The feature commemorates Valentine’s Day, discusses Ayn Rand’s view of romantic love and the bond between Ayn Rand and her husband, Frank O’Connor. The images that accompany this feature are from the Archives collection.
On February 8, the Ayn Rand Institute celebrated a significant milestone in its Free Books to Teachers program. Robert Begley, development specialist at ARI, presented a framed copy of ARI’s four-millionth free book, The Fountainhead, to Bayside High School English teacher Allan Weissmann. This is particularly noteworthy because 2018 happens to be the 75th anniversary of this best-selling Ayn Rand novel.
ARI invites law students to apply to our Legal Fellowship program, which involves in-depth policy research on topics at the intersection of law and philosophy. Our legal fellows work with ARI’s director of Legal Studies, Steve Simpson, an experienced constitutional lawyer who for many years worked at the Institute for Justice. Today we’d like to introduce you to 2018 legal fellow Christopher MacCarthy.
2018 marks the 75th anniversary of the publication of Ayn Rand’s bestselling novel The Fountainhead. Its themes of independence and integrity — and its protagonist, Howard Roark — continue to resonate with and inspire readers of all ages.
Ayn Rand was born this day — February 2 — in St. Petersburg, Russia, in 1905. Twenty-one years later, she escaped the Soviet Union and made the journey to America, never to return. Here is the transcript from a short video describing why.
