WASHINGTON — New reports from Ayn Rand’s publisher indicates that sales figures for “Atlas Shrugged” are continuing a remarkable trend.

In 2011 all English editions of “Atlas Shrugged” sold 445,000 copies.

“This is incredible,” says Dr. Yaron Brook, executive director of the Ayn Rand Institute. “Since Obama was elected, ‘Atlas Shrugged’ has sold more than 1.5 million copies. This is unheard of in the publishing industry, for a 55-year-old novel to register sales of this magnitude. And what’s even more remarkable is that this is even more than the book sold in 1957 . . . when it was a best seller!”

In addition, Penguin’s new “Atlas Shrugged” iPad app recently won the Publishing Innovation Award for best app in the fiction category.

“Atlas Shrugged” is a mystery story about the disappearance of America’s great thinkers, industrialists, inventors and artists. Its theme is the role of the mind in man’s existence. A philosophical novel of breathtaking scope, “Atlas Shrugged” has been embraced, in recent years, by people looking for answers to the problems of an ever-expanding federal government.

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Yaron Brook is executive director of the Ayn Rand Institute. He is a columnist at Forbes.com and his articles have been featured in major publications such as the Wall Street Journal, USA Today and Investor’s Business Daily. Dr. Brook is often interviewed on radio and is a frequent guest on a variety of national TV programs. He is co-author of “Neoconservatism: An Obituary for an Idea” and a contributor to “Winning the Unwinnable War: America’s Self-Crippled Response to Islamic Totalitarianism.” Dr. Brook, a former finance professor, is an internationally sought after speaker on such topics as the causes of the financial crisis, the morality of capitalism, and US foreign policy.

The Ayn Rand Institute has experts available for interviews. Please contact media@aynrand.org or call 202-454-1997, x200.