“For some readers of Atlas Shrugged, Francisco d’Anconia becomes and remains their top favorite character,” said Shoshana Milgram. “He is irresistible. He is relished for his wit, for his swagger, for his courage, for his elegance. From the standpoint of pure literary pleasure, why wouldn’t I wish to write about Francisco, first and foremost?”
The main purpose of the Project is to create a quality study resource for future generations of readers. But we also hope that in developing study resources that generate discussion online, we will help foster the creation of local, in-person discussion groups, groups that might become the seeds for future Objectivist community groups.
Talk about making someone’s day! Watch this video to see how a college student from El Paso, Texas, reacts when she finds out she won $20,000 in ARI’s Atlas Shrugged essay contest.
“The creation of John Galt was Ayn Rand’s life story,” said Shoshana Milgram, “and telling about it allowed me to spend time not only with the character she brought to life but with the process of dramatization.” To celebrate the 60th publication anniversary of Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged, we’re talking to the authors of chapters in Robert Mayhew’s book Essays on Ayn Rand’s “Atlas Shrugged.”
“It always intrigued me that the great romantic writers are impassioned moralists who seek to change the world,” said Andrew Bernstein, the next author in our series celebrating the 60th publication anniversary of Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged. “Yet in their novels, these authors can only rarely imagine a way for their heroes to succeed.”
ARI invites you to our ninth annual Atlas Shrugged Revolution Dinner. Join guest of honor John Allison, ARI executive chairman Yaron Brook and ARI CEO Jim Brown as we celebrate the 60th anniversary of the publication of Atlas Shrugged, announce the 2017 Atlas Shrugged essay contest winner and launch the campaign for our latest initiative, the Campaign for the Moral Defense of Finance and Capitalism.
In today’s New York Times, author and columnist James B. Stewart quotes Yaron Brook, the Ayn Rand Institute’s executive chairman, at length in an article titled “As a Guru, Ayn Rand May Have Limits. Ask Travis Kalanick.” The article discusses Rand’s influence on a growing number of businessmen and entrepreneurs, including Kalanick, the recently departed chief executive of Uber. Kalanick, the article points out, was a fan who even used cover art from her novel The Fountainhead as his avatar on Twitter.
If you’re enjoying our celebration of Atlas Shrugged each month in honor of the novel’s 60th anniversary, you won’t want to miss the latest featured item at ARI’s eStore, The Spirit of Francisco by Shoshana Milgram.
“It’s a little surprising to say in retrospect, but until writing my chapter on law — a subject that Robert Mayhew suggested to me — I hadn’t given much thought directly to the nature of law in Atlas Shrugged,” said Tara Smith, referring to a chapter she contributed to Mayhew’s book Essays on Ayn Rand’s “Atlas Shrugged.”