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Title: The Ayn Rand Cult by Jeff Walker ISBN: 0-8126-9390-6 Publisher: Open Court Publishing Company Pub. Date: December, 1998 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.24 (54 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Controversial but not easily dismissed.
Comment: Is this book a personal attack on many of Rand's close associates? Yes. Are they attacks by Jeff Walker? No: he quotes from numerous other critics and even from past members of this strangest of cults.
Is the topic of Walker's book the "philosophy of Ayn Rand?" No. Is it meant as a rigorous academic evaluation of "Objectivism." No. His topic is "the movement," the absolutist, moralistic attitudes consistently displayed by adherents of her philosophy. These people who have adopted Rand's terminology, the Randian "spin" on words in common, everyday usage.
Are cultists likely to admit that they are members of a cult? Of course not. Do they recognize their ideas as strange, even bizarre? Are their denials vehement? Always. Do they follow their leader's edicts? Try asking followers of Jim Jones.
Walker's book could indeed stand editing. It needs better indexing. Parts of it are unevenly written when compared to others. Does that invalidate his thesis? The reader must decide for himself. But _The Ayn Rand Cult_ DOES merit a close reading, even to checking out the references to popular fiction of the 1920s. Why? To learn if Rand was herself a "first" or "a second-hander." And to evaluate those same qualities in her admirers.
Rating: 4
Summary: A solid deconstruction of a fascinating personality
Comment: I found this to be a hypnotizing read, so much so that I paused reading another book in order to start this one -- a rare thing for a compulsive like me.
Walker has obviously done a lot of research for the book. He quotes both die-hard Objectivists and anti-Objectivists alike. The intimate, personal anecdotes regarding Rand are very interesting.
The book is not without flaws, however. Walker is remarkably objective for writing on such an emotional subject, but he can go into Rand-bashing mode occasionally. The cover is an unnecessary gimmick.
I would have preferred more depth on the philoosophical roots of her ideas as well as what may have shaped her personality. Walker spends a bit too much time simply describing Rand's temper tantrums instead of looking for the causes of them.
Overall, a must-read if you are at all interested in Objectivism in particular or cults in general.
Rating: 5
Summary: Useful
Comment: If you would like to know why you should probably read *about* Ayn Rand and her pop philosophy, Objectivism, from a safe distance rather than joining it, you can hardly go wrong with this book. It provides extensive and evidently correct information on why Objectivism fits perfectly into the definition of 'cult,' and why Ayn Rand can fairly be called an intellectual bully and tyrant. Based on the picture of Objectivist leaders' behavior, I can easily imagine current Ayn Rand Institute director Leonard Peikoff stridently condemning this book as irrational! irrational! irrational! (Probably without having read it first; the author notes cases of Rand and her students bashing philosophers and/or books that they have little or no firsthand knowledge of.)
However, it is too bad that for some reason there aren't that many anti-Rand books out there (that I know of), because I would rather have gotten this critical information on Rand/Objectivism from a different author. What most of the other reviews say is true: he is dreadfully abrasive. He is described as an investigative journalist, but his analysis is not conducted with a semblance of detachment or professionalism. Rather, he very much gives the impression of having a personal axe to grind with the Objectivist movement. The back of the book states that some of the publications he has worked for are Free Inquiry, Skeptical Enquirer and Liberty. I am wondering if he might be a libertarian, in which case his tone would be understandable, because according to him, Rand and her Objectivists hated (still hate) libertarians for not wholly accepting Objectivist philosophy. Or possibly Walker is a former Objectivist student who suffered 'excommunication' for developing incorrect ideas. (The Objectivist leaders' standard procedure in this matter is ugly.) Still, the book is the truth, and should be read.
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Title: My Years with Ayn Rand by Nathaniel Branden ISBN: 0787945137 Publisher: Jossey-Bass Pub. Date: 12 February, 1999 List Price(USD): $28.00 |
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Title: Objectivism and the Corruption of Rationality : A Critique of Ayn Rand's Epistemology by Scott Ryan ISBN: 0595267335 Publisher: Writers Club Press Pub. Date: 27 January, 2003 List Price(USD): $22.95 |
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Title: The Contested Legacy of Ayn Rand by David Kelley ISBN: 0765808633 Publisher: The Objectivist Center Pub. Date: December, 2000 List Price(USD): $18.95 |
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Title: Ayn Rand Contra Human Nature : by Greg S Nyquist ISBN: 0595196330 Publisher: Writers Club Press Pub. Date: 15 August, 2001 List Price(USD): $23.95 |
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Title: The Passion of Ayn Rand by Barbara Branden ISBN: 038524388X Publisher: Anchor Pub. Date: 18 August, 1987 List Price(USD): $17.95 |
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