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Atlas Shrugged
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Atlas Shrugged Mass market paperbound - 1996

by Ayn Rand

Published in 1957, Atlas Shrugged was Ayn Rand's greatest achievement and last work of fiction. In this novel she dramatizes her unique philosophy through an intellectual mystery story that integrates ethics, metaphysics, epistemology, politics, economics, and sex.

Set in a near-future U.S.A. whose economy is collapsing as a result of the mysterious disappearance of leading innovators and industrialists, this novel presents an astounding panorama of human life-from the productive genius who becomes a worthless playboy...to the great steel industrialist who does not know that he is working for his own destruction...to the philosopher who becomes a pirate...to the woman who runs a transcontinental railroad...to the lowest track worker in her train tunnels.

Peopled by larger-than-life heroes and villains, charged with towering questions of good and evil, Atlas Shrugged is a philosophical revolution told in the form of an action thriller.


About this book

Ayn Rand in her most controversial book yet, depicts a dystopian United State. A world of private businesses that are increasingly penalized and weighted through laws and regulations, stepping over the people who carry out that labor. 

As a mysterious figure, John Gault appears on the scene; the country’s top banker, an oil producer, a professor, a composer, and a distinguished judge disappear without a trace, abandoning their professions and loved ones. In turn a revolution begins, creating a new society based on the ‘philosophy of selfishness’ in efforts to be dismissed from the exploitation of those with authority and power. 

Atlas Shrugged “is a mystery story, not about the murder of a man’s body, but about the murder — and rebirth — of man’s spirit.” -Ayn Rand

Summary

Published in 1957, Atlas Shrugged was Ayn Rand's greatest achievement and last work of fiction. In this novel she dramatizes her unique philosophy through an intellectual mystery story that integrates ethics, metaphysics, epistemology, politics, economics, and sex.

Set in a near-future U.S.A. whose economy is collapsing as a result of the mysterious disappearance of leading innovators and industrialists, this novel presents an astounding panorama of human life-from the productive genius who becomes a worthless playboy...to the great steel industrialist who does not know that he is working for his own destruction...to the philosopher who becomes a pirate...to the woman who runs a transcontinental railroad...to the lowest track worker in her train tunnels.

Peopled by larger-than-life heroes and villains, charged with towering questions of good and evil, Atlas Shrugged is a philosophical revolution told in the form of an action thriller.

From the publisher

Peopled by larger-than-life heroes and villains, charged with towering questions of good and evil, Atlas Shrugged is Ayn Rand's magnum opus: a philosophical revolution told in the form of an action thriller--nominated as one of America's best-loved novels by PBS's The Great American Read. Who is John Galt? When he says that he will stop the motor of the world, is he a destroyer or a liberator? Why does he have to fight his battles not against his enemies but against those who need him most? Why does he fight his hardest battle against the woman he loves? You will know the answer to these questions when you discover the reason behind the baffling events that play havoc with the lives of the amazing men and women in this book. You will discover why a productive genius becomes a worthless playboy...why a great steel industrialist is working for his own destruction...why a composer gives up his career on the night of his triumph...why a beautiful woman who runs a transcontinental railroad falls in love with the man she has sworn to kill. Atlas Shrugged, a modern classic and Rand's most extensive statement of Objectivism--her groundbreaking philosophy--offers the reader the spectacle of human greatness, depicted with all the poetry and power of one of the twentieth century's leading artists.

First line

"Who is John Galt?"

First Edition Identification

Random House published a First Edition, First Printing hardcover in 1957, New York. This edition was published with a blue cloth-board slipcase and blue tinted page-edges. The book is characterized by its blue cloth bound boards and gilt lettering. 


Details

  • Title Atlas Shrugged
  • Author Ayn Rand
  • Binding Mass Market Paperbound
  • Edition [ Edition: Repri
  • Pages 1088
  • Volumes 1
  • Language ENG
  • Publisher Signet Book, New York
  • Date 1996-09-01
  • ISBN 9780451191144 / 0451191145
  • Weight 1 lbs (0.45 kg)
  • Dimensions 6.9 x 4.2 x 1.7 in (17.53 x 10.67 x 4.32 cm)
  • Ages 18 to UP years
  • Grade levels 13 - UP
  • Reading level 990
  • Library of Congress subjects Science fiction, Adventure stories
  • Library of Congress Catalog Number 00001796
  • Dewey Decimal Code FIC

Media reviews

Citations

  • Entertainment Weekly, 07/05/2013, Page 98
  • Newsweek, 01/11/2010, Page 32

About the author

Born February 2, 1905, Ayn Rand published her first novel, We the Living, in 1936. Anthem followed in 1938. It was with the publication of The Fountainhead (1943) and Atlas Shrugged (1957) that she achieved her spectacular success. Rand's unique philosophy, Objectivism, has gained a worldwide audience. The fundamentals of her philosophy are put forth in three nonfiction books, Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology, The Virtues of Selfishness, and Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal. They are all available in Signet editions, as is the magnificent statement of her artistic credo, The Romantic Manifesto.
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