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{{short description|1957 novel by Ayn Rand}}
{{infobox Book | <!-- See Wikipedia:WikiProject_Novels or Wikipedia:WikiProject_Books -->
{{about|the novel|the film adaptations|Atlas Shrugged (film series)}}
| name = Atlas Shrugged
{{use American English|date=November 2024}}
| image = [[Image:AtlasShrugged.jpg|200px]]
{{use mdy dates|date=November 2024}}
| image_caption = First edition cover.
{{Infobox book
| author = [[Ayn Rand]]
| name = Atlas Shrugged
| cover_artist =
| image = Atlas Shrugged (1957 1st ed) - Ayn Rand.jpg
| country = [[United States]]
| caption = First edition
| language = [[English language|English]]
| alt = Cover depicting railroad tracks
| genre = [[Philosophical novel]], [[Science Fiction]]
| publisher = [[Random House]]
| author = [[Ayn Rand]]
| country = United States
| release_date = [[10 October]] [[1957]]
| language = English
| media_type = Print ([[Hardcover|Hardback]] & [[Paperback]])
| genre = {{Plainlist|
| pages = 1368 (depending on edition)
* [[Philosophical fiction]]
| isbn = ISBN 0-394-41576-0 (hardback edition)
* [[Libertarian science fiction]]
* [[Mystery fiction]]
* [[Romance novel]]}}
| published = October 10, 1957
| publisher = [[Random House]]
| pages = 1,168 (first edition)
| awards = {{Awards|award=[[Prometheus Award]] |year=1983 |name=Hall of Fame}}
| isbn = <!-- First edition was published before ISBN numbers were issued. Since then, different printings have had various ISBNs. -->
| oclc = 412355486
}}
}}


''''' Atlas Shrugged ''''' is a novel by [[Ayn Rand]], first published in [[1957 in literature|1957]] in the United States. It was Rand's fourth, [[List of longest novels|longest]], and last novel, and she considered it her ''[[magnum opus]]'' in the realm of fiction writing.<ref>Rand, Ayn. ''Journals of Ayn Rand,'' edited by David Harriman. (1997) Dutton. ISBN 0-525-94370-6 p.704 Harriman quotes from a 1961 interview in which Rand says, "''Atlas Shrugged'' was the climax and completion of the goal I had set for myself at the age of nine. It expressed everything that I wanted of fiction writing."</ref> As indicated by its [[working title]] ''The Strike,'' the book explores a [[dystopian]] [[United States]] where leading innovators, ranging from industrialists to artists, refuse to be exploited by society. The protagonist, [[Dagny Taggart]], sees society collapse around her as the government increasingly asserts control over all industry, while society's most productive citizens, led by the mysterious [[John Galt]], progressively disappear. Galt
'''''Atlas Shrugged''''' is a 1957 novel by [[Ayn Rand]]. It is her longest novel, the fourth and final one published during her lifetime, and the one she considered her ''[[magnum opus]]'' in the realm of fiction writing.{{sfn|Rand|1997|p=[https://archive.org/details/journalsofaynran00aynr/page/704/mode/2up 704]}} She described the theme of ''Atlas Shrugged'' as "the role of man's mind in existence" and it includes elements of [[science fiction]], [[mystery fiction|mystery]] and [[romance novel|romance]]. The book explores a number of philosophical themes from which Rand would subsequently develop [[Objectivism]], including [[reason]], [[Property rights (economics)|property rights]], [[individualism]], [[Libertarianism in the United States|libertarianism]], and [[capitalism]], and depicts what Rand saw as the failures of governmental coercion. Of Rand's works of fiction, it contains her most extensive statement of her philosophical system.
describes the strike as "stopping the motor of the world" by withdrawing the "minds" that drive society's growth and productivity; with their strike these creative minds hope to demonstrate that the economy and society would collapse without the profit motive and the efforts of the rational and productive.


The book depicts a [[dystopia]]n United States in which [[heavy industry]] companies suffer under increasingly burdensome laws and regulations. Railroad executive Dagny Taggart and her lover, steel magnate Hank Rearden, struggle against "looters" who want to exploit their productivity. They discover that a mysterious figure called [[John Galt]] is persuading other business leaders to abandon their companies and disappear as a strike of productive individuals against the looters. The novel ends with the strikers planning to build a new capitalist society based on Galt's philosophy.
The novel's title is a reference to the mythical [[Titans|Titan]] [[Atlas (mythology)|Atlas]], who in the novel is said to hold the weight of the heavens on his shoulders.<ref>As recorded in [[Hesiod]]'s ''Theogony'', Atlas holds the sky in punishment for waging war against [[Zeus]].</ref> The novel includes elements of [[mystery (fiction)|mystery]] and [[science fiction]],<ref>{{cite book | last = Gladstein | first = Mimi | title = The New Ayn Rand Companion | publisher = Greenwood Press | location = Westport | year = 1999 | isbn = 0-313-30321-5 |page=42}}</ref> and contains Rand's most extensive statement of [[Objectivism (Ayn Rand)|Objectivism]] in any of her works of fiction, a lengthy monologue delivered by the strike's leader, John Galt.<ref>For more on ''Atlas Shrugged'', see Robert Mayhew, ''Essays on Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged'', Lexington, 2009.</ref>


''Atlas Shrugged'' received largely negative reviews, but achieved enduring popularity and ongoing sales in the following decades. The novel has been cited as an influence on a variety of [[Right-libertarianism|libertarian]] and [[conservative]] thinkers and politicians. After several unsuccessful attempts to adapt the novel for film or television, [[Atlas Shrugged (film series)|a film trilogy]] was released from 2011 to 2014 to negative reviews; two theatrical adaptations have also been staged.
The theme of ''Atlas Shrugged'' is the morality of [[rational self-interest]] and portrayal of self-loathing of monetary values within a once thriving "New America". It advocates the core tenets of Rand's philosophy of Objectivism and expresses her concept of human achievement. The book explores a number of philosophical themes that Rand would subsequently develop into the philosophy of Objectivism.<ref>Michael Shermer. ''The Mind of the Market''. (2008). Times Books. ISBN 0-8050-7832-0, p. XX</ref><ref>"Scandals lead execs to 'Atlas Shrugged'" [http://www.usatoday.com/money/companies/management/2002-09-23-ayn-rand_x.htm USA Today, September 23, 2002]</ref> It centers on the decline of Western civilization, and Rand described it as demonstrating the theme of "the role of man's mind in existence." In doing so it expresses many facets of Rand's philosophy, such as the advocacy of reason, individualism, the market economy and the failure of government.


{{TOC limit|3}}
''Atlas Shrugged'' received largely negative reviews after its 1957 publication,<ref>See http://www.noblesoul.com/orc/books/rand/atlas/, retrieved [[August 9]] [[2006]], for a list of reviews and bibliographical information.</ref> but achieved enduring popularity and consistent sales in the following decades. In the wake of the [[late 2000s recession]] sales of ''Atlas Shrugged'' have sharply increased, according to ''[[The Economist]]'' magazine and ''[[The New York Times]]''. ''The Economist'' reported that the fifty-two-year-old novel ranked #33 among Amazon.com's top-selling books on 13 January, 2009<ref>http://www.economist.com/finance/displayStory.cfm?story_id=13185404</ref>.


==Synopsis==
==Context and writing of Atlas Shrugged==
[[Image:Ayn Rand1.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Author [[Ayn Rand]]]]Rand stated that the idea for ''Atlas Shrugged'' came to her after a 1943 telephone conversation with a friend who asserted that Rand owed it to her readers to write a nonfiction book about her philosophy. Rand replied, "What if I went on strike? What if all the creative minds of the world went on strike?"<ref name="atlashistory">{{cite web|title=History of Atlas Shrugged|publisher=Ayn Rand Institute|accessdate=2009-04-07|url=http://atlasshrugged.com/book/history.html}}</ref> Rand then set out to create a work of fiction that explored the role of the mind in man's life and the [[morality]] of rational self-interest,<ref>Rand, Ayn. ''Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal.'' (1986) Signet. ISBN 0-451-14795-2 p.150</ref> by exploring the consequences when the "men of the mind" go on [[Strike action|strike]], refusing to allow their inventions, art, business leadership, scientific research, or new ideas to be taken from them by the government or by the rest of the world. [[Leonard Peikoff]] noted that "''Atlas Shrugged'' did not become the novel's title until Rand's husband [[Frank O'Connor (actor)|Frank O'Connor]] made the suggestion in 1956." The working title throughout her writing was ''The Strike.'' According to [[Barbara Branden]], the change was made for dramatic reasons––Rand believed that titling the novel “The Strike” would have revealed the mystery element of the novel prematurely.<ref>Barbara Branden, ''The Passion of Ayn Rand'', Doubleday, 1984, p. 291.</ref>


=== Setting ===
To produce ''Atlas Shrugged'', Rand conducted research on American industry, specifically the railroad industry, which forms a key element in her novel. Her previous work on a proposed (but never realized) screenplay based on the development of the [[Atomic Bomb]], including her interviews of [[J. Robert Oppenheimer]], was utilized in the portrait of the character [[Robert Stadler]] and the novel's depiction of the development of "Project X." In order to do further background research, Rand toured and inspected a number of industrial facilities, such as the [[Kaiser Steel]] plant, rode the locomotives of the [[New York Central Railroad]], and even learned to operate the locomotive of the [[20th Century Limited|Twentieth Century Limited]] (and proudly reported that when operating it, "nobody touched a lever except me.")<ref name="atlashistory"/><ref>David Harriman, edit.,''Journals of Ayn Rand'', pp. 311-344, pp. 566-578, 617; Michael Berliner, edit., ''Letters of Ayn Rand'', pp. 311,378, 381-383, and 457-459, and "letter to Isabel Paterson," Feb. 7, 1948, pp.188-193.</ref> By 1957, the date of the book's publication, railways in the USA were facing a decline that had begun in the 1920s. Passengers were increasingly switching to road transport which, unlike the railways, was subject to market [[Competition (economics)|competition]], developing quickly to the benefit of consumers.<ref>Milton & Rose Friedman, ''Free to Choose'', 1980, University of Chicago Press, p193</ref>
''Atlas Shrugged'' is set in a [[dystopia]]n United States at an unspecified time, in which the country has a "National Legislature" instead of [[United States Congress|Congress]] and a "Head of State" instead of a [[President of the United States|President]]. The United States appears to be approaching an [[economic collapse]], with widespread shortages, business failures, and decreased productivity. Writer Edward Younkins said, "The story may be simultaneously described as anachronistic and timeless. The pattern of industrial organization appears to be that of the late 1800s—the mood seems to be close to that of the depression-era 1930s. Both the social customs and the level of technology remind one of the 1950s".<ref name="Younkins9-10">Younkins, Edward W. "''Atlas Shrugged'': Ayn Rand's Philosophical and Literary Masterpiece". In {{harvnb|Younkins|2007|pp=9–10}}.</ref> Many early 20th-century technologies are available, but later technologies such as [[jet plane]]s and computers are largely absent.{{sfn|Hunt|1983|p=85}} There is very little mention of historical people or events, not even major events such as [[World War II]].{{sfn|Hunt|1983|p=86}} Aside from the United States, most countries are referred to as "People's States" that are implied to be either [[Socialist state|socialist]] or [[Communist state|communist]].<ref name="Younkins9-10"/>{{sfn|Hunt|1983|p=82}}


===Plot===
Rand's self-identified literary influences include [[Victor Hugo]], [[Fyodor Dostoyevsky]], [[Edmond Rostand]], and [[O. Henry]].<ref>Rand, Ayn, "Favorite Writers," reprinted in Schwartz, Peter, edit., ''The Ayn Rand Column'', Second Renaissance Books, 1991, pp. 113-115.</ref> In addition, [[Justin Raimondo]] has observed similarities between ''Atlas Shrugged'' and the 1922 novel ''The Driver,'' written by [[Garet Garrett]],<ref>Raimondo, Justin. ''Reclaiming the American Right: The Lost Legacy of the Conservative Movement'', Center for Libertarian Studies (1993), ISBN 1-883959-00-4</ref> which concerns an idealized industrialist&mdash;named Henry Galt&mdash;who is a transcontinental railway owner trying to improve the world and fighting against government and socialism. In contrast, [[Chris Matthew Sciabarra]] found Raimondo's "claims that Rand plagiarized...''The Driver''" to be "unsupported,"<ref>{{cite web|author=Chris Matthew Sciabarra|title=BOOKS FOR RAND STUDIES|accessdate=2009-04-09|url=http://www.nyu.edu/projects/sciabarra/essays/cult.htm}} From ''Full Context'' (11)4 (March/April 1999): 9-11.</ref> and Stephen Kinsella doubts that Rand was in any way influenced by Garrett.<ref>Kinsella, Stephen, "Ayn Rand and Garet Garrett" [http://blog.mises.org/archives/007246.asp] (retrieved 4-10-09).</ref> Writer Bruce Ramsey observed, "Both ''The Driver'' and ''Atlas Shrugged'' have to do with running railroads during an economic depression, and both suggest pro-capitalist ways in which the country might get out of the depression. But in plot, character, tone, and theme they are very different."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig2/ramsey8.html|author=Bruce Ramsey|title=The Capitalist Fiction of Garet Garrett|accessdate=2009-04-09|date=December 27, 2008|publisher=Ludwig von Mises Institute}}</ref>
{{see also|List of Atlas Shrugged characters}}
[[File:Jrb 20071024 NEW YORK CENTRAL SYSTEM train.JPG|thumb|left|alt=A diesel-engine train sitting at a station|Rand studied operations of the [[New York Central Railroad]] as research for the story.]]
[[Dagny Taggart]], the operating vice-president of Taggart Transcontinental Railroad, keeps the company going amid a sustained [[economic depression]]. As economic conditions worsen and government enforces [[statist]] controls on successful businesses, people repeat the cryptic phrase "Who is [[John Galt]]?" which means: "Don't ask questions nobody can answer."{{sfn|Rand|1995|p=23}} Her brother [[James Taggart (Atlas Shrugged)|Jim]], the railroad's president, seems to make irrational decisions, such as buying from Orren Boyle's unreliable Associated Steel. Dagny is also disappointed to discover that the Argentine billionaire [[Francisco d'Anconia]], her childhood friend and first love, is risking his family's copper company by constructing the San Sebastián [[copper mine]]s, even though [[Mexico]] will probably [[nationalize]] them. Despite the risk, Jim and Boyle invest heavily in a railway for the region while ignoring the Rio Norte Line in [[Colorado]], where entrepreneur Ellis Wyatt has discovered large [[oil reserves]]. Mexico nationalizes the mines and railroad line, but the mines are discovered to be worthless. To recoup the railroad's losses, Jim influences the National Alliance of Railroads to prohibit competition in prosperous areas such as Colorado. Wyatt demands that Dagny supply adequate rails to his wells before the ruling takes effect.


In [[Philadelphia]], self-made steel magnate [[Hank Rearden]] develops Rearden Metal, an alloy lighter and stronger than conventional steel. Dagny opts to use Rearden Metal in the Rio Norte Line, becoming the first major customer for the product. After Hank refuses to sell the metal to the State Science Institute, a government research foundation run by Dr. [[Robert Stadler]], the Institute publishes a report condemning the metal without identifying problems with it. As a result, many significant organizations [[boycott]] the line. Although Stadler agrees with Dagny's complaints about the unscientific tone of the report, he refuses to override it. To protect Taggart Transcontinental from the boycott, Dagny decides to build the Rio Norte Line as an independent company named the John Galt Line.
In order to persuade Rand to publish her novel with [[Random House]], publisher [[Bennet Cerf]] proposed a "philosophic contest" in which Rand would submit her work to various publishers to judge their response to its ideas, so she could evaluate who might best promote her work.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://atlasshrugged.com/book/history.html#development|publisher=Ayn Rand Institute|accessdate=2008-04-07|title=History of Atlas Shrugged - Development}}</ref> Because of the success of Rand's 1943 novel ''[[The Fountainhead]]'', the initial print run was 100,000 copies. It marked a turning point in her life, ending her career as novelist and beginning her tenure as popular philosopher.<ref>{{cite book | last = Younkins | first = Edward | title = Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged | publisher = Ashgate | location = Aldershot | year = 2007 | isbn = 0754655490 |chapter=Preface |page=1 |quote=''Atlas Shrugged'' … is the demarcation work and turning point that culminated [Rand's] career as a novelist and propelled her into a career as a popular philosophizer}}.</ref>


Hank is unhappy with his manipulative wife Lillian, but feels obliged to stay with her. He is attracted to Dagny, and when he joins her for the inauguration of the John Galt Line, they become lovers. On a vacation, Hank and Dagny discover an abandoned factory with an incomplete but revolutionary motor that runs on atmospheric [[static electricity]]. They begin searching for the inventor, and Dagny hires scientist Quentin Daniels to reconstruct the motor; however, a series of economically harmful directives are issued by [[Wesley Mouch]], a former Rearden [[lobbyist]] who betrayed Hank in return for a job leading a government agency. Wyatt and other important business leaders quit and disappear, leaving their industries to failure.
==Synopsis==
===Setting===
''Atlas Shrugged'' is set in a [[dystopian]] United States at an unspecified time. Writer Edward Younkins noted, "The story may be simultaneously described as anachronistic and timeless. The pattern of industrial organization appears to be that of the late 1800s...the mood seems to be close to that of the depression-era 1930s. Both the social customs and the level of technology remind one of the 1950s."<ref>Younkins, Edward Wayne. ''Ayn Rand's Atlas shrugged: a philosophical and literary companion''. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., 2007
ISBN 0-7546-5549-0, 978-0-7546-5549-7. 414 pages. pp. 9-10.</ref> Many early 20th-century technologies are available, and the steel and railroad industries are especially significant; [[jet plane]]s are described as a relatively new technology, and [[television]] is a novelty significantly less influential than [[radio]]. While many other countries are mentioned in passing, there is no mention of the [[Soviet Union]], no reference to [[World War II]] or the [[Cold War]], and no mention of nations under Communist rule, with the possible exception of "The People's State of Germany," and "The People's State of Mexico."
The "mixed economy" of the book's present is often contrasted with the "pure" capitalism of [[19th century]] America, wistfully recalled as a lost [[Golden Age]].


Dagny and Hank realize that Francisco is hurting his copper company intentionally, although they do not understand why. When the government imposes a directive that forbids employees from leaving their jobs and nationalizes all patents, Dagny violates the law by resigning in protest. To gain Hank's compliance, the government blackmails him with threats to publicize his affair with Dagny. After a major disaster in one of Taggart Transcontinental's tunnels, Dagny returns to work. On her return, she receives notice that Quentin Daniels is also quitting in protest, and she rushes across the country to convince him to stay.
===Structure===
The novel is divided into three parts consisting of ten chapters each. Robert James Bidinotto noted "the titles of the parts and chapters suggest multiple layers of meaning. The three parts, for example, are named in honor of [[Aristotle]]’s laws of logic...Part One is titled “Non-Contradiction”...Part Two, titled “Either-Or”...[and] Part Three is titled “A Is A,” symbolizing what Rand referred to as “the [[Law of Identity]]”.<ref name="Bidinotto">{{cite web|author=Robert James Bidinotto|url=http://www.objectivistcenter.org/showcontent.aspx?ct=1987&printer=True|title=Atlas Shrugged as Literature|accessdate=2009-04-10|source=The Atlas Society}}</ref>


[[File:Ouray, Colorado.JPG|thumb|right|alt=Photo of the town of Ouray|[[Ouray, Colorado]] was the basis for Rand's descriptions of Galt's Gulch.]]
===Plot summary===
On her way to Daniels, Dagny meets a [[hobo]] with a story that reveals the motor was invented and abandoned by an engineer named John Galt, who is the inspiration for the common saying. When she chases after Daniels in a private plane, she crashes and discovers the secret behind the disappearances of business leaders: Galt is leading a strike of "the men of the mind". She has crashed in their hiding place, an isolated valley known as Galt's Gulch. As she recovers from her injuries, the strikers explain their motives, and she learns that the strikers include Francisco and many prominent people, such as her favorite composer, Richard Halley, and infamous pirate [[Ragnar Danneskjöld]]. Dagny falls in love with Galt, who asks her to join the strike.
{{see also|List of characters in Atlas Shrugged}}
As the novel opens, [[protagonist]] [[Dagny Taggart]], executive of the railroad company Taggart Transcontinental, attempts to keep the company alive in difficult economic times marked by [[collectivism]] and [[statism]]. Dagny's brother, [[List of characters in Atlas Shrugged#James Taggart|James Taggart]], the railroad's President, seems peripherally aware of the company's troubles but will not make any difficult choices, preferring to avoid responsibility for any actions. While this unfolds, Dagny is disappointed to discover that [[Francisco d'Anconia]], her childhood friend, first love, and king of the [[copper]] industry, appears to have become a worthless playboy who is destroying his own business.


Reluctant to abandon her railroad, Dagny leaves Galt's Gulch, but finds the government has devolved into dictatorship. Francisco finishes sabotaging his mines and quits. After he helps stop an armed takeover of Hank's steel mill, Francisco convinces Hank to join the strike. Galt follows Dagny to New York, where he hacks into a national radio broadcast to deliver a three-hour speech that explains the novel's theme and Rand's [[Objectivism]].<ref>[[Gennady Stolyarov II|Stolyarov II, G.]] "The Role and Essence of John Galt's Speech in Ayn Rand's ''Atlas Shrugged''". In {{harvnb|Younkins|2007|p=99}}.</ref> The authorities capture Galt and unsuccessfully attempt to persuade him to lead the restoration of the country's economy. Jim then decides to torture Galt, but becomes delirious after witnessing how the authorities are too incompetent to even fix the torture device. Dagny rescues Galt, the government collapses, and the novel closes as Galt announces that the strikers can rejoin the world.
She meets [[Hank Rearden]], a self-made steel magnate of great integrity, inventor of a metal alloy called Rearden metal, whose career is hindered by his feelings of obligation toward his wife, and whose business is in danger of coming under government control, and Dr. Robert Stadler, a physics professor who is a creator of the "State Science Institute," intended to release science from the demands of its capitalist sponsors - delivering it instead into the control of bureaucrats and politics. Dagny also becomes acquainted with [[List of characters in Atlas Shrugged#Wesley Mouch|Wesley Mouch]], a [[Washington, D.C.|Washington]] [[lobbyist]] who leads the government's efforts to control all commerce and enterprise, and Ellis Wyatt, founder of Wyatt Oil.


==History==
While economic conditions worsen, and government agencies gain increasing control over successful businesses, helpless people repeat the saying, "Who is [[John Galt]]?" meaning "Don't ask important questions, because we don't have answers." Dagny learns that the nation's innovators and business leaders are disappearing one by one under mysterious circumstances.


===Context and writing===
Dagny and Hank find the remnants of a motor that turns [[atmospheric electricity|atmospheric static electricity]] into [[kinetic energy]], along with evidence that the "Atlases" of the world, its "prime movers," seem to be disappearing due to the actions of a figure she calls the "destroyer." While searching for the motor's creator, Hank and Dagny begin to experience the futility of their attempts to survive in a society that hates them and resents their motivation and their ability to create and achieve.
[[File:Ayn Rand (1943 Talbot portrait).jpg|thumb|upright|alt=Photo of Ayn Rand|[[Ayn Rand]] in 1943]]
Rand's stated goal for writing the novel was "to show how desperately the world needs prime movers and how viciously it treats them" and to portray "what happens to the world without them".{{sfn|Rand|1997|p=[https://archive.org/details/journalsofaynran00aynr/page/392 392]}} The core idea for the book came to her during a 1943 telephone conversation with her friend [[Isabel Paterson]], who asserted that Rand owed it to her readers to write fiction about her philosophy. Rand disagreed and replied, "What if I went on strike? What if all the creative minds of the world went on strike? ... That would make a good novel". After the conversation ended, Rand's husband [[Frank O'Connor (actor, born 1897)|Frank O'Connor]], who had overheard, affirmed to Rand, "That ''would'' make a good novel."{{sfn|Heller|2009|p=165|ps=, italics original to source.}} Rand then began ''Atlas Shrugged'' to depict the [[morality]] of rational self-interest,{{sfn|Rand|1986|p=[https://archive.org/details/capitalismunknow00rand/page/150 150]}} by exploring the consequences of a [[strike action|strike]] by intellectuals refusing to supply their inventions, art, business leadership, scientific research, or new ideas to the rest of the world.{{sfn|Branden|1986|p=[https://archive.org/details/passionofaynrand0000bran_a0l8/page/53 53]}}


Rand began the first draft of the novel on September 2, 1946.{{sfn|Heller|2009|p=201}} She initially thought it would be easy to write and completed quickly, but as she considered the complexity of the philosophical issues she wanted to address, she realized it would take longer.{{sfn|Heller|2009|p=202}} After ending a contract to write screenplays for [[Hal Wallis]] and finishing her obligations for the film adaptation of ''The Fountainhead'', Rand worked full-time on the novel that she tentatively titled ''The Strike''. By the summer of 1950, she had written 18 chapters;{{sfn|Heller|2009|p=229}} by September 1951, she had written 21 chapters and was working on the last of the novel's three sections.{{sfn|Heller|2009|p=235}}
In the final section of the novel, Taggart discovers the truth about John Galt, who is leading an organized "strike" against those who use the force of law and moral guilt to confiscate the accomplishments of society's productive members. With the collapse of the nation and its rapacious government all but certain, Galt emerges to reconstruct a society that will celebrate individual achievement and enlightened self-interest, delivering a long speech (seventy pages in the first edition) serving to explain the novel's theme and Rand's philosophy of [[Objectivism (Ayn Rand)|Objectivism]], in the book's longest single chapter.<ref name=Rand>''Atlas Shrugged,'' Centennial Edition, Signet, 1992.</ref>


As Rand completed new chapters, she read them to a circle of young admirers who had begun gathering at her home to discuss philosophy. This group included [[Nathaniel Branden]], his wife [[Barbara Branden]], Barbara's cousin [[Leonard Peikoff]], and economist [[Alan Greenspan]].{{sfn|Heller|2009|pp=240–243}} Progress on the novel slowed considerably in 1953, when Rand began working on Galt's lengthy radio address. She spent more than two years completing the speech, finishing it on October 13, 1955.{{sfn|Heller|2009|pp=260, 268}} The remaining chapters proceeded more quickly, and by November 1956 Rand was ready to submit the almost-completed manuscript to publishers.{{sfn|Heller|2009|p=271}} ''Atlas Shrugged'' was Rand's last completed work of fiction. It marked a turning point in her life—the end of her career as a novelist and the beginning of her role as a popular philosopher.{{sfn|Younkins|2007|p=1}}{{sfn|Gladstein|2000|p=28}}
==Themes==
===Philosophy===
{{Main|Objectivism (Ayn Rand)}}
The story of ''Atlas Shrugged'' dramatically expresses Rand's philosophy of [[Objectivism (Ayn Rand)|Objectivism]]: Rand's [[ethical egoism]], her advocacy of "[[rational selfishness]]," is perhaps her most well-known position. For Rand, all of the principal virtues and vices are applications of the role of reason as man's basic tool of survival (or a failure to apply it): rationality, honesty, justice, independence, integrity, productiveness, and pride—each of which she explains in some detail in "The Objectivist Ethics."<ref>On Rand's normative ethics see also Smith, Tara, ''The Virtuous Egoist: Ayn Rands Normative Ethics'' [[Cambridge University Press]], 2006 ISBN 978-0521860505 .</ref> Rand's characters often personify her view of the archetypes of various schools of philosophy for living and working in the world. Robert James Bidinotto wrote that "Rand rejected the literary convention that depth and plausibility demand characters who are naturalistic replicas of the kinds of people we meet in everyday life, uttering everyday dialogue and pursuing everyday values. But she also rejected the notion that characters should be symbolic rather than realistic."<ref name="Bidinotto"/> and Rand herself stated, "My characters are never symbols, they are merely men in sharper focus than the audience can see with unaided sight...My characters are persons in whom certain human attributes are focused more sharply and consistently than in average human beings."<ref name="Bidinotto"/>


===Influences===
In addition to the plot's more obvious statements about the significance of industrialists to society, and the sharp contrast it provides to the [[Marxism|Marxist]] version of the [[Labor Theory of Value]], this explicit conflict is used by Rand to draw wider philosophical conclusions, both implicit in the plot and via the characters' own statements. ''Atlas Shrugged'' portrays [[fascism]], [[socialism]] and [[communism]] &ndash; any form of state intervention in society &ndash; as systemically and fatally flawed, but, in addition, positions are expressed on a variety of other topics, including sex, politics, friendship, charity, childhood, and many others. Rand said that it is not a fundamentally political book, but a demonstration of the individual mind's position and value in society.<ref>Peikoff, Leonard. "Introduction to the 35th Anniversary Edition," in Ayn Rand, ''Atlas Shrugged'' (1996/1957) Signet. ISBN 0-451-19114-5 p. 6-8.</ref>
[[File:J. Robert Oppenheimer at the Guest Lodge, Oak Ridge, in 1946 4.jpg|thumb|upright|alt=Photo of J. Robert Oppenheimer|Rand used interviews with scientist [[J. Robert Oppenheimer]] for the character Robert Stadler.]]
Rand biographer Anne Heller traces some ideas that would go into ''Atlas Shrugged'' back to a never-written novel that Rand outlined when she was a student at [[Petrograd State University]]. The futuristic story featured an American heiress luring the most talented men away from a mostly communist Europe. The heiress would have had an assistant called ''Eddie Willers'', the name of Dagny's assistant in ''Atlas Shrugged''.{{sfn|Heller|2009|pp=48–49}}


To depict the industrial setting of ''Atlas Shrugged'', Rand conducted research on the American railroad and steel industries. She toured and inspected a number of industrial facilities, such as the [[Kaiser Steel]] plant,{{sfn|Burns|2009|p=126}} visited facilities of the [[New York Central Railroad]],{{sfn|Heller|2009|p=206}}{{sfn|Burns|2009|p=125}} and briefly operated a locomotive on the [[20th Century Limited|Twentieth Century Limited]].{{sfn|Heller|2009|p=212}} Rand also used her previous research for an uncompleted screenplay about the development of the [[atomic bomb]], including her interviews of [[J. Robert Oppenheimer]], which influenced the character Robert Stadler and the novel's depiction of the development of "Project X".{{sfn|Burns|2009|p=107}}
Rand argues that independence and individual achievement enable society to survive and thrive, and should be embraced. But this requires a [[rationality|rational]] [[Morality#Moral codes|moral code]]. She argues that, over time, coerced [[altruism|self-sacrifice]] must cause any society to self-destruct.


Rand's descriptions of Galt's Gulch were based on the town of [[Ouray, Colorado]], which Rand and her husband visited in 1951 when they were relocating from Los Angeles to New York.{{sfn|Heller|2009|p=235}} Other details of the novel were affected by the experiences and comments of her friends. For example, her portrayal of leftist intellectuals (such as the characters Balph Eubank and Simon Pritchett) was influenced by the college experiences of Nathaniel and Barbara Branden,{{sfn|Heller|2009|p=225}} and Alan Greenspan provided information on the economics of the steel industry.{{sfn|Heller|2009|p=242}}
Similarly, Rand rejects faith (that "short-cut to knowledge," she writes in the novel, which in fact is only a "short-circuit" destroying knowledge), along with any sort of a [[divinity|god]] or higher being. Rand urges the rejection of anything claiming "authority" over one's own mind - apart from the absolute of existence itself. The book positions itself against [[religion]] specifically, often directly within the characters' dialogue.


[[American libertarian]] writer [[Justin Raimondo]] described similarities between ''Atlas Shrugged'' and [[Garet Garrett]]'s 1922 novel ''[[The Driver (novel)|The Driver]]'', which is about an idealized industrialist named Henry Galt, who is a transcontinental railway owner trying to improve the world and fighting against government and socialism.{{sfn|Raimondo|2008|pp=237–241}} Raimondo believed the earlier novel influenced Rand's writing in ways she failed to acknowledge, although there was no "word-for-word plagiarism" and ''The Driver'' was published four years before Rand emigrated to the United States.{{sfn|Raimondo|2008|p=243}} Journalist Jeff Walker echoed Raimondo's comparisons in his book ''[[The Ayn Rand Cult]]'' and listed ''The Driver'' as one of several unacknowledged precursors to ''Atlas Shrugged''.{{sfn|Walker|1999|pp=305–307}} In contrast, [[Chris Matthew Sciabarra]] said he "could not find any evidence to link Rand to Garrett",{{sfn|Sciabarra|2013|p=419}} and considered Raimondo's claims to be "unsupported".{{sfn|Sciabarra|1999|p=11}} ''[[Liberty (libertarian magazine)|Liberty]]'' magazine editor [[R. W. Bradford]] said Raimondo made an unconvincing comparison based on a coincidence of names and common literary devices.{{sfn|Bradford|1994|pp=57–58}}
===Sanction of the victim===
The concept "Sanction of the victim" is defined by [[Leonard Peikoff]] as "the willingness of the good to suffer at the hands of the [[evil]], to accept the role of sacrificial victim for the '[[sin]]' of creating values."<ref>Leonard Peikoff, “The Philosophy of Objectivism” lecture series (1976), Lecture 8. [http://aynrandlexicon.com/lexicon/sanctionofthevictim.html]</ref> This concept may be original in the thinking of Ayn Rand and is foundational to her moral theory: she holds that evil is a parasite on the good and can only exist if the good tolerates it. ''Atlas Shrugged'' can be seen as an answer to the question of what would happen if this sanction were revoked. When Atlas shrugs, relieving himself of the burden of carrying the world, he is revoking his sanction.


===Publishing history===
Throughout ''Atlas Shrugged,'' numerous characters admit that there is something wrong with the world that they cannot identify; frequently, they are struggling with the idea of sanction of the victim. We first glimpse the concept when [[Hank Rearden]] feels he is duty-bound to support his family, despite their hostility towards him; later, the principle is stated explicitly by [[Dan Conway]]: "I suppose somebody's got to be sacrificed. If it turned out to be me, I have no right to complain." [[John Galt (Atlas Shrugged)|John Galt]] vows to stop the motor of the world by persuading the creators of the world to withhold their sanction: "Evil is impotent and has no power but that which we let it extort from us," and, "I saw that evil was impotent...and the only weapon of its triumph was the willingness of the good to serve it."
[[File:Bennett Cerf.jpg|thumb|left|upright|alt=Photo of Bennet Cerf|Random House CEO [[Bennett Cerf]] oversaw the novel's publication in 1957.]]
Due to the success of Rand's 1943 novel ''[[The Fountainhead]]'', she had no trouble attracting a publisher for ''Atlas Shrugged''. This was a contrast to her previous novels, which she had struggled to place. Even before she began writing it, she had been approached by publishers interested in her next novel. However, her contract for ''The Fountainhead'' gave the first option to its publisher, [[Bobbs-Merrill Company]]. After reviewing a partial manuscript, they asked her to discuss cuts and other changes. She refused, and Bobbs-Merrill rejected the book.<ref>Ralston, Richard E. "Publishing ''Atlas Shrugged''". In {{harvnb|Mayhew|2009|pp=123–124}}.</ref>


Hiram Hayden, an editor she liked who had left Bobbs-Merrill, asked her to consider his new employer, [[Random House]]. In an early discussion about the difficulties of publishing a controversial novel, Random House president [[Bennett Cerf]] proposed that Rand should submit the manuscript to multiple publishers simultaneously and ask how they would respond to its ideas, so she could evaluate who might best promote her work. Rand was impressed by the bold suggestion and by her overall conversations with them. After speaking with a few other publishers from about a dozen who were interested, Rand decided multiple submissions were not needed; she offered the manuscript to Random House. Upon reading the portion Rand submitted, Cerf declared it a "great book" and offered Rand a contract. It was the first time Rand had worked with a publisher whose executives seemed enthusiastic about one of her books.<ref>Ralston, Richard E. "Publishing ''Atlas Shrugged''". In {{harvnb|Mayhew|2009|pp=124–127}}.</ref>
In Rand's view, morality requires that we do not sanction our own victimhood. She assigns virtue to the trait of rational self-interest. However, Rand contends that moral selfishness does not mean a license to do whatever one pleases, guided by whims. It means the exacting discipline of defining and pursuing one's rational self-interest. A code of rational self-interest rejects every form of human sacrifice, whether of oneself to others ''or'' of others to oneself.


When the completed manuscript exceeded 600,000 words, Cerf asked Rand to make cuts, but backed off when she compared the idea to cutting the [[Bible]].{{sfn|Heller|2009|p=279}} With 1168 pages in the first edition, ''Atlas Shrugged'' is Rand's longest published book.<ref>Lipp, Ronald F. "''Atlas'' and Art". In {{harvnb|Younkins|2007|p=143}}</ref> Random House published the novel on October 10, 1957. The initial print run was 100,000 copies. The first paperback edition was published by [[New American Library]] in July 1959, with an initial run of 150,000.<ref name="Ralston130">Ralston, Richard E. "Publishing ''Atlas Shrugged''". In {{harvnb|Mayhew|2009|p=130}}.</ref> A 35th-anniversary edition was published by [[E. P. Dutton]] in 1992, with an introduction by Rand's heir, [[Leonard Peikoff]].{{sfn|Gladstein|1999|p=129}} The novel has been translated into more than 30 languages.{{efn|According to the Ayn Rand Institute, ''Atlas Shrugged'' has been translated into [[Albanian language|Albanian]], [[Bulgarian language|Bulgarian]], [[Chinese language|Chinese]], [[Czech language|Czech]], [[Danish language|Danish]], [[Dutch language|Dutch]], [[Finnish language|Finnish]], [[French language|French]], [[Georgian language|Georgian]], [[German language|German]], [[Modern Greek|Greek]], [[Modern Hebrew|Hebrew]], [[Hungarian language|Hungarian]], [[Icelandic language|Icelandic]], [[Italian language|Italian]], [[Japanese language|Japanese]], [[Kazakh language|Kazakh]], [[Korean language|Korean]], [[Marathi language|Marathi]], [[Mongolian language|Mongolian]], [[Norwegian language|Norwegian]], [[Polish language|Polish]], [[Portuguese language|Portuguese]], [[Romanian language|Romanian]], [[Russian language|Russian]], [[Serbian language|Serbian]], [[Slovak language|Slovak]], [[Spanish language|Spanish]], [[Swedish language|Swedish]], [[Turkish language|Turkish]], and [[Ukrainian language|Ukrainian]].<ref name="Ralston130" /><ref>{{cite web |url=https://ari.aynrand.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/ARI_FAQ_Foreign-Editions_20211210.pdf |title=Foreign Editions |publisher=Ayn Rand Institute |date=December 10, 2021 |access-date=March 23, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220203183433/https://ari.aynrand.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/ARI_FAQ_Foreign-Editions_20211210.pdf |archive-date=February 3, 2022 |url-status=live}}</ref>}}{{clear left}}
===Government and business===
{{Quote box
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|quote="In ''Atlas Shrugged'', Rand tells the story of the U.S. economy crumbling under the weight of crushing government interventions and regulations. Meanwhile, blaming greed and the free market, Washington responds with more controls that only deepen the crisis. Sound familiar?"<ref name="Brook">{{cite web|url=http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123698976776126461.html|author=Brook, Yaron|title="Is Rand Relevant?"|source=''The Wall Street Journal''|date=March 15, 2009|accessdate=2009-04-13}}</ref>
|source=[[Yaron Brook]], "Is Rand Relevant?"<br>''The Wall Street Journal'', March 15, 2009
|}}''Atlas Shrugged'' endorses the belief that a society's best hope rests on adopting a system of pure [[laissez-faire]]. Rand's view of the ideal government is expressed by John Galt, who says, "The political system we will build is contained in a single moral premise: no man may obtain any values from others by resorting to physical force," and claims that "no rights can exist without the right to translate one’s rights into reality—to think, to work and to keep the results—which means: the right of property." Galt himself lives a life of [[Laissez-faire|laissez-faire capitalism]] as the only way to live consistently with his beliefs.


===Title and chapters===
In the world of ''Atlas Shrugged,'' society stagnates when independent productive achievers began to be socially demonized and even punished for their accomplishments.<ref>The concept of societal stagnation in the wake of collectivist systems is also central to the plot of another of Rand's works, ''[[Anthem (novella)|Anthem]].''</ref> Independence and personal happiness had flourished to the extent that people were free, and achievement was rewarded to the extent that individual ownership of [[private property]] was strictly respected. This is in line with an excerpt from a 1964 interview with ''[[Playboy]]'' magazine in which Rand states "What we have today is not a [[capitalism|capitalist]] society, but a [[mixed economy]] &ndash; that is, a mixture of [[Freedom (political)|freedom]] and controls, which, by the presently dominant trend, is moving toward [[dictatorship]]. The action in ''Atlas Shrugged'' takes place at a time when society has reached the stage of dictatorship. When and if this happens, that will be the time to go on strike, but not until then."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.discoveraynrand.com/playboyinterview.html|source=Playboy Magazine|date=1964|accessdate=2009-04-12|title=Ayn Rand interviewed by Alvin Toffler|publisher=discoveraynrand.com}} [[Playboy Magazine]], 1964.</ref>
[[File:Atlas holding up the celestial globe - Guercino (1646).jpg|thumb|upright|alt=Painting of Atlas holding a sphere|The title refers to the mythological [[Atlas (mythology)|Atlas]].]]
The working title of the novel was ''The Strike'', but Rand thought this title would reveal the mystery element of the novel prematurely.{{sfn|Branden|1986|p=[https://archive.org/details/passionofaynrand0000bran_a0l8/page/291 291]}} She was pleased when her husband suggested ''Atlas Shrugged'', previously the title of a single chapter, for the book.{{sfn|Burns|2009|p=149}} The title is a reference to [[Atlas (mythology)|Atlas]], a [[Titan (mythology)|Titan]] in Greek mythology, who is described in the novel as "the giant who holds the world on his shoulders".{{efn|In ancient myths, Atlas supported the sky, not the earth. Artistic depictions of Atlas holding a sphere (representing the sky) led to a later misconception that he held the earth.{{sfn|Hansen|2004|p=127}}}} The significance of this reference appears in a conversation in which Francisco d'Anconia asks Rearden what advice he would give Atlas if "the greater [the Titan's] effort, the heavier the world bore down on his shoulders". With Rearden unable to answer, d'Anconia gives his own advice: "To shrug".<ref>Minsaas, Kirsti. "Ayn Rand's Recasting of Ancient Myths in ''Atlas Shrugged''". In {{harvnb|Younkins|2007|pp=131–132}}.</ref>


The novel is divided into three parts consisting of ten chapters each. Each part is named in honor of one of [[Aristotle]]'s [[law of thought|laws of logic]]: "Non-Contradiction" after the [[law of noncontradiction]]; "Either-Or", which is a reference to the [[law of excluded middle]]; and "A Is A" in reference to the [[law of identity]].<ref>Younkins, Edward W. "''Atlas Shrugged'': Ayn Rand's Philosophical and Literary Masterpiece". In {{harvnb|Younkins|2007|p=15}}.</ref> Each chapter also has a title; ''Atlas Shrugged'' is the only one of Rand's novels to use chapter titles.<ref>Seddon, Fred. "Various Levels of Meaning in the Chapter Titles of ''Atlas Shrugged''". In {{harvnb|Younkins|2007|p=47}}.</ref>
Rand characterizes the actions of government employees in a way that is consistent with [[public choice theory]], describing how the language of [[altruism]] is used to pass legislation that is nominally in the public interest (''e.g.'', the "Anti-Dog-Eat-Dog Rule," and "The Equalization of Opportunity Bill,") but which in reality serves [[special interests]] and government agencies at the expense of the public and the producers of value.<ref>{{cite web|author=Caplan, Bryan|accessdate=2009-04-11|title=Atlas Shrugged and Public Choice: The Obvious Parallels.|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=5_NDTA9x-qMC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_summary_r&cad=0#PPA215,M1|work=Younkins, Edward W. ''Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged''|publisher=Ashgate Publishing}}</ref> In the novel, the "Anti-dog-eat-dog" rule, as passed by the National Alliance of Railroads, is an example of this type of dictatorship: "The Anti-dog-eat-dog Rule is the logical result of a mixed economy—one in the process of rejecting capitalism. When the government has the power to control and regulate private business, it’s in a position to dispense economic favors."<ref>http://education.yahoo.com/homework_help/cliffsnotes/atlas_shrugged/24.html</ref>


==Themes==
In the novel, Wyatt Oil after Ellis Wyatt and Taggart Transcontinental and d'Anconia Copper are named after their founders (and, being family-held, their present owners). Nielsen Motors, Hammond Cars and Ayers Music Publishing are also presented as competent. Those who use their own names to name their companies become [[Characters in Atlas Shrugged|strikers]], with the minor exception of Mr. Ayers of the Ayers Music Publishing Company. On the other hand, names which convey a sense of a collective, impersonal entity are those of "looter" companies: Orren Boyle named his government-dependent, influence-peddling company "''Associated'' Steel." Another example is Mr. Mowen's "''Amalgamated'' Switch and Signal Company, Inc."


=== Philosophy ===
===Property rights and individualism===
{{Main|Objectivism}}
{{Quote box
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|quote="Run for your life from any man who tells you that money is evil. That sentence is the leper's bell of an approaching looter."<ref>''Atlas Shrugged'', p. 410-413</ref>
|source=Francisco d'Anconia, ''Atlas Shrugged''
|}}Rand's heroes must continually fight against "parasites," "looters," and "moochers" who demand the benefits of the heroes' labor. Edward Younkins describes ''Atlas Shrugged'' as "an apocalyptic vision of the last stages of conflict between two classes of humanity- the looters and the non-looters. The looters are proponents of high taxation, big labor, government ownership, government spending, government planning, regulation, and redistribution."<ref>{{cite web|author=Younkins, Edward W.|work=Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged|title="Ayn Rand's ''Atlas Shrugged'': A Philosophical and Literary Masterpiece"|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=5_NDTA9x-qMC&pg=PA10|page=10|accessdate=2009-04-13|publisher=Ashgate}}</ref>


The story of ''Atlas Shrugged'' dramatically expresses Rand's [[ethical egoism]], her advocacy of "[[Rational egoism|rational selfishness]]", whereby all of the principal virtues and vices are applications of the role of reason as man's basic tool of survival (or a failure to apply it): rationality, honesty, justice, independence, integrity, productiveness, and pride. Rand's characters often personify her view of the archetypes of various schools of philosophy for living and working in the world. [[Robert Bidinotto|Robert James Bidinotto]] wrote, "Rand rejected the literary convention that depth and plausibility demand characters who are naturalistic replicas of the kinds of people we meet in everyday life, uttering everyday dialogue and pursuing everyday values. But she also rejected the notion that characters should be symbolic rather than realistic."{{sfn|Bidinotto|2011}} Rand herself stated, "My characters are never symbols, they are merely men in sharper focus than the audience can see with unaided sight. ...&nbsp;My characters are persons in whom certain human attributes are focused more sharply and consistently than in average human beings."{{sfn|Bidinotto|2011}}
"Looters" confiscate others' earnings by force ("at the point of a gun,") and include government officials, whose demands are backed by the implicit threat of force. Some officials are merely executing government policy, such as those who confiscate one state's [[Seed saving|seed grain]] to feed the starving citizens of another; others are exploiting those policies, such as the railroad regulator who illegally sells the railroad's supplies for his own profit. Both use force to take property from the people who produced or earned it.


In addition to the plot's more obvious statements about the significance of industrialists to society, and the sharp contrast to [[Marxism]] and the [[labor theory of value]], this explicit conflict is used by Rand to draw wider philosophical conclusions, both implicit in the plot and via the characters' own statements. ''Atlas Shrugged'' caricatures [[fascism]], [[socialism]], [[communism]], and any [[state intervention]] in society as allowing unproductive people to "leech" the hard-earned wealth of the productive, and Rand contends that the outcome of any individual's life is purely a function of their ability, and that any individual could overcome adverse circumstances, given ability and intelligence.<ref>Peikoff, Leonard. "Introduction to the 35th Anniversary Edition". In {{harvnb|Rand|1992|pp=[https://archive.org/details/atlasshruggedsig00aynr/page/6 6–8]}}.</ref>
"Moochers" demand others' earnings on behalf of the needy and those unable to earn themselves, however, they curse the producers who make that help possible and are jealous and resentful of the talented on whom they depend. They are ultimately as destructive as the looters&mdash; destroying the productive through guilt, and appealing to "moral right" while enabling the "lawful" looting performed by governments.


===Sanction of the victim===
Looting and mooching are seen at all levels of the world ''Atlas Shrugged'' portrays, from the looting officials Dagny Taggart must work around and the mooching brother Hank Rearden struggles with, to the looting of whole industries by companies like Associated Steel and the mooching demands for [[foreign aid]] by the starving countries of Europe.
The concept "sanction of the victim" is defined by Leonard Peikoff as "the willingness of the good to suffer at the hands of the [[Good and evil|evil]], to accept the role of sacrificial victim for the '[[sin]]' of creating value".<ref>Leonard Peikoff, "The Philosophy of Objectivism" lecture series (1976), Lecture 8. [http://aynrandlexicon.com/lexicon/sanctionofthevictim.html]</ref> Accordingly, throughout ''Atlas Shrugged'', numerous characters are frustrated by this sanction, as when Hank Rearden appears duty-bound to support his family, despite their hostility toward him; later, the principle is stated by [[Dan Conway (Atlas Shrugged)|Dan Conway]]: "I suppose somebody's got to be sacrificed. If it turned out to be me, I have no right to complain." John Galt further explains the principle, such as "Evil is impotent and has no power but that which we let it extort from us" and "I saw that evil was impotent&nbsp;... and the only weapon of its triumph was the willingness of the good to serve it".{{sfn|Rand|1992|p=1048}}


===Government and business===
One of the novel's heroes, [[Francisco d'Anconia]], indicates the role of "looters" in relation to money itself:
Rand's view of the ideal government is expressed by John Galt: "The political system we will build is contained in a single moral premise: no man may obtain any values from others by resorting to physical force", whereas "no rights can exist without the right to translate one's rights into reality—to think, to work and to keep the results—which means: the right of property".{{sfn|Rand|1992|p=1062}} Galt himself lives a life of ''[[laissez-faire]]'' capitalism.{{sfn|Gladstein|1999|p=54}} In the world of ''Atlas Shrugged,'' society stagnates when independent productive agencies are socially demonized for their accomplishments. This is in agreement with an excerpt from a 1964 interview with ''[[Playboy]]'' magazine, in which Rand states: "The action in ''Atlas Shrugged'' takes place at a time when society has reached the stage of dictatorship."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.discoveraynrand.com/playboyinterview.html |work=[[Playboy|Playboy Magazine]] |year=1964 |access-date=April 12, 2009 |title=Ayn Rand interviewed by Alvin Toffler |publisher=discoveraynrand.com |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090312054653/http://discoveraynrand.com/playboyinterview.html |archive-date=March 12, 2009 |url-status=dead}}</ref> Rand also depicts [[public choice theory]], such that the language of [[altruism]] is used to pass legislation nominally in the public interest (the "Anti-Dog-Eat-Dog Rule" and "The Equalization of Opportunity Bill") but more to the short-term benefit of [[special interests]] and government agencies.<ref>Caplan, Bryan. "''Atlas Shrugged'' and Public Choice: The Obvious Parallels". In {{harvnb|Younkins|2007|pp=215–224}}.</ref>


===Property rights and individualism===
"So you think that money is the root of all evil?... Have you ever asked what is the root of money? Money is a tool of exchange, which can't exist unless there are goods produced and men able to produce them. Money is the material shape of the principle that men who wish to deal with one another must deal by trade and give value for value. Money is not the tool of the moochers, who claim your product by tears, or the looters who take it from you by force. Money is made possible only by the men who produce. Is this what you consider evil? ... Not an ocean of tears nor all the guns in the world can transform those pieces of paper in your wallet into bread you need to survive tomorrow. ... Whenever destroyers appear among men, they start by destroying money, for money is men's protection and the base of a moral existence. Destroyers seize gold and leave its owners a counterfeit pile of paper. This kills all objective standards and delivers men into the arbitrary power of an arbitrary setter of values... Paper is a mortgage on wealth that does not exist, backed by a gun aimed at those who are expected to produce it. Paper is a check drawn by legal looters upon an account which is not theirs: upon the virtue of the victims. Watch for the day when it becomes marked: 'Account Overdrawn.'"<ref>''Atlas Shrugged'', p. 410-413</ref>
Rand's heroes continually oppose "parasites", "looters", and "moochers" who demand the benefits of the heroes' labor. Edward Younkins describes ''Atlas Shrugged'' as "an apocalyptic vision of the last stages of conflict between two classes of humanity—the looters and the non-looters. The looters are proponents of high taxation, big labor, government ownership, government spending, government planning, regulation, and redistribution."<ref>Younkins, Edward W. "''Atlas Shrugged'': Ayn Rand's Philosophical and Literary Masterpiece". In {{harvnb|Younkins|2007|p=10}}.</ref> "Looters" are Rand's depiction of bureaucrats and government officials, who confiscate others' earnings by the implicit threat of force ("at the point of a gun"). Some officials execute government policy, such as those who confiscate one state's [[seed saving|seed grain]] to feed the starving citizens of another; others exploit those policies, such as the railroad regulator who illegally sells the railroad's supplies for his own profit. Both use force to take property from the people who produced or earned it. "Moochers" are Rand's depiction of those unable to produce value themselves, who demand others' earnings on behalf of the needy, but resent the talented upon whom they depend, and appeal to "moral right" while enabling the "lawful" seizure by governments. The character Francisco d'Anconia indicates the role of "looters" and "moochers" in relation to money: "So you think that money is the root of all evil?&nbsp;... Have you ever asked what is the root of money? Money is a tool of exchange, which can't exist unless there are goods produced and men able to produce them. ... Money is not the tool of the moochers, who claim your product by tears, or the looters who take it from you by force. Money is made possible only by the men who produce."{{sfn|Rand|1992|pp=410–413}}


==Genre==
===Social classes===
The novel includes elements of [[Mystery fiction|mystery]], [[romance novel|romance]], and [[science fiction]].<ref name="Gladstein42">{{harvnb|Gladstein|1999|p=42}}</ref><ref name="McConnell-Ruddy">{{harvnb|McConnell|2010|p=507}}</ref> Rand referred to ''Atlas Shrugged'' as a mystery novel, "not about the murder of man's body, but about the murder—and rebirth—of man's spirit".{{sfn|Rubin|2007}} Nonetheless, when asked by film producer [[Albert S. Ruddy]] if a screenplay could focus on the love story, Rand agreed and reportedly said, "That's all it ever was."<ref name="McConnell-Ruddy"/> Technological progress and intellectual breakthroughs in scientific theory appear in ''Atlas Shrugged'', leading some observers to classify it in the genre of science fiction.{{sfn|Hunt|1983|pp=80–98}} Fictional inventions such as Galt's motor, Rearden Metal, and Project X (a sonic weapon) are important to the plot.<ref>Riggenbach, Jeff. "''Atlas Shrugged'' as a Science Fiction Novel". In {{harvnb|Younkins|2007|p=124}}.</ref> Science fiction historian [[John J. Pierce]] describes it as a "romantic suspense novel" that is "at least a borderline case" of science fiction,{{sfn|Pierce|1989|pp=158–159}} specifically American [[libertarian science fiction]] based on its political themes.{{sfn|Pierce|1989|p=163}} The novel's focus on philosophical issues, including [[ethics]] and [[metaphysics]], marks it as a [[philosophical novel]].<ref>[[Alan Gotthelf|Gotthelf, Alan]]. "Galt's Speech in Five Sentences (and Forty Questions)". In {{harvnb|Mayhew|2009|p=394n6}}.</ref><ref>Salmieri, Gregory. "Discovering Atlantis: ''Atlas Shrugged''{{'s}} Demonstration of a New Moral Philosophy". In {{harvnb|Mayhew|2009|p=401}}.</ref>
The characters in ''Atlas Shrugged'' are portrayed based on their productive effort, respect for rights, intellectual honesty, and moral integrity independent of their [[wealth]] or [[social class]]. Among the heroes, [[John Galt (Atlas Shrugged)|John Galt]] and Hank Rearden are from working class backgrounds, while Dagny Taggart and Francisco d'Anconia are from wealthy families. Among the villains, Fred Kinnan is from a working class background, while James Taggart and Betty Pope are from wealthy families.


==Reception==
===Theory of sex ===<!-- This section is linked from [[Characters in Atlas Shrugged]] -->
{{Quote box
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|quote="Through Dagny's associations...Rand illustrates what a relationship between two self-actualized, equal human beings can be...Rand denies the existence of a split between the physical and the mental, the desires of the flesh and the longings of the spirit."<ref>Gladstein, Mimi Reisel. "Ayn Rand and Feminism: An Unlikely Alliance" In: ''Feminist interpretations of Ayn Rand'' by Mimi Reisel Gladstein, Chris Matthew Sciabarra. Penn State Press, 1999
ISBN 0-271-01831-3, 978-0-271-01831-7. p. 52.</ref>
|source=Mimi Reisel Gladstein, "Ayn Rand and Feminism: An Unlikely Alliance"
|}}In rejecting the traditional [[altruism|altruistic]] [[Morality#Moral codes|moral code]], Rand also rejects the sexual code that, in her view, is the [[logical implication]] of altruism. In ''Atlas Shrugged'' Rand introduces a theory of [[coitus|sex]] that is based in her broader ethical and psychological theories. Rather than considering sexual desire a debasing animal [[instinct]], Rand portrays it as the highest celebration of human [[Value (personal and cultural)|value]]s, a physical response to intellectual and spiritual values that gives concrete expression to what could otherwise be experienced only in the abstract.


===Sales===
In ''Atlas Shrugged'', characters are sexually attracted, usually subconsciously, to those who embody or seem to embody their values, be they higher or lower values by Rand's standards. Characters who lack clear purpose find sex devoid of meaning. This is illustrated in the contrasting relationships of [[Hank Rearden]] with [[Lillian Rearden]] and [[Dagny Taggart]], by the relationships of [[Characters in Atlas Shrugged#James Taggart|James Taggart]] with [[Characters in Atlas Shrugged#Cherryl Brooks|Cherryl Brooks]] and with Lillian Rearden, and finally in the relationship between Dagny and [[John Galt (Atlas Shrugged)|John Galt]].
[[File:Ayn Rand (1957 Phyllis Cerf portrait).jpg|thumb|right|upright|alt=Photo of Ayn Rand|Rand in 1957]]
''Atlas Shrugged'' debuted at number 13 on [[The New York Times Best Seller list|''The New York Times'' Best Seller list]] three days after its publication. It peaked at number 3 on December 8, 1957, and was on the list for 22 consecutive weeks.<ref>{{cite web |title=History of Atlas Shrugged |publisher=Ayn Rand Institute |access-date=April 18, 2012 |url=http://atlasshrugged.com/the-book/genesis-of-the-book/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140210182843/http://atlasshrugged.com/the-book/genesis-of-the-book/ |archive-date=February 10, 2014}}</ref> By 1984, its sales had exceeded five million copies.{{sfn|Branden|1986|p=[https://archive.org/details/passionofaynrand0000bran_a0l8/page/299 299]}} Sales of ''Atlas Shrugged'' increased following the [[financial crisis of 2007–2008]]. The novel's sales in 2009 exceeded 500,000 copies,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.aynrand.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=24817 |title=''Atlas Shrugged'' Sets a New Record! |publisher=[[Ayn Rand Institute]] |date=January 21, 2010 |access-date=January 12, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111126050149/http://www.aynrand.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=24817 |archive-date=November 26, 2011 |url-status=dead}}</ref> and it sold 445,000 copies in 2011.<ref>{{cite web |title=''Atlas Shrugged'' Still Flying Off Shelves |access-date=January 1, 2015 |url=https://ari.aynrand.org/press-releases/atlas-shrugged-still-flying-off-shelves/ |publisher=[[Ayn Rand Institute]] |date=February 14, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220707033855/https://ari.aynrand.org/press-releases/atlas-shrugged-still-flying-off-shelves/ |archive-date=July 7, 2022 |url-status=live}}</ref> As of 2022, the novel had sold 10 million copies.{{sfn|Offord|2022|p=12}}


===Contemporary reviews===
Feminist author and critic [[Camille Paglia]] and the contributors to 1999's ''Feminist Interpretations of Ayn Rand'' have noted Dagny Taggart as an example of Rand's "fiercely independent—and unapologetically sexual" heroines who are unbound by "tradition's chains ... [and] who had sex because they wanted to."<ref name="McLemee"> McLemee, Scott. {{cite web|title="The Heirs of Ayn Rand."|url=http://www.mclemee.com/id39.html|accessdate=2006-04-03}} originally in ''Lingua Franca'', September 1999.</ref>
''Atlas Shrugged'' was generally disliked by critics. Rand scholar [[Mimi Reisel Gladstein]] later wrote that "reviewers seemed to vie with each other in a contest to devise the cleverest put-downs"; one called it "execrable claptrap", while another said it showed "remorseless hectoring and prolixity".<ref name="Gladstein118">{{harvnb|Gladstein|1999|p=118}}</ref> In the ''[[Saturday Review (U.S. magazine)|Saturday Review]]'', Helen Beal Woodward said that the novel was written with "dazzling virtuosity" but was "shot through with hatred".{{sfn|Woodward|1957|p=25}} In ''[[The New York Times Book Review]]'', [[Granville Hicks]] similarly said the book was "written out of hate".{{sfn|Hicks|1957|p=5}} The reviewer for ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' magazine asked: "Is it a novel? Is it a nightmare? Is it Superman&nbsp;– in the comic strip or the Nietzschean version?"<ref>{{cite magazine |magazine=Time |title=Solid Gold Dollar Sign |date=October 14, 1957 |page=128}}</ref> [[Whittaker Chambers]] wrote what was later called the novel's most "notorious" review{{sfn|Burns|2009|p=174}}{{sfn|Doherty|2007|p=659 n4}} for the conservative magazine ''[[National Review]]'', where he called it "remarkably silly"{{sfn|Chambers|1957|p=594}} and said it "can be called a novel only by devaluing the term".{{sfn|Chambers|1957|p=595}} He predicted that practicing Rand's godless ideology would lead to a dictatorship similar to [[Nazism]] or [[Stalinist communism]], and said that within the novel "a voice can be heard ... commanding: 'To a gas chamber—go!{{' "}}.{{sfn|Chambers|1957|p=596}}


There were some positive reviews. Richard McLaughlin, reviewing the novel for ''[[The American Mercury]]'', described it as a "long overdue" polemic against the welfare state with an "exciting, suspenseful plot", although unnecessarily long. He drew a comparison with the antislavery novel ''[[Uncle Tom's Cabin]]'', saying that a "skillful polemicist" did not need a refined literary style to have a political impact.{{sfn|McLaughlin|1958|pp=144–146}} Journalist and book reviewer [[John Chamberlain (journalist)|John Chamberlain]], writing in the ''[[New York Herald Tribune]]'', found ''Atlas Shrugged'' satisfying on many levels: as science fiction, as a "philosophical detective story", and as a "profound political parable".<ref>{{cite news |last=Chamberlain |first=John |title=Ayn Rand's Political Parable and Thundering Melodrama |work=The New York Herald Tribune |date=October 6, 1957 |page=6.1}}</ref>
===Fictional technology & Atlas as science fiction===
Technological progress and intellectual breakthroughs in scientific theory both figure prominently in ''Atlas Shrugged'', leading some observers to add ''Atlas'' to the genre of [[science fiction]]: as writer Jeff Riggenbach noted, "Galt's motor is one of the three inventions that propel the action of Atlas Shrugged," the other two being Rearden Metal and the government's sonic weapon, Project X.<ref name=riggenbach>{{cite web|title=Atlas Shrugged as a Science Fiction Novel|author=Riggenbach, Jeff|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=5_NDTA9x-qMC|accessdate=2009-04-10}} In: Younkins, Edward Wayne. ''Ayn Rand's Atlas shrugged: a philosophical and literary companion'' Published by Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., 2007 ISBN 0-7546-5549-0, 978-0-7546-5549-7 414 pages. p. 124.</ref> Other technologies introduced by Rand include refractor rays (Gulch mirage) and a sophisticated electrical [[torture]] device; Rand also included [[Voice command device|voice activated]] door locks (Gulch power station), [[Fingerprint authentication|palm-activated]] door locks (Galt's NY lab), and the process of extracting [[shale oil|oil from shale]]. Riggenbach adds, "Rand's overall message with regard to science seems clear: the role of science in human life and human society is to provide the knowledge on the basis of which technological advancement and the related improvements in the quality of human life can be realized. But science can fulfill this role only in a society in which human beings are left free to conduct their business as they see fit."<ref>Riggenbach, p. 126.</ref>


===Influence and legacy===
==Reception==
{{Multiple image
''Atlas Shrugged'' debuted on ''[[The New York Times]]'' Bestseller List at #6 three days after its publication date.<ref name="atlashistory"/> It remained on the list for 21 weeks, peaking at #4 for a six-week period beginning December 8, 1957.<ref name="atlashistory"/>
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| footer = Notable figures who have expressed admiration for ''Atlas Shrugged'' include (clockwise from upper left) Austrian-American economist [[Ludwig von Mises]], American commentator [[Glenn Beck]], Israeli politician [[Ayelet Shaked]], and Associate US Supreme Court Justice [[Clarence Thomas]].
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''Atlas Shrugged'' has attracted an energetic and committed fan base. Each year, the Ayn Rand Institute donates 400,000 copies of works by Rand, including ''Atlas Shrugged'', to high school students.{{sfn|Rubin|2007}} According to a 1991 survey done for the [[Library of Congress]] and the [[Book of the Month Club]], ''Atlas Shrugged'' was ranked second among the books that made the most difference in the lives of 17 out of 2,032 Book-of-the-Month club members who responded, between the [[Bible]] and [[M. Scott Peck]]'s ''[[M. Scott Peck#The Road Less Traveled|The Road Less Traveled]]''.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Fein |first=Esther B. |date=November 20, 1991 |title=Book Notes |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1991/11/20/books/book-notes-059091.html |access-date=December 11, 2022 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-12-02-ca-746-story.html |title=Bible Ranks 1 of Books That Changed Lives |work=Los Angeles Times |date=December 2, 1991}}</ref> [[Modern Library]]'s 1998 nonscientific [[online poll]] of the 100 best novels of the 20th century found ''Atlas'' rated No. 1, although it was not included on the list chosen by the Modern Library board of authors and scholars.<ref>{{cite magazine |first=Charles Paul |last=Freund |title=Netbrow |magazine=Reason |date=October 1998 |page=17 |url=https://reason.com/1998/10/01/artifact-netbrow/}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.modernlibrary.com/top-100/100-best-novels/ |title=100 Best Novels |publisher=Random House |access-date=February 1, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110203135157/http://www.modernlibrary.com/top-100/100-best-novels/ |archive-date=February 3, 2011 |url-status=live}}</ref> The 2018 [[PBS]] ''Great American Read'' television series found ''Atlas Shrugged'' rated number 20 out of 100 novels,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.pbs.org/the-great-american-read/results/ |title=The Great American Read: Results |website=PBS |access-date=July 1, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210606215458/https://www.pbs.org/the-great-american-read/results/ |archive-date=June 6, 2021 |url-status=live}}</ref> based on a [[YouGov]] survey "asking Americans to name their most-loved novel".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.pbs.org/the-great-american-read/about/show/ |title=The Great American Read: About |website=PBS |access-date=July 1, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210508015953/https://www.pbs.org/the-great-american-read/about/show/ |archive-date=May 8, 2021 |url-status=live}}</ref>


Rand's impact on contemporary American libertarian thought has been considerable. The title of one libertarian magazine, ''[[Reason (magazine)|Reason]]: Free Minds, Free Markets'', is taken from John Galt, the hero of ''Atlas Shrugged'', who argues that "a free mind and a free market are corollaries". In a tribute written on the 20th anniversary of the novel's publication, libertarian philosopher [[John Hospers]] praised it as "a supreme achievement, guaranteed of immortality".<ref>{{cite journal |last=Hospers |first=John |title=''Atlas Shrugged'': A Twentieth Anniversary Tribute |journal=[[Libertarian Review]] |volume=6 |issue=6 |date=October 1977 |pages=41–43}}</ref> In 1997, the libertarian [[Cato Institute]] held a joint conference with [[The Atlas Society]], an Objectivist organization, to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the publication of ''Atlas Shrugged''.<ref name="catoevent">{{cite web |url=http://www.cato.org/pubs/policy_report/cpr-19n6-3.html |access-date=April 14, 2009 |title=Hundreds Gather to Celebrate ''Atlas Shrugged'' |date=November–December 1997 |publisher=Cato Policy Report |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090420061513/http://www.cato.org/pubs/policy_report/cpr-19n6-3.html |archive-date=April 20, 2009 |url-status=dead}}</ref> At this event, Howard Dickman of ''Reader's Digest'' stated that the novel had "turned millions of readers on to the ideas of liberty" and said that the book had the important message of the readers' "profound right to be happy".<ref name="catoevent" />
''Atlas Shrugged'' was generally disliked by critics, despite being a popular success. Mimi Reisel Gladstein writes that reviewers who have "appreciated not only Rand's writing style but also her message" have been "far outweighed by those who have been everything from hysterically hostile to merely uncomprehending."<ref>Gladstein, Mimi Reisel, ''The Ayn Rand Companion'', Greenwood Press, 1984, p. 98.</ref> Helen Beal Woodward, reviewing ''Atlas Shrugged'' for ''[[Saturday Review (US magazine)|The Saturday Review]]'', opined that the novel was written with "dazzling virtuosity" but that it was "shot through with hatred."<ref>Woodward, Helen Beal, "Non-Stop Daydream," ''Saturday Review'' 12 Oct. 1957, p. 25.</ref> This was echoed by [[Granville Hicks]], writing for ''[[The New York Times Book Review]]'', who also stated that the book was "written out of hate."<ref>Hicks, Granville, "A Parable of Buried Talents," ''The New York Times Book Review'' 13 Oct. 1957, pp. 4-5.</ref> The reviewer for ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' magazine asked: "Is it a novel? Is it a nightmare? Is it [[Superman]]––in the comic strip or the [[Nietzsche]]an version?"<ref>''Time'', "Solid Gold Dollar Sign," 14 Oct. 1957, p.128.</ref> In the conservative magazine ''[[National Review]]'', [[Whittaker Chambers]] called ''Atlas Shrugged'' "sophomoric" and "remarkably silly," and said it "can be called a novel only by devaluing the term".<ref name=chambers>{{Citation | surname=Chambers | given=Whittaker | authorlink=Whittaker Chambers | title=Big Sister is Watching You | journal=National Review | year=1957 | pages=594–596 | url=http://www.orthodoxytoday.org/articles2/ChambersAynRand.shtml |date=December 8, 1957}}</ref> Chambers argued against the novel's implicit endorsement of [[atheism]], whereby "Randian man, like [[Marx]]ian man is made the center of a godless world."<ref>Chambers, Whittaker. "[http://www.nationalreview.com/flashback/flashback200501050715.asp Big Sister Is Watching You]." ''[[National Review]]''. [[December 28]], [[1957]].</ref> Chambers also wrote that the implicit message of the novel is akin to [[Nazism]] ("To the gas chambers go!").


Rand's former business partner and lover [[Nathaniel Branden]] expressed differing views of ''Atlas Shrugged''. He was initially quite favorable to it, and even after he and Rand ended their relationship, he still referred to it in an interview as "the greatest novel that has ever been written", although he found "a few things one can quarrel with in the book".<ref>{{cite news |url=http://reason.com/assets/db/12563232233861.pdf |title=Break Free! An Interview with Nathaniel Branden |date=October 1971 |work=Reason |page=17}}</ref> In 1984, he argued that ''Atlas Shrugged'' "encourages emotional repression and self-disowning" and that Rand's works contained contradictory messages. He criticized the potential psychological impact of the novel, stating that Galt's recommendation to respond to wrongdoing with "contempt and moral condemnation" clashes with the view of psychologists who say this only causes the wrongdoing to repeat itself.<ref>{{harvnb|Branden|1984}}</ref>
Positive reviews appeared in a number of publications. Richard McLaughlin, reviewing the novel for ''[[The American Mercury]]'', compared it to ''[[Uncle Tom's Cabin]]'' in importance.<ref>McLaughlin, Richard, "The Lady Has a Message...," ''The American Mercury'', Jan. 1958, pp.144-146.</ref> Well-known journalist and book reviewer [[John Chamberlain (journalist)|John Chamberlain]], writing in ''[[The New York Herald Tribune]]'', found ''Atlas Shrugged'' satisfying on many levels: science fiction, a "[[Fyodor Dostoyevsky|Dostoevsky]]" detective story and, most importantly, a "profound political parable."<ref>Chamberlain, John, "Ayn Rand's Political Parable and Thundering Melodrama," ''The New York Herald Tribune'', 6 Oct. 1957, sec. 6, p.1.</ref><ref>See also: [http://www.noblesoul.com/orc/books/rand/atlas/], retrieved [[August 9]] [[2006]], for a list of reviews and bibliographical information.</ref>


The [[Austrian School]] economist [[Ludwig von Mises]] admired the unapologetic [[elitism]] he saw in Rand's work. In a letter to Rand written a few months after the novel's publication, he said it offered "a cogent analysis of the evils that plague our society, a substantiated rejection of the ideology of our self-styled 'intellectuals' and a pitiless unmasking of the insincerity of the policies adopted by governments and political parties&nbsp;... You have the courage to tell the masses what no politician told them: you are inferior and all the improvements in your conditions which you simply take for granted you owe to the efforts of men who are better than you."<ref>[[von Mises, Ludwig]]. Letter dated January 23, 1958. Quoted in {{cite book |author-link=Jörg Guido Hülsmann |title=Mises: The Last Knight of Liberalism |url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_it9c6z4bw_8C |first=Jörg Guido |last=Hülsmann |location=Auburn, Alabama |publisher=The Ludwig von Mises Institute |year=2007 |isbn=978-1-933550-18-3 |page=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_it9c6z4bw_8C/page/n1012 996]}}</ref> [[Murray Rothbard]], another Austrian School economist, wrote a letter to Rand in 1958 in which he praised the book as "an infinite treasure house" and "not merely the greatest novel ever written, [but] one of the very greatest books ever written, fiction or nonfiction".{{sfn|Burns|2009|pp=145, 182}} Rothbard soon distanced himself from Rand due to various disagreements in philosophy, and in the early 1960s he wrote a satirical one-act play titled ''Mozart Was a Red'' that spoofed Rand (as the character Carson Sand) and the novel (as Sand's book ''The Brow of Zeus'').{{sfn|Sciabarra|2000|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=Ly9S2quKl1EC&pg=PA165 165]}}
===Psychological criticism===
Former Ayn Rand associate [[Nathaniel Branden]] argues that ''Atlas Shrugged'' "encourages emotional repression and self-disowning" and that her works contain contradictory messages. Branden claimed that the characters rarely talk "on a simple, human level without launching into philosophical sermons." He criticizes the potential psychological impact of the novel, stating that John Galt's recommendation to respond to wrongdoing with "contempt and moral condemnation" clashes the view of psychologists who say this only causes the wrongdoing to repeat itself.<ref>Branden, Nathaniel. "[http://rous.redbarn.org/objectivism/Writing/NathanielBranden/BenefitsAndHazards.html The Benefits and Hazards of the Philosophy of Ayn Rand: A Personal Statement]". 1984.</ref> Rand herself, however, would not have regarded a novel as needing to portray such "ordinary" human interaction at all, even if an entire philosophy of life does need to address this.<ref>Rand, Ayn, ''Romantic Manifesto'', Revised Edition, p. 26</ref>


In the years immediately following the novel's publication, many [[American conservatives]], such as [[William F. Buckley Jr.]], strongly disapproved of Rand and her Objectivist message. In addition to the strongly critical review by [[Whittaker Chambers]], Buckley published a number of critical pieces: [[Russell Kirk]] called Objectivism an "inverted religion"; [[Frank Meyer (political philosopher)|Frank Meyer]] accused Rand of "calculated cruelties" and called her message an "arid subhuman image of man"; and [[Garry Wills]] regarded Rand as a "fanatic".{{sfn|Nash|2006|pp=157–159}}
===Praise and influence===
{{details|Bibliography for Ayn Rand and Objectivism}}
According to a 1991 survey by the [[Library of Congress]] and the [[Book of the Month Club]], ''Atlas Shrugged'' was second to the [[Bible]] as the book that made most difference in American readers' lives.<ref>Michael Shermer. ''The Mind of the Market''. (2008). Times Books. ISBN 0-8050-7832-0, p. XX</ref> [[Modern Library]]'s 1998 three-month online poll of the 100 best novels of the 20th century<ref>Subject of article: Headlam, Bruce. "[http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B01E5DC1738F933A05754C0A96E958260 Forget Joyce; Bring on Ayn Rand]." ''The New York Times'' [[July 30]] [[1998]], G4 (Late Edition, East Coast).</ref><ref>Subject of article: Yardley, Jonathan. "The Voice of the People Speaks. Too Bad It Doesn't Have Much to Say." ''The Washington Post'' [[August 10]] [[1998]], D2 (Final Edition). Retrieved from ProQuest Historical Newspapers.</ref> found ''Atlas'' rated #1 although it was not included on the list chosen by the Modern Library panel of authors and scholars.<ref>"[http://www.randomhouse.com/modernlibrary/100bestnovels.html 100 Best Novels]". ''RandomHouse.com''. Retrieved [[June 20]] [[2006]].</ref> The list was formed on 217,520 votes cast.<ref>"[http://www.randomhouse.com/modernlibrary/100best.html 100 Best]"</ref>


[[File:TDTP08.JPG|thumb|left|alt=Man holding a poster that says "I am John Galt"|A protester's sign at a 2009 Tea Party rally refers to the character John Galt.]]
In 1997, the [[libertarian]] [[Cato Institute]] held a joint conference with [[The Atlas Society]], an Objectivist organization, to celebrate the fortieth anniversary of the publication of ''Atlas Shrugged''<ref name="catoevent">{{cite web|url=http://www.cato.org/pubs/policy_report/cpr-19n6-3.html|accessdate=2009-04-14|title=Hundreds Gather to Celebrate ''Atlas Shrugged''|date=November/December 1997|publisher=Cato Policy Report}}</ref> At this event, Howard Dickman of ''[[Reader's Digest]]'' stated that the novel had "turned millions of readers on to the ideas of liberty" and said that the book had the important message of the readers' "profound right to be happy."<ref name="catoevent"/>
In the 21st century, the novel was referred to more positively by some conservatives. In 2005, Republican Congressman [[Paul Ryan]] said that Rand was "the reason I got into public service", and he required his staff members to read ''Atlas Shrugged'',{{sfn|Beam|2010}} although in 2012 he said his supposed devotion to Rand was "an urban legend".{{sfn|Costa|2012}} In 2006, [[Clarence Thomas]], an [[Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States|associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States]], cited ''Atlas Shrugged'' as among his favorite novels.<ref>{{harvnb|Thomas|2007|pp=62, 187}}</ref> Following the [[financial crisis of 2007–2008]], conservative commentators suggested the book as a warning against a socialistic reaction to the crisis. Several conservative commentators, such as [[Neal Boortz]],<ref name="boortz">{{cite web |url=http://boortz.com/nealz_nuze/2008/12/how-about-a-mini-atlas-shrugge.html |title=How About A Mini Atlas Shrugged?&nbsp;– Nealz Nuze On |publisher=Boortz.com |date=December 18, 2008 |access-date=September 12, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100205154013/http://boortz.com/nealz_nuze/2008/12/how-about-a-mini-atlas-shrugge.html |archive-date=February 5, 2010 |url-status=dead}}</ref> [[Glenn Beck]], and [[Rush Limbaugh]],<ref name="talkingheads">{{cite news |first=Yaron |last=Brook |title=Is Rand Relevant? |work=Wall Street Journal |date=March 15, 2009 |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB123698976776126461 |url-access=subscription}}</ref> offered praise of the book on their respective radio and television programs. In January 2009, conservative writer [[Stephen Moore (writer)|Stephen Moore]] wrote an article in ''[[The Wall Street Journal]]'' titled "''Atlas Shrugged'' From Fiction to Fact in 52 Years",<ref name="fictional">{{cite news |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB123146363567166677 |first=Stephen |last=Moore |author-link=Stephen Moore (writer) |title=Atlas Shrugged': From Fiction to Fact in 52 Years |work=The Wall Street Journal |date=January 9, 2009 |access-date=January 14, 2014 |url-access=subscription |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150104023345/https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB123146363567166677 |archive-date=January 4, 2015 |url-status=live}}</ref> and two months later Republican Congressman [[John B. T. Campbell III|John Campbell]] said, "People are starting to feel like we're living through the scenario that happened in ''Atlas Shrugged''."{{sfn|Barnes|2009}} Outside of the United States, the novel has been cited as an influence by right-wing politicians such [[Siv Jensen]] in Norway,{{sfn|Wang-naveen|2016}} as well as [[Ayelet Shaked]] in Israel.{{sfn|Zeveloff|2015}}


References to ''Atlas Shrugged'' have appeared in a variety of other popular entertainments. In the first season of the drama series [[Mad Men (season 1)|''Mad Men'']], [[Bertram Cooper|Bert Cooper]] urges [[Don Draper]] to read the book, and Don's sales pitch tactic to a client indicates he has been influenced by the strike plot.{{sfn|White|2010||pp=[https://archive.org/details/madmenphilosophy00sout/page/n90 79]–94}} Less positive mentions of the novel occur in episodes of the animated comedies ''[[Futurama]]'', where it appears among the library of books flushed down to the sewers to be read only by grotesque mutants, and ''[[Chickenlover|South Park]]'', where a newly literate character gives up on reading after experiencing ''Atlas Shrugged''.{{sfn|Sciabarra|2004}} The critically acclaimed 2007 video game ''[[BioShock]]'' is widely considered to be a response to ''Atlas Shrugged''. The story depicts a society that has collapsed due to Objectivism, and significant characters in the game owe their naming to Rand's work, which the game's creator [[Ken Levine (game developer)|Ken Levine]] found "really fascinating".{{sfn|Perry|2006}} In 2013, it was announced that Galt's Gulch, a settlement for libertarian devotees named for John Galt's safe haven, would be established near [[Santiago]] in Chile;<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2014/02/libertarian-expat-communities-chile |title=Libertarians Plan to Sit Out the Coming Collapse of America...in Chile |first=Steven |last=Bodzin |magazine=[[Mother Jones (magazine)|Mother Jones]] |date=March 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220214222953/https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2014/02/libertarian-expat-communities-chile/ |archive-date=February 14, 2022 |url-status=live}}</ref> however, the project collapsed amid accusations of fraud.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/freedom-and-liberty-not-enough-to-save-galts-gulch-chile-libertarian-community-from-bureaucracy-and-internal-dissent |title='Freedom and Liberty' Not Enough to Save Galt's Gulch, Chile Libertarian Community from Bureaucracy and Internal Dissent |first=Brian |last=Hutchinson |newspaper=[[National Post]] |date=September 26, 2014 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20230324001506/https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/freedom-and-liberty-not-enough-to-save-galts-gulch-chile-libertarian-community-from-bureaucracy-and-internal-dissent |archive-date=March 24, 2023 |url-status=live}}</ref>
The [[C-SPAN]] television series ''American Writers'' listed Rand as one of twenty-two surveyed figures of American literature, though primarily mentioning ''The Fountainhead'' rather than ''Atlas Shrugged''.<ref>[http://www.americanwriters.org/writers/rand.asp C-SPAN American Writers: Ayn Rand]</ref>


===Awards===
Rand's impact on contemporary libertarian thought has been considerable, and it is noteworthy that the title of the leading libertarian magazine, ''[[Reason (magazine)|Reason: Free Minds, Free Markets]]'' is taken directly from John Galt, the hero of ''Atlas Shrugged'', who argues that "a free mind and a free market are corollaries."
In the United States, ''Atlas Shrugged'' was a finalist for the [[National Book Award for Fiction]] in 1958 but lost to ''[[The Wapshot Chronicle]]'' by [[John Cheever]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nationalbook.org/books/atlas-shrugged/ |title=''Atlas Shrugged'' |website=[[National Book Foundation]] |access-date=June 28, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210225055944/https://www.nationalbook.org/books/atlas-shrugged/ |archive-date=February 25, 2021 |url-status=live}}</ref> In 1983, it was one of the first two books given the [[Prometheus Award]]s' Hall of Fame Award for [[libertarian science fiction]], alongside ''[[The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress]]'' by [[Robert Heinlein]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.lfs.org/awards.shtml |title=Prometheus Awards |website=Libertarian Futurist Society |access-date=June 28, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210522193846/http://www.lfs.org/awards.shtml |archive-date=May 22, 2021 |url-status=live}}</ref>


==Adaptations==
[[Rush Limbaugh]] has made frequent positive references to "Atlas" on his radio program.<ref>Yaron Brook, "Is Rand Relevant?" ''Wall Street Journal'' March 15, 2009 [http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123698976776126461.html]</ref> Conservative [[Associate Justice of the Supreme Court]] [[Clarence Thomas]] cites ''Atlas Shrugged'' as among his favorite novels.<ref>Thomas, Clarence, ''My Grandfather's Son'', Harper Collins, 2007, p. 62, 187; ''60 Minutes'', "Interview with Clarence Thomas," 30 Sept. 2007; Bidinotto, Robert James. "[http://www.atlassociety.org/rb_celebrity_ayn_rand_fans_clarence_thomas.asp Celebrity 'Rand Fans' &ndash; Clarence Thomas]". Retrieved [[May 26]] [[2006]]</ref> In 2009, approximately one hundred [[Denver, Colorado]] "Atlas Shrugged" fans took part in the [[Nationwide Chicago Tea Party#February 27th Tea Parties|February 27th protests]], where they and some 50 other cities held a "Nationwide Chicago Tea Party."<ref name="dcolorado1">[http://coloradoindependent.com/23026/ayn-rand-stars-at-denver-stimulus-tea-party-protest Ayn Rand stars at Denver stimulus ‘tea party’ protest], February 28, 2009, [[Colorado Independent]]</ref><ref name="dcolorado2">[http://colorado.newsplatoon.com/2009/02/24/denver-tea-party/ Denver Tea Party], February 24, 2009, [[colorado]]</ref>
===Film===
====Early attempts====
[[File:John Aglialoro.jpg|thumb|upright|alt=Photo of John Aglialoro|[[John Aglialoro]] optioned the film rights in 1992.]]
A film adaptation of ''Atlas Shrugged'' was in "[[development hell]]" for nearly 40 years.<ref>[[Jeff Britting|Britting, Jeff]]. "Bringing ''Atlas Shrugged'' to Film". In {{harvnb|Mayhew|2009|p=195}}.</ref> In 1972, [[Albert S. Ruddy]] approached Rand to produce a cinematic adaptation. Rand insisted on having final script approval, which Ruddy refused to give her, thus preventing a deal. In 1978, Henry and [[Michael Jaffe]] negotiated a deal for an eight-hour ''Atlas Shrugged'' [[television]] [[miniseries]] on [[NBC]]. Screenwriter [[Stirling Silliphant]] wrote the adaptation and obtained approval from Rand on the final script. When [[Fred Silverman]] became president of NBC in 1979, the project was scrapped.{{sfn|Brown|2007}}


Rand, a former Hollywood screenwriter herself, began writing her own screenplay, but died in 1982 with only one-third of it finished. Her heir, [[Leonard Peikoff]], sold an [[Option (filmmaking)|option]] to Michael Jaffe and [[Ed Snider]]. Peikoff would not approve the script they wrote, and the deal fell through. In 1992, investor [[John Aglialoro]] paid Peikoff over $1 million for an option with full creative control.{{sfn|Brown|2007}} Two new scripts – one by screenwriter [[Benedict Fitzgerald]] and another by Peikoff's wife, Cynthia Peikoff – were deemed inadequate, and Aglialoro refunded early investors in the project.{{sfn|Carter|2014|pp=75–77}}
===Renewed popularity===
In the wake of the [[late 2000s recession]], sales of ''Atlas Shrugged'' have sharply increased, according to ''[[The Economist]]'' magazine and ''[[The New York Times]]''. ''The Economist'' reported that the fifty-two-year-old novel ranked #33 among Amazon.com's top-selling books on 13 January, 2009 and that its thirty day sales average showed the novel selling three times faster than during the same period of the previous year, outselling even the newly elected [[Barack Obama]]'s latest title. With an attached sales chart, ''The Economist'' reported that sales "spikes" of the book seemed to coincide with the release of economic data. The reason given by [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] [[United States House of Representatives|Congressman]] John Campbell was: "People are starting to feel like we’re living through the scenario that happened in [the novel]... We're living in ''Atlas Shrugged''," echoing [[Stephen Moore (economist)|Stephen Moore]] in an article published in ''[[The Wall Street Journal]]'' on 9 January, 2009, titled "''Atlas Shrugged'' From Fiction to Fact in 52 Years." Subsequently, on 2 April, 2009, ''Atlas Shrugged'' ranked #15 at Amazon, and they ranked the novel their #1 seller in "Fiction and Literature."<ref>[http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/03/09/the-atlas-shrugged-index/] ''The New York Times.com'' 3/9/09. Retrieved [[March 9]] [[2009]]</ref><ref>[http://www.economist.com/finance/displaystory.cfm?story_id=13185404&fsrc=rss] ''The Economist'', 2/26/09. Retrieved [[March 9]] [[2009]]</ref><ref>[http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123146363567166677.html] WSJ Online, 1/9/09. Retrieved [[March 9]] [[2009]]</ref><ref>[http://washingtonindependent.com/32415/congressman-were-living-in-atlas-shrugged] ''The Washington Independent.com'' 3/4/09. Retrieved [[March 9]] [[2009]]</ref><ref>[http://www.amazon.com/Atlas-Shrugged-Ayn-Rand/dp/0452011876/ref=pd_bbs_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1237134382&sr=8-2] "Amazon.com" 3/15/09. Retrieved [[April 2]] [[2009]]</ref>


In 1999, under Aglialoro's sponsorship, Ruddy negotiated a deal with [[TNT (U.S. TV network)|Turner Network Television]] (TNT) for a four-hour miniseries; however, the project was killed after TNT merged with [[AOL Time Warner]]. After the TNT deal fell through, [[Howard Baldwin|Howard]] and Karen Baldwin obtained the rights while running [[Philip Anschutz]]'s [[Walden Media|Crusader Entertainment]]. The Baldwins left Crusader to form Baldwin Entertainment Group in 2004 and took the rights to ''Atlas Shrugged'' with them. [[Michael R. Burns|Michael Burns]] of [[Lionsgate|Lions Gate Entertainment]] approached the Baldwins to fund and distribute ''Atlas Shrugged''.{{sfn|Brown|2007}} Although it was ultimately never produced, a draft screenplay was written by [[James V. Hart]],{{sfn|McClintock|2006}} and then rewritten by [[Randall Wallace]].{{sfn|Fleming|2007}}
==Film and television adaptations==
A film adaptation of ''Atlas Shrugged'' has been in "[[development hell]]" for over 35 years. In 1972, [[Albert S. Ruddy]] approached Ayn Rand to produce a cinematic adaptation of ''Atlas Shrugged''. Rand insisted on having final script approval, "complicating the project."<ref name="variety">{{cite web|url=http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117942127.html?categoryid=13&cs=1|title=Lionsgate Shrugging|accessdate=2009-04-20|date=April 26, 2006|source=Variety}}</ref>


====2011–2014 trilogy====
In 1978 Henry and Michael Jaffe negotiated a deal for an eight-hour ''Atlas Shrugged'' [[television]] [[miniseries]] on [[NBC]]. Michael Jaffe hired screenwriter [[Sterling Silliphant]] to adapt the novel and he obtained approval from Rand on the final script. However, in 1979, with [[Fred Silverman|Fred Silverman’s]] rise as president of NBC, the project was scrapped.{{Fact|date=April 2009}}
{{Main|Atlas Shrugged (film series)}}
''Atlas Shrugged'' was made into a film trilogy, released between 2011 and 2014 to negative reviews.


===== ''Atlas Shrugged: Part I'' =====
Rand, a former Hollywood screenwriter herself, began writing her own screenplay but died in 1982 with only one-third of it finished. She left her estate, including the film rights to ''Atlas'', to her student [[Leonard Peikoff]], who sold an [[option (film)|option]] to Michael Jaffe and [[Ed Snider]]. Peikoff would not approve the script they wrote, and the deal fell through.{{Fact|date=April 2009}}
{{Main|Atlas Shrugged: Part I}}
[[File:Taylor Schilling at Paley Fest Orange Is The New Black.jpg|thumb|upright|alt=Photo of Taylor Schilling|[[Taylor Schilling]] played Dagny Taggart in ''Atlas Shrugged: Part I''.]]
In May 2010, [[Brian Patrick O'Toole]] and Aglialoro wrote a screenplay, intent on filming in June 2010. [[Stephen Polk]] was set to direct;{{sfn|Fleming|2010}} however, Polk was fired and principal photography began on June 13, 2010, under the direction of [[Paul Johansson]] and produced by Harmon Kaslow and Aglialoro.{{sfn|Murty|2010}} This resulted in Aglialoro's retention of his rights to the property, which were set to expire on June 15, 2010. Filming was completed on July 20, 2010,{{sfn|Kay|2010}} and the movie was released on April 15, 2011.{{sfn|Carter|2014|p=89}} [[Taylor Schilling]] played Dagny Taggart and [[Grant Bowler]] played Hank Rearden.{{sfn|Carter|2014|p=85}}


The film was met with a generally negative reception from professional critics. Review aggregator [[Rotten Tomatoes]] gives the film a score of 12% based on 52 reviews, with an average score of 3.8 out of 10.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/atlas_shrugged_part_i |title=Atlas Shrugged Part I |publisher=[[Flixster]] |work=[[Rotten Tomatoes]] |access-date=June 21, 2021}}</ref> The film had under $5 million in total box office receipts,{{sfn|Carter|2014|p=89}} considerably less than the estimated $20 million invested by Aglialoro and others.{{sfn|Weigel|2011}} The poor box office and critical reception made Aglialoro reconsider his plans for the rest of the trilogy,{{sfn|Keegan|2011}} but other investors convinced him to continue.{{sfn|Carter|2014|pp=90–91}}
In 1992 investor John Aglialoro, and an [[Objectivism (Ayn Rand)|Objectivist]], bought an option to produce the film, paying Peikoff over $1 million for full creative control.{{Fact|date=April 2009}}


===== ''Atlas Shrugged: Part II'' =====
In 1999, under Aglialoro’s sponsorship, Albert Ruddy negotiated a deal with [[Turner Network Television]] for a four-hour miniseries, but the project was killed after the [[AOL Time Warner]] merger. After the TNT deal fell through [[Howard Baldwin|Howard]] and [[Karen Baldwin]] obtained the rights while running [[Phillip Anschutz]]'s [[Walden Media|Crusader Entertainment]]. The Baldwins left Crusader and formed Baldwin Entertainment Group, taking the rights to ''Atlas Shrugged'' with them.<ref name="variety"/> [[Michael Burns]] of [[Lions Gate Entertainment]] approached the Baldwins to fund and distribute ''Atlas Shrugged''. Baldwin Entertainment Group purchased the film rights in 2003.
{{Main|Atlas Shrugged: Part II}}
On February 2, 2012, Kaslow and Aglialoro announced they had raised $16 million to fund ''Atlas Shrugged: Part II''.<ref>{{harvnb|Key|2012}}</ref> [[Principal photography]] began on April 2, 2012;<ref>{{harvnb|DeSapio|2012}}</ref> the producers hoped to release the film before the [[2012 United States presidential election]].<ref>{{harvnb|Carter|2014|p=91}}</ref> Because the cast for the first film had not been contracted for the entire trilogy, different actors were cast for all the roles.<ref>{{harvnb|Carter|2014|p=93}}</ref> [[Samantha Mathis]] played Dagny, with [[Jason Beghe]] as Hank and [[Esai Morales]] as Francisco d'Anconia.<ref>{{harvnb|Carter|2014|p=92}}</ref>


The film was released on October 12, 2012, without a special screening for critics.<ref>{{harvnb|Carter|2014|p=95}}</ref> It earned $1.7 million on 1012 screens for the opening weekend, which at that time ranked as the 109th worst opening for a film in [[wide release]].<ref name="Knegt">{{harvnb|Knegt|2013}}</ref> Critical response was highly negative; Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a 4% rating based on 23 reviews, with an average score of 3.2 out of 10.<ref>{{cite web |title=Atlas Shrugged: Part II |url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/atlas_shrugged_part_ii/ |website=[[Rotten Tomatoes]] |access-date=June 21, 2021}}</ref> The film's final box office total was $3.3 million.<ref name="Knegt"/>
The film is currently in active development by Baldwin Entertainment Group and Lions Gate Entertainment. A two-part draft screenplay written by [[James V. Hart]] was developed into a 127-page screenplay by writer-director [[Randall Wallace]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117971319.html?categoryid=13&cs=1 |title=Vadim Perelman to direct 'Atlas' |accessdate=2007-09-19 |last=Fleming |first=Michael |date=2007-09-04 |publisher=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]] }}</ref>


===== ''Atlas Shrugged: Part III: Who Is John Galt?'' =====
Actress [[Angelina Jolie]] had been cast in the role of [[Dagny Taggart]], and there were discussions with [[Russell Crowe]] to play the part of [[Characters in Atlas Shrugged#Hank Rearden|Hank Rearden]].<ref name="interview">[http://www.theatlasphere.com/columns/080225-aglialoro-atlas-shrugged-movie.php John Aglialoro on the Atlas Shrugged Movie]</ref> [[Brad Pitt]] had been rumored to be cast in a yet unspecified role. Both Jolie and Pitt are fans of Rand's works.<ref name="Lionsgate shrugging">{{cite web |url=http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117942127.html?categoryid=13&cs=1 |title=Lionsgate shrugging |accessdate=2007-09-19 |last=McClintock |first=Pamela |date=2006-04-26 |publisher=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]] }}</ref> It was thought likely that [[John Galt (Atlas Shrugged)|John Galt]] would be played by an unknown.<ref name="interview"/> [[Vadim Perelman]] (''[[House of Sand and Fog]]'') had been confirmed to direct,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7008433844 |title=Vadim Perelman To Rewrite And Direct "Atlas Shrugged" |accessdate=2007-09-19 |last=Bansal |first=Shaveta |date=2008-09-06 |publisher=All Headline News }}</ref> but as of [[June 18]], [[2008]] was no longer attached to the project.<ref name=imdb>{{imdb title|id=0480239|title=Atlas Shrugged}}</ref> [[Lions Gate Entertainment]] picked up worldwide distribution rights. The film was expected to be released in 2011. Jolie's 2008 pregnancy and Perelman's departure cast the project into doubt,<ref>[http://www.imdb.com/news/ni0247628/ Jolie Fears She's Missed Out On Atlas Film With Pitt], Imdb.com</ref> although the resurgence of public interest in the novel appears to be attracting additional funding.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.riskybusinessblog.com/2009/03/with-atlas-shrugged-hollywood-may-have-its-first-antibailout-movie.html|title="With 'Atlas Shrugged,' Hollywood may have its first anti-bailout movie"|accessdate=2009-05-06}}</ref> {{Asof|2008|November}}, the [[Internet Movie Database]] lists the film's development status as "unknown".<ref name=imdb/>
{{Main|Atlas Shrugged Part III: Who Is John Galt?}}
The third part in the series, ''Atlas Shrugged Part III: Who Is John Galt?'', was released on September 12, 2014.{{sfn|Bond|2014}} Dagny was played by [[Laura Regan]], with [[Rob Morrow]] as Hank, [[Kristoffer Polaha]] as John Galt, and [[Joaquim de Almeida]] as Francisco. The movie opened on 242 screens and grossed $461,179 on its opening weekend; the final box office total was $851,690.<ref>{{cite web |title=Atlas Shrugged Part III: Who is John Galt? |work=The Numbers |url=http://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Atlas-Shrugged-Who-Is-John-Galt#tab=summary |access-date=June 21, 2021}}</ref> It was reviewed unfavorably by critics, holding a [[List of films with a 0% rating on Rotten Tomatoes|0% at Rotten Tomatoes]] based on 10 reviews, with an average score of 1.8 out of 10.<ref>{{cite web |title=Atlas Shrugged: Who is John Galt? |work=Rotten Tomatoes |url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/atlas_shrugged_who_is_john_galt/ |access-date=June 21, 2021}}</ref>


==Related topics==
====Future====
In 2015, ''The New York Times'' reported that Ruddy had come to an agreement with Aglialoro to make a new television adaptation of ''Atlas Shrugged''.{{sfn|Cieply|2015}} On November 17, 2022, producer [[Jeremy Boreing]] announced that conservative media company ''[[The Daily Wire]]'' optioned the rights to ''Atlas Shrugged''. The company plans to create a series based on the novel for the DailyWire+ [[video on demand]] service, in cooperation with the [[Bonfire Legend]] movie studio and Aglialoro's Atlas Distribution Company.{{sfn|Wiseman|2022}}
* [[Aristotelianism]]
* [[Austrian School]]
* [[Dystopia]]
* [[Industrial Revolution]]
* [[James J. Hill]] (1838– 1916) builder of the [[Great Northern Railway (U.S.)]]
* [[Libertarianism]]
* [[Libertarianism and Objectivism]]
* [[Laissez-faire]]
* [[Objectivism (Ayn Rand)]]
* [[Objectivist movement]]
* [[Romanticism]]


==References==
===Stage===
''Atlas Shrugged'' has been adapted twice as stage plays in German. In 2013, {{interlanguage link|Stefan Bachmann (director)|lt=Stefan Bachmann|de|Stefan Bachmann (Regisseur)|sv|Stefan Bachmann}}, director of the [[Schauspiel Köln]] in [[Cologne]], staged {{lang|de|Der Streik}} (''The Strike''), a four-hour adaptation co-written by Bachmann and {{interlanguage link|Jens Gross|de|Jens Groß}}. Bachmann had begun the adaptation eight years earlier but the theaters he worked for prior to Schauspiel Köln were dismissive of the idea.{{sfn|Brühwiler|2021|pp=220–221}} In January 2021, director [[Nicolas Stemann]] presented a three-hour musical adaptation, also titled {{lang|de|Der Streik}}, in [[Zürich]], Switzerland. Stemann's version of the story from the novel is presented as a [[story within a story]] being staged by a "Church of Ayn Rand" that is associated with the [[alt-right]] and [[white supremacy]].{{sfn|Brühwiler|2021|pp=221–222}}
{{reflist|2}}


==Further reading==
==See also==
{{portal|Novels}}
===Publications===
* [[Objectivism and libertarianism]]
* ''Atlas Shrugged'', Ayn Rand; Signet (September 1996) ISBN 0-451-19114-5
* ''Essays on Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged'', Robert Mayhew, editor (Lexington Books, 2009) ISBN 0-73912-780-2
* ''Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged: A Philosophical and Literary Companion'', Edward Younkins (Ashgate Publishing, 2007). ISBN 0-75465-549-0
* ''Atlas Shrugged (Cliffs Notes)'', Andrew Bernstein, [[CliffsNotes]] ([[June 5]], [[2000]]) ISBN 0-7645-8556-8
* ''The World of Atlas Shrugged'', Robert Bidinotto/The Objectivist Center, HighBridge Company ([[April 19]], [[2001]]) ISBN 1-56511-471-X
* ''Atlas Shrugged: Manifesto of the Mind (Twayne's Masterwork Studies, No. 174)'' Mimi Reisel Gladstein, Twayne Pub., (June 2000) ISBN 0-8057-1638-6
* ''The Moral Revolution in Atlas Shrugged'', [[Nathaniel Branden]], The Objectivist Center, (July 1999) ISBN 1-57724-033-2
* ''Odysseus, Jesus, and Dagny'', Susan McCloskey, The Objectivist Center ([[August 1]], [[1998]]) ISBN 1-57724-025-1


==Notes==
===Foreign language translations===
{{Noteslist}}
* [[Chinese language|Chinese]]:''阿特拉斯耸耸肩'', 2 vol., published by Chongqing Publishing Group, October 2007, ISBN 9787536686397, Translator: 扬格.
* [[Dutch language|Dutch]]: ''Atlas in Staking'', published by the "De Boekenmaker", www.boekenmaker.nl (Krommenie, 2006).
* [[French language|French]]: ''La révolte d'Atlas'', 2 vol. (Paris 1958 et 1959, Editions Jeheber)
* [[German language|German]]: ''Wer ist John Galt?'' (Hamburg, Germany: GEWIS Verlag), ISBN 3-932564-03-0.
* [[Italian language|Italian]]: ''La rivolta di Atlante'', 3 vol. (Milano, Corbaccio, 2007), ISBN 88-797-2863-6, ISBN 88-797-2878-4, ISBN 88-797-2881-4. Translator: Laura Grimaldi
* [[Japanese language|Japanese]]: ''肩をすくめるアトラス''  (ビジネス社), ISBN 4-8284-1149-6. Translator: 脇坂 あゆみ.
* [[Norwegian language|Norwegian]]: ''De som beveger verden''. (Kagge Forlag, 2000), ISBN 82-489-0083-5 (hardcover), ISBN 82-489-0169-6 (paperback). Translator: John Erik Bøe Lindgren.
* [[Polish language|Polish]]: ''Atlas Zbuntowany'' (Zysk i S-ka, 2004), ISBN 83-7150-969-3 (hardcover). Translator: Iwona Michałowska.
* [[Portuguese language|Portuguese]]: ''Quem é John Galt?'' (Editora Expressão e Cultura), ISBN 85-208-0248-6 (paperback). Translator: Paulo Henriques Britto.
* [[Russian language|Russian]]: ''Атлант расправил плечи'' (Издательство Альпина Бизнес Букс, 2007 г.), ISBN 978-5-9614-0603-0. Translator: Ю.Соколов, В.Вебер, Д.Вознякевич.


==References==
* [[Spanish language|Spanish]]: ''La rebelión de Atlas.'' (Editorial Grito Sagrado), ISBN 987-20951-0-8 (hardcover), ISBN 987-20951-1-6 (paperback).
{{Reflist|25em}}
* [[Swedish language|Swedish]]: ''Och världen skälvde.'' ([[Timbro|Timbro Förlag]], 1986), ISBN 9905849041. Translator: Maud Freccero.

* [[Turkish language|Turkish]]: ''Atlas Silkindi..'' (Plato Yayınları, 2003), ISBN 975-96772-6-1. Translator: Belkıs Çorapçı.
===Works cited===
* [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]]: ''מרד הנפילים'', (Tel Aviv, Israel: S. Fridman, 1999), 2 vol., Danacode 113-138 (hardcover). Translator: Itzhak Avrahami.
{{Refbegin|30em}}
* {{Cite news |first=Anita |last=Barnes |title=Congressman: We're Living in ''Atlas Shrugged'' |work=The Washington Independent |url=https://washingtonindependent.com/32415/congressman-were-living-in-atlas-shrugged/ |date=March 4, 2009 |access-date=June 27, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210212052848/https://washingtonindependent.com/32415/congressman-were-living-in-atlas-shrugged/ |archive-date=February 12, 2021 |url-status=live}}
* {{Cite news |first=Christopher |last=Beam |title=The Trouble with Liberty |date=December 17, 2010 |work=[[New York (magazine)|New York]] |url=https://nymag.com/news/politics/70282/index1.html |access-date=June 27, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201023223653/https://nymag.com/news/politics/70282/index1.html |archive-date=October 23, 2020 |url-status=live}}
* {{Cite web |first=Robert James |last=Bidinotto |author-link=Robert Bidinotto |url=https://atlassociety.org/atlas-shrugged/atlas-shrugged-blog/3170-atlas-shrugged-as-literature |title=Atlas Shrugged as Literature |date=April 5, 2011 |access-date=October 10, 2017 |website=The Atlas Society |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210308093150/https://www.atlassociety.org/post/atlas-shrugged-as-literature |archive-date=March 8, 2021 |url-status=live}}
* {{Cite web |last=Bond |first=Paul |title=''Atlas Shrugged: Who Is John Galt?'' Sets Sept. 12 Release Date (Exclusive) |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/atlas-shrugged-who-is-john-691516 |access-date=September 21, 2014 |website=[[The Hollywood Reporter]] |date=March 26, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210308043147/https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/atlas-shrugged-who-is-john-691516 |archive-date=March 8, 2021 |url-status=live}}
* {{Cite magazine |last=Bradford |first=R. W. |author-link=R. W. Bradford |title=Was Ayn Rand a Plagiarist? |magazine=Liberty |date=May 1994 |volume=7 |issue=4 |url=http://www.libertyunbound.com/sites/files/printarchive/Liberty_Magazine_May_1994.pdf |pages=56–58 |access-date=June 10, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190818130143/http://www.libertyunbound.com/sites/files/printarchive/Liberty_Magazine_May_1994.pdf |archive-date=August 18, 2019}}
* {{Cite book |title=[[The Passion of Ayn Rand]] |last=Branden |first=Barbara |author-link=Barbara Branden |location=Garden City, New York |publisher=Doubleday & Company |year=1986 |isbn=978-0-385-19171-5}}
* {{Cite journal |title=The Benefits and Hazards of the Philosophy of Ayn Rand: A Personal Statement |first=Nathaniel |last=Branden |author-link=Nathaniel Branden |journal=[[Journal of Humanistic Psychology]] |date=Fall 1984 |volume=24 |issue=4 |doi=10.1177/0022167884244004 |pages=29–64 |s2cid=144772216}}
* {{Cite news |last=Brown |first=Kimberly |title=Ayn Rand No Longer Has Script Approval |newspaper=New York Times |date=January 14, 2007 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/14/movies/14brow.html |access-date=June 21, 2009}}
* {{cite news |last=Cieply |first=Michael |title=Producer of ''The Godfather'' Lands Rights to ''Atlas Shrugged'' Novel |work=The New York Times |date=November 1, 2015 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/02/business/media/producer-of-the-godfather-lands-rights-to-atlas-shrugged-novel.html |access-date=April 1, 2024}}
* {{cite book |first=Claudia Franziska |last=Brühwiler |title=Out of a Gray Fog: Ayn Rand's Europe |date=2021 |location=Lanham, Maryland |publisher=Lexington Books |edition=Kindle |isbn=978-1-79363-686-7}}
* {{Cite book |title=[[Goddess of the Market|Goddess of the Market: Ayn Rand and the American Right]] |last=Burns |first=Jennifer |author-link=Jennifer Burns (historian) |location=New York |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2009 |isbn=978-0-19-532487-7}}
* {{Cite book |chapter=The History of the Atlas Shrugged Movie Trilogy |first=Joan |last=Carter |editor-first=David |editor-last=Kelley |title=Atlas Shrugged: The Novel, the Films, the Philosophy |publisher=The Atlas Society |year=2014 |isbn=978-1-5010-5924-7}}
* {{Cite magazine |last=Chambers |first=Whittaker |author-link=Whittaker Chambers |title=Big Sister is Watching You |magazine=National Review |pages=594–596 |url=https://www.nationalreview.com/2005/01/big-sister-watching-you-whittaker-chambers/ |date=December 8, 1957}}
* {{cite news |url=http://www.nationalreview.com/content/ryan-shrugged |first=Robert |last=Costa |title=Ryan Shrugged: Representative Paul Ryan Debunks an 'Urban Legend' |work=National Review |date=April 26, 2012 |access-date=June 6, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131029234429/http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/297023/ryan-shrugged-robert-costa |archive-date=October 29, 2013}}
* {{Cite web |first=Scott |last=DeSapio |url=http://blog.atlasshruggedmovie.com/2012/04/atlas-shrugged-part-2-begins-principal.html |title=Atlas Shrugged Part 2 Begins Principal Photography |website=Atlas Shrugged Movie |publisher=Atlas Productions |date=April 2, 2012 |access-date=August 17, 2019}}
* {{Cite book |title=Radicals for Capitalism: A Freewheeling History of the Modern American Libertarian Movement |last=Doherty |first=Brian |author-link=Brian Doherty (journalist) |location=New York |publisher=[[Public Affairs Press]] |year=2007 |isbn=978-1-58648-350-0 |title-link=Radicals for Capitalism: A Freewheeling History of the Modern American Libertarian Movement}}
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* {{Cite web |url=https://deadline.com/2010/05/atlas-shrugged-rights-holder-sets-june-production-start-whether-or-not-stars-align-43840/ |first=Mike |last=Fleming |title=''Atlas Shrugged'' Rights Holder Sets June Production Start Whether or Not Stars Align |date=May 26, 2010 |website=[[Deadline Hollywood|Deadline]] |access-date=May 28, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100529190804/http://www.deadline.com/2010/05/atlas-shrugged-rights-holder-sets-june-production-start-whether-or-not-stars-align/ |archive-date=May 29, 2010 |url-status=live}}
* {{Cite book |title=The New Ayn Rand Companion |last=Gladstein |first=Mimi Reisel |author-link=Mimi Reisel Gladstein |location=Westport, Connecticut |publisher=Greenwood Press |year=1999 |isbn=978-0-313-30321-0}}
* {{Cite book |title=Atlas Shrugged: Manifesto of the Mind |last=Gladstein |first=Mimi Reisel |location=New York |publisher=Twayne Publishers |year=2000 |isbn=978-0-8057-1638-2 |series=Twayne's Masterwork Studies series |url=https://archive.org/details/atlasshruggedman00glad}}
* {{Cite book |first=William |last=Hansen |title=Handbook of Classical Mythology |location=Santa Barbara, California |publisher=ABC-CLIO |year=2004 |isbn=978-1-57607-226-4}}
* {{Cite book |title=Ayn Rand and the World She Made |last=Heller |first=Anne C. |location=New York |publisher=Doubleday |year=2009 |isbn=978-0-385-51399-9 |title-link=Ayn Rand and the World She Made}}
* {{Cite news |last=Hicks |first=Granville |title=A Parable of Buried Talents |work=The New York Times Book Review |date=October 13, 1957 |pages=4–5}}
* {{Cite book |first=Robert |last=Hunt |chapter=Science Fiction for the Age of Inflation: Reading ''Atlas Shrugged'' in the 1980s |title=Coordinates: Placing Science Fiction and Fantasy |url=https://archive.org/details/coordinatesplaci00phda |url-access=registration |editor1-first=George E. |editor1-last=Slusser |editor2-first=Eric S. |editor2-last=Rabkin |editor3-first=Robert |editor3-last=Scholes |year=1983 |publisher=Southern Illinois University Press |location=Carbondale, Illinois |name-list-style=amp |pages=[https://archive.org/details/coordinatesplaci00phda/page/n91 80]–98 |isbn=978-0-8093-1105-7}}
* {{Cite web |last=Kay |first=Jeremy |title=Production Wraps on ''Atlas Shrugged Part One'' |website=[[Screen Daily]] |date=July 26, 2010 |url=http://www.screendaily.com/news/production/production-wraps-on-atlas-shrugged-part-one/5016390.article |access-date=July 29, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100730103932/http://www.screendaily.com/news/production/production-wraps-on-atlas-shrugged-part-one/5016390.article |archive-date=July 30, 2010 |url-status=live}}
* {{Cite news |last=Keegan |first=Rebecca |url=http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/movies/2011/04/atlas-shrugged-producer-critics-you-won-hes-going-on-strike.html |title='Atlas Shrugged' Producer: 'Critics, You Won.' He's Going 'On Strike' |newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]] |date=April 26, 2011 |access-date=August 15, 2019}}
* {{cite news |title=The 5 Biggest Disappointments at the 2012 Specialty Box Office |first=Peter |last=Knegt |date=January 4, 2013 |url=https://www.indiewire.com/2013/01/the-5-biggest-disappointments-at-the-2012-specialty-box-office-42199/ |work=[[IndieWire]] |access-date=August 17, 2019}}
* {{cite news |title=''Atlas Shrugged: Part 2'' Movie Funded |first=Peter |last=Key |work=[[Philadelphia Business Journal]] |date=February 6, 2012 |url=http://www.bizjournals.com/philadelphia/blog/peter-key/2012/02/atlas-shrugged-part-2-movie-on-the-way.html |access-date=August 17, 2019}}
* {{Cite book |title=Essays on Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged |editor-last=Mayhew |editor-first=Robert |location=Lanham, Maryland |publisher=Lexington Books |year=2009 |isbn=978-0-7391-2780-3}}
* {{Cite news |url=https://variety.com/2006/film/features/lionsgate-shrugging-1200334960/ |title=Lionsgate Shrugging |last=McClintock |first=Pamela |access-date=June 12, 2009 |date=April 26, 2006 |work=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090429030740/http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117942127.html |archive-date=April 29, 2009 |url-status=live}}
* {{Cite book |title=100 Voices: An Oral History of Ayn Rand |last=McConnell |first=Scott |location=New York |publisher=[[New American Library]] |year=2010 |isbn=978-0-451-23130-7 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/100voicesoralhis0000mcco}}
* {{Cite magazine |last=McLaughlin |first=Richard |title=The Lady Has a Message&nbsp;... |magazine=[[The American Mercury]] |date=January 1958 |pages=144–146}}
* {{Cite web |last=Murty |first=Govindini |date=July 21, 2010 |url=http://www.libertasfilmmagazine.com/exclusive-lfm-visits-the-set-of-atlas-shrugged-director-paul-johanssons-first-interview-about-the-film-part-i/ |title=Exclusive: LFM Visits the Set of ''Atlas Shrugged'' + Director Paul Johansson's First Interview about the Film |website=[[Libertas Film Magazine]] |access-date=August 26, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100801030734/http://www.libertasfilmmagazine.com/exclusive-lfm-visits-the-set-of-atlas-shrugged-director-paul-johanssons-first-interview-about-the-film-part-i/ |archive-date=August 1, 2010 |url-status=dead}}
* {{Cite book |last=Nash |first=George H. |author-link=George H. Nash |title=The Conservative Intellectual Movement in America Since 1945 |location=Wilmington, Delaware |publisher=ISI Books |date=2006 |edition=30th anniversary |isbn=978-1-933859-12-5 |url=https://archive.org/details/conservativeinte0000nash_m5m2}}
* {{Cite book |title=Ayn Rand and the Russian Intelligentsia: The Origins of an Icon of the American Right |last=Offord |first=Derek |year=2022 |location=London |publisher=[[Bloomsbury Academic]] |isbn=978-1-3502-8393-0 |series=Russian Shorts |edition=Kindle}}
* {{Cite book |first=John J. |last=Pierce |author-link=John J. Pierce |title=When World Views Collide: A Study in Imagination and Evolution |location=New York |publisher=Greenwood Press |year=1989 |isbn=978-0-313-25457-4}}
* {{Cite web |url=https://www.ign.com/articles/2006/05/18/the-influence-of-literature-and-myth-in-videogames |title=The Influence of Literature and Myth in Videogames |first=Douglass C. |last=Perry |website=IGN |date=May 26, 2006 |access-date=October 7, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210224115909/https://www.ign.com/articles/2006/05/18/the-influence-of-literature-and-myth-in-videogames |archive-date=February 24, 2021 |url-status=live}}
* {{Cite book |last=Raimondo |first=Justin |title=Reclaiming the American Right: The Lost Legacy of the Conservative Movement |publisher=ISI Books |location=Wilmington, Delaware |year=2008 |orig-year=1993 |isbn=978-1-933859-60-6}}
* {{Cite book |last=Rand |first=Ayn |title=Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal |year=1986 |orig-year=1966 |publisher=Signet |isbn=978-0-451-14795-0 |title-link=Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal}}
* {{Cite book |last=Rand |first=Ayn |title=Atlas Shrugged |location=New York |publisher=Dutton |year=1992 |orig-year=1957 |edition=35th anniversary |isbn=978-0-525-94892-6}}
* {{Cite book |last=Rand |first=Ayn |editor-last=Harriman |editor-first=David |title=Journals of Ayn Rand |location=New York |publisher=Dutton |year=1997 |isbn=978-0-525-94370-9 |title-link=Journals of Ayn Rand}}
* {{Cite book |title=[[Letters of Ayn Rand]] |last=Rand |first=Ayn |editor-first=Michael S |editor-last=Berliner |location=New York |publisher=Dutton |year=1995 |isbn=0-525-93946-6 |oclc=31412028}}
* {{Cite news |first=Harriet |last=Rubin |title=Ayn Rand's Literature of Capitalism |date=September 15, 2007 |access-date=April 15, 2011 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/15/business/15atlas.html |work=The New York Times |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110512144741/http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/15/business/15atlas.html |archive-date=May 12, 2011 |url-status=live}}
* {{Cite journal |first=Chris Matthew |last=Sciabarra |author-link=Chris Matthew Sciabarra |title=Books for Rand Studies |journal=Full Context |volume=11 |issue=4 |date=March–April 1999 |pages=9–11 |url=https://chrismatthewsciabarra.com/essays/cult.htm |archive-date=October 26, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201026122939/https://chrismatthewsciabarra.com/essays/cult.htm |url-status=live}}
* {{Cite book |first=Chris Matthew |last=Sciabarra |title=Total Freedom: Toward a Dialectical Libertarianism |location=University Park, Pennsylvania |publisher=Pennsylvania State University Press |date=2000 |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=Ly9S2quKl1EC&pg=PA165 165] |isbn=978-0-271-01830-0}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Sciabarra |first=Chris Matthew |title=The Illustrated Rand |journal=[[The Journal of Ayn Rand Studies]] |volume=6 |issue=1 |date=Fall 2004 |url=https://chrismatthewsciabarra.com/essays/illustratedrand.pdf |pages=1–20 |access-date=April 15, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210626195802/https://chrismatthewsciabarra.com/essays/illustratedrand.pdf |archive-date=June 26, 2021 |url-status=live |jstor=41560268}}
* {{Cite book |title=Ayn Rand: The Russian Radical |last=Sciabarra |first=Chris Matthew |location=University Park, Pennsylvania |publisher=Pennsylvania State University Press |year=2013 |edition=2nd |isbn=978-0-271-06227-3 |title-link=Ayn Rand: The Russian Radical}}
* {{Cite book |last=Thomas |first=Clarence |title=My Grandfather's Son: A Memoir |location=New York |publisher=Harper Perennial |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-06-056556-5 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/mygrandfathersso00clar}}
* {{Cite book |title=The Ayn Rand Cult |title-link=The Ayn Rand Cult |last=Walker |first=Jeff |location=La Salle, Illinois |publisher=Open Court Publishing |year=1999 |isbn=0-8126-9390-6}}
* {{Cite news |first=Mala |last=Wang-naveen |title=Er Ayn Rand en politikkens Darth Vader eller en glitrende ledestjerne? |trans-title=Is Ayn Rand a Darth Vader of Politics or a Sparkling Guiding Star? |work=[[Aftenposten]] |date=January 5, 2016 |url=https://www.aftenposten.no/kultur/i/BG5g/er-ayn-rand-en-politikkens-darth-vader-eller-en-glitrende-ledestjerne |access-date=June 14, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210222130657/https://www.aftenposten.no/kultur/i/BG5g/er-ayn-rand-en-politikkens-darth-vader-eller-en-glitrende-ledestjerne |archive-date=February 22, 2021 |url-status=live |language=no}}
* {{Cite web |url=http://www.slate.com/id/2287075/ |title=Libertarians Shrugged |first=David |last=Weigel |author-link=David Weigel |date=March 3, 2011 |work=Slate |access-date=August 15, 2019}}
* {{Cite book |title=Mad Men and Philosophy: Nothing Is as It Seems |url=https://archive.org/details/madmenphilosophy00sout |url-access=registration |chapter=Endless Egoists: The Second-Hand Lives of Mad Men |first=Robert |last=White |editor1-first=Rod |editor1-last=Carveth |editor2-first=James B. |editor2-last=South |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |location=Hoboken, New Jersey |year=2010 |isbn=978-0-470-60301-7}}
* {{Cite web |last=Wiseman |first=Andreas |url=https://deadline.com/2022/11/daily-wire-tv-series-adaptation-ayn-rands-dystopian-novel-atlas-shrugged-1235175597/ |title=The Daily Wire Lines Up Series Adaptation Of Ayn Rand's Dystopian Novel ''Atlas Shrugged'' |website=[[Deadline Hollywood|Deadline]] |date=November 17, 2022 |access-date=November 18, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221117223502/https://deadline.com/2022/11/daily-wire-tv-series-adaptation-ayn-rands-dystopian-novel-atlas-shrugged-1235175597/ |archive-date=November 17, 2022 |url-status=live}}
* {{Cite news |last=Woodward |first=Helen Beal |title=Non-Stop Daydream |work=Saturday Review |date=October 12, 1957 |page=25}}
* {{Cite book |title=Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged: A Philosophical and Literary Companion |editor-last=Younkins |editor-first=Edward W. |location=Burlington, Vermont |publisher=Ashgate Publishing |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-7546-5533-6}}
* {{Cite news |first=Naomi |last=Zeveloff |title=Can Ayelet Shaked Sell (Secular) Israel on the Far Right? |work=[[The Forward]] |date=January 26, 2015 |url=https://forward.com/news/israel/213348/can-ayelet-shaked-sell-secular-israel-on-the-far-r/ |access-date=June 28, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150603050958/https://forward.com/news/israel/213348/can-ayelet-shaked-sell-secular-israel-on-the-far-r/ |archive-date=June 3, 2015 |url-status=live}}
{{Refend}}

==Further reading==
* {{Cite book|chapter=The Moral Revolution in Atlas Shrugged |title=Who is Ayn Rand? |last1=Branden |first= Nathaniel |author-link=Nathaniel Branden |others=Book co-authored with [[Barbara Branden]] |location=New York |publisher=[[Random House]] |year=1962 |oclc=313377536 |pages=3–65 |ref=none}} Reprinted by [[The Atlas Society|The Objectivist Center]] as a booklet in 1999, {{ISBN|1-57724-033-2}}.
* {{Cite book|chapter=Who Is Dagny Taggart? The Epic Hero/ine in Disguise |first=Karen |last=Michalson |title=Feminist Interpretations of Ayn Rand |editor1-last=Gladstein |editor1-first=Mimi Reisel |editor2-last=Sciabarra |editor2-first=Chris Matthew |editor2-link=Chris Matthew Sciabarra |location=University Park, Pennsylvania |publisher=The Pennsylvania State University Press |year=1999 |isbn=978-0-534-57625-7 |series=Re-reading the Canon |name-list-style=amp |ref=none}}
* {{Cite book|chapter=On ''Atlas Shrugged'' |last=Wilt |first=Judith |title=Feminist Interpretations of Ayn Rand |editor1-last=Gladstein |editor1-first=Mimi Reisel |editor2-last=Sciabarra |editor2-first=Chris Matthew |location=University Park, Pennsylvania |publisher=The Pennsylvania State University Press |year=1999 |isbn=978-0-534-57625-7 |series=Re-reading the Canon |name-list-style=amp |ref=none}}


==External links==
==External links==
{{Wikibooks|Atlas Shrugged}}
{{Wikibooks|Atlas Shrugged}}
{{Wikiquote|Atlas Shrugged}}
* [http://www.cliffsnotes.com/WileyCDA/LitNote/Atlas-Shrugged.id-7.html Free Online CliffsNotes for Atlas Shrugged]
* {{Google books|0gLzGn-LYAQC|Atlas Shrugged (Centennial Edition)}}
* [http://atlasshrugged.com/ Website dedicated to ''Atlas Shrugged'']
* [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/662.Atlas_Shrugged?ac=1 Atlas Shrugged on Goodreads]
* [http://aynrandnovels.com/ Website dedicated to Ayn Rand's novels]
* [http://www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/a/atlas-shrugged/book-summary Free Online CliffsNotes for Atlas Shrugged]
* [http://www.objectivistcenter.org/cth-22-1710-AtlasShruggedTimeline.aspx Timeline of major events in the novel]
* [https://aynrand.org/novels/atlas-shrugged/ Page about ''Atlas Shrugged''] from the Ayn Rand Institute
* [http://www.objectivistcenter.org/cth-22-1708-AtlasShruggedCastOfCharacters.aspx Cast of characters in the novel]
* [https://www.atlassociety.org/post/atlas-shrugged-timeline Timeline of major events in the novel]
* [http://www.aynrand.org Excerpt from ''Atlas Shrugged''] at the [[Ayn Rand Institute|ARI]]
* [https://programs.aynrand.org/prog/2020-21_atlas_shrugged_essay_contest/ ''Atlas Shrugged'' Essay Contest] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210626205832/https://programs.aynrand.org/prog/2020-21_atlas_shrugged_essay_contest/ |date=June 26, 2021 }}
* [http://www.theobjectivestandard.com/issues/2007-fall/literary-revolution-atlas-shrugged.asp Andrew Bernstein, "Transfiguring the Novel: The Literary Revolution in ''Atlas Shrugged''"]
* [https://www.shmoop.com/study-guides/literature/atlas-shrugged Atlas Shrugged] study guide, themes, quotes, literary devices, teaching resources
* [http://www.quebecoislibre.org/07/070909-5.htm Edward W. Younkins, "A Review of Andrew Bernstein's The Philosophic and Literary Integration in Ayn Rand's ''Atlas Shrugged''"]
* [http://www.aynrand.org/site/PageServer?pagename=education_contests_atlas ''Atlas Shrugged'' Essay Contest]
* [http://blog.mises.org/archives/007246.asp Ayn Rand and Garet Garrett discussion] at the [[Mises Institute]].
*[http://www.atlaslibertas.ufm.edu/en/default.asp Sculpture dedicated to ''Atlas Shrugged''] at [[Universidad Francisco Marroquin]]
*[http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-wellington-ennis/missing-the-point-of-emat_b_185695.html Missing the Point of Atlas Shrugged] by John Wellington Ennis, ''The Huffington Post''
*[http://imago.hitherby.com/?p=378 Aslan Shrugged: The Wardrobe] a parody, February 3 2005

===Reviews===
* [http://www.nationalreview.com/flashback/flashback200501050715.asp A negative review] from the [[December 28]], [[1957]] issue of ''[[National Review]]'' by [[Whittaker Chambers]].
*[http://www.butler-bowdon.com/ashrugged.html Review of ''Atlas Shrugged'' as one of 50 'self-help classics']


{{Ayn Rand|state=autocollapse}}
{{Ayn Rand|state=autocollapse}}
{{Authority control}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=December 2022}}


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[[da:Atlas Shrugged]]
[[de:Atlas wirft die Welt ab]]
[[es:La rebelión de Atlas]]
[[fr:La Révolte d'Atlas]]
[[it:La rivolta di Atlante]]
[[he:מרד הנפילים]]
[[la:Atlas Shrugged]]
[[no:De som beveger verden]]
[[ru:Атлант расправил плечи (роман)]]
[[simple:Atlas Shrugged]]
[[sv:Och världen skälvde]]
[[uk:Атлант розправив плечі]]
[[vi:Atlas Shrugged]]
[[zh:阿特拉斯摆脱重负]]

Latest revision as of 13:29, 12 December 2024

Atlas Shrugged
Cover depicting railroad tracks
First edition
AuthorAyn Rand
LanguageEnglish
Genre
PublishedOctober 10, 1957
PublisherRandom House
Publication placeUnited States
Pages1,168 (first edition)
AwardsPrometheus Award – Hall of Fame
1983
OCLC412355486

Atlas Shrugged is a 1957 novel by Ayn Rand. It is her longest novel, the fourth and final one published during her lifetime, and the one she considered her magnum opus in the realm of fiction writing.[1] She described the theme of Atlas Shrugged as "the role of man's mind in existence" and it includes elements of science fiction, mystery and romance. The book explores a number of philosophical themes from which Rand would subsequently develop Objectivism, including reason, property rights, individualism, libertarianism, and capitalism, and depicts what Rand saw as the failures of governmental coercion. Of Rand's works of fiction, it contains her most extensive statement of her philosophical system.

The book depicts a dystopian United States in which heavy industry companies suffer under increasingly burdensome laws and regulations. Railroad executive Dagny Taggart and her lover, steel magnate Hank Rearden, struggle against "looters" who want to exploit their productivity. They discover that a mysterious figure called John Galt is persuading other business leaders to abandon their companies and disappear as a strike of productive individuals against the looters. The novel ends with the strikers planning to build a new capitalist society based on Galt's philosophy.

Atlas Shrugged received largely negative reviews, but achieved enduring popularity and ongoing sales in the following decades. The novel has been cited as an influence on a variety of libertarian and conservative thinkers and politicians. After several unsuccessful attempts to adapt the novel for film or television, a film trilogy was released from 2011 to 2014 to negative reviews; two theatrical adaptations have also been staged.

Synopsis

[edit]

Setting

[edit]

Atlas Shrugged is set in a dystopian United States at an unspecified time, in which the country has a "National Legislature" instead of Congress and a "Head of State" instead of a President. The United States appears to be approaching an economic collapse, with widespread shortages, business failures, and decreased productivity. Writer Edward Younkins said, "The story may be simultaneously described as anachronistic and timeless. The pattern of industrial organization appears to be that of the late 1800s—the mood seems to be close to that of the depression-era 1930s. Both the social customs and the level of technology remind one of the 1950s".[2] Many early 20th-century technologies are available, but later technologies such as jet planes and computers are largely absent.[3] There is very little mention of historical people or events, not even major events such as World War II.[4] Aside from the United States, most countries are referred to as "People's States" that are implied to be either socialist or communist.[2][5]

Plot

[edit]
A diesel-engine train sitting at a station
Rand studied operations of the New York Central Railroad as research for the story.

Dagny Taggart, the operating vice-president of Taggart Transcontinental Railroad, keeps the company going amid a sustained economic depression. As economic conditions worsen and government enforces statist controls on successful businesses, people repeat the cryptic phrase "Who is John Galt?" which means: "Don't ask questions nobody can answer."[6] Her brother Jim, the railroad's president, seems to make irrational decisions, such as buying from Orren Boyle's unreliable Associated Steel. Dagny is also disappointed to discover that the Argentine billionaire Francisco d'Anconia, her childhood friend and first love, is risking his family's copper company by constructing the San Sebastián copper mines, even though Mexico will probably nationalize them. Despite the risk, Jim and Boyle invest heavily in a railway for the region while ignoring the Rio Norte Line in Colorado, where entrepreneur Ellis Wyatt has discovered large oil reserves. Mexico nationalizes the mines and railroad line, but the mines are discovered to be worthless. To recoup the railroad's losses, Jim influences the National Alliance of Railroads to prohibit competition in prosperous areas such as Colorado. Wyatt demands that Dagny supply adequate rails to his wells before the ruling takes effect.

In Philadelphia, self-made steel magnate Hank Rearden develops Rearden Metal, an alloy lighter and stronger than conventional steel. Dagny opts to use Rearden Metal in the Rio Norte Line, becoming the first major customer for the product. After Hank refuses to sell the metal to the State Science Institute, a government research foundation run by Dr. Robert Stadler, the Institute publishes a report condemning the metal without identifying problems with it. As a result, many significant organizations boycott the line. Although Stadler agrees with Dagny's complaints about the unscientific tone of the report, he refuses to override it. To protect Taggart Transcontinental from the boycott, Dagny decides to build the Rio Norte Line as an independent company named the John Galt Line.

Hank is unhappy with his manipulative wife Lillian, but feels obliged to stay with her. He is attracted to Dagny, and when he joins her for the inauguration of the John Galt Line, they become lovers. On a vacation, Hank and Dagny discover an abandoned factory with an incomplete but revolutionary motor that runs on atmospheric static electricity. They begin searching for the inventor, and Dagny hires scientist Quentin Daniels to reconstruct the motor; however, a series of economically harmful directives are issued by Wesley Mouch, a former Rearden lobbyist who betrayed Hank in return for a job leading a government agency. Wyatt and other important business leaders quit and disappear, leaving their industries to failure.

Dagny and Hank realize that Francisco is hurting his copper company intentionally, although they do not understand why. When the government imposes a directive that forbids employees from leaving their jobs and nationalizes all patents, Dagny violates the law by resigning in protest. To gain Hank's compliance, the government blackmails him with threats to publicize his affair with Dagny. After a major disaster in one of Taggart Transcontinental's tunnels, Dagny returns to work. On her return, she receives notice that Quentin Daniels is also quitting in protest, and she rushes across the country to convince him to stay.

Photo of the town of Ouray
Ouray, Colorado was the basis for Rand's descriptions of Galt's Gulch.

On her way to Daniels, Dagny meets a hobo with a story that reveals the motor was invented and abandoned by an engineer named John Galt, who is the inspiration for the common saying. When she chases after Daniels in a private plane, she crashes and discovers the secret behind the disappearances of business leaders: Galt is leading a strike of "the men of the mind". She has crashed in their hiding place, an isolated valley known as Galt's Gulch. As she recovers from her injuries, the strikers explain their motives, and she learns that the strikers include Francisco and many prominent people, such as her favorite composer, Richard Halley, and infamous pirate Ragnar Danneskjöld. Dagny falls in love with Galt, who asks her to join the strike.

Reluctant to abandon her railroad, Dagny leaves Galt's Gulch, but finds the government has devolved into dictatorship. Francisco finishes sabotaging his mines and quits. After he helps stop an armed takeover of Hank's steel mill, Francisco convinces Hank to join the strike. Galt follows Dagny to New York, where he hacks into a national radio broadcast to deliver a three-hour speech that explains the novel's theme and Rand's Objectivism.[7] The authorities capture Galt and unsuccessfully attempt to persuade him to lead the restoration of the country's economy. Jim then decides to torture Galt, but becomes delirious after witnessing how the authorities are too incompetent to even fix the torture device. Dagny rescues Galt, the government collapses, and the novel closes as Galt announces that the strikers can rejoin the world.

History

[edit]

Context and writing

[edit]
Photo of Ayn Rand
Ayn Rand in 1943

Rand's stated goal for writing the novel was "to show how desperately the world needs prime movers and how viciously it treats them" and to portray "what happens to the world without them".[8] The core idea for the book came to her during a 1943 telephone conversation with her friend Isabel Paterson, who asserted that Rand owed it to her readers to write fiction about her philosophy. Rand disagreed and replied, "What if I went on strike? What if all the creative minds of the world went on strike? ... That would make a good novel". After the conversation ended, Rand's husband Frank O'Connor, who had overheard, affirmed to Rand, "That would make a good novel."[9] Rand then began Atlas Shrugged to depict the morality of rational self-interest,[10] by exploring the consequences of a strike by intellectuals refusing to supply their inventions, art, business leadership, scientific research, or new ideas to the rest of the world.[11]

Rand began the first draft of the novel on September 2, 1946.[12] She initially thought it would be easy to write and completed quickly, but as she considered the complexity of the philosophical issues she wanted to address, she realized it would take longer.[13] After ending a contract to write screenplays for Hal Wallis and finishing her obligations for the film adaptation of The Fountainhead, Rand worked full-time on the novel that she tentatively titled The Strike. By the summer of 1950, she had written 18 chapters;[14] by September 1951, she had written 21 chapters and was working on the last of the novel's three sections.[15]

As Rand completed new chapters, she read them to a circle of young admirers who had begun gathering at her home to discuss philosophy. This group included Nathaniel Branden, his wife Barbara Branden, Barbara's cousin Leonard Peikoff, and economist Alan Greenspan.[16] Progress on the novel slowed considerably in 1953, when Rand began working on Galt's lengthy radio address. She spent more than two years completing the speech, finishing it on October 13, 1955.[17] The remaining chapters proceeded more quickly, and by November 1956 Rand was ready to submit the almost-completed manuscript to publishers.[18] Atlas Shrugged was Rand's last completed work of fiction. It marked a turning point in her life—the end of her career as a novelist and the beginning of her role as a popular philosopher.[19][20]

Influences

[edit]
Photo of J. Robert Oppenheimer
Rand used interviews with scientist J. Robert Oppenheimer for the character Robert Stadler.

Rand biographer Anne Heller traces some ideas that would go into Atlas Shrugged back to a never-written novel that Rand outlined when she was a student at Petrograd State University. The futuristic story featured an American heiress luring the most talented men away from a mostly communist Europe. The heiress would have had an assistant called Eddie Willers, the name of Dagny's assistant in Atlas Shrugged.[21]

To depict the industrial setting of Atlas Shrugged, Rand conducted research on the American railroad and steel industries. She toured and inspected a number of industrial facilities, such as the Kaiser Steel plant,[22] visited facilities of the New York Central Railroad,[23][24] and briefly operated a locomotive on the Twentieth Century Limited.[25] Rand also used her previous research for an uncompleted screenplay about the development of the atomic bomb, including her interviews of J. Robert Oppenheimer, which influenced the character Robert Stadler and the novel's depiction of the development of "Project X".[26]

Rand's descriptions of Galt's Gulch were based on the town of Ouray, Colorado, which Rand and her husband visited in 1951 when they were relocating from Los Angeles to New York.[15] Other details of the novel were affected by the experiences and comments of her friends. For example, her portrayal of leftist intellectuals (such as the characters Balph Eubank and Simon Pritchett) was influenced by the college experiences of Nathaniel and Barbara Branden,[27] and Alan Greenspan provided information on the economics of the steel industry.[28]

American libertarian writer Justin Raimondo described similarities between Atlas Shrugged and Garet Garrett's 1922 novel The Driver, which is about an idealized industrialist named Henry Galt, who is a transcontinental railway owner trying to improve the world and fighting against government and socialism.[29] Raimondo believed the earlier novel influenced Rand's writing in ways she failed to acknowledge, although there was no "word-for-word plagiarism" and The Driver was published four years before Rand emigrated to the United States.[30] Journalist Jeff Walker echoed Raimondo's comparisons in his book The Ayn Rand Cult and listed The Driver as one of several unacknowledged precursors to Atlas Shrugged.[31] In contrast, Chris Matthew Sciabarra said he "could not find any evidence to link Rand to Garrett",[32] and considered Raimondo's claims to be "unsupported".[33] Liberty magazine editor R. W. Bradford said Raimondo made an unconvincing comparison based on a coincidence of names and common literary devices.[34]

Publishing history

[edit]
Photo of Bennet Cerf
Random House CEO Bennett Cerf oversaw the novel's publication in 1957.

Due to the success of Rand's 1943 novel The Fountainhead, she had no trouble attracting a publisher for Atlas Shrugged. This was a contrast to her previous novels, which she had struggled to place. Even before she began writing it, she had been approached by publishers interested in her next novel. However, her contract for The Fountainhead gave the first option to its publisher, Bobbs-Merrill Company. After reviewing a partial manuscript, they asked her to discuss cuts and other changes. She refused, and Bobbs-Merrill rejected the book.[35]

Hiram Hayden, an editor she liked who had left Bobbs-Merrill, asked her to consider his new employer, Random House. In an early discussion about the difficulties of publishing a controversial novel, Random House president Bennett Cerf proposed that Rand should submit the manuscript to multiple publishers simultaneously and ask how they would respond to its ideas, so she could evaluate who might best promote her work. Rand was impressed by the bold suggestion and by her overall conversations with them. After speaking with a few other publishers from about a dozen who were interested, Rand decided multiple submissions were not needed; she offered the manuscript to Random House. Upon reading the portion Rand submitted, Cerf declared it a "great book" and offered Rand a contract. It was the first time Rand had worked with a publisher whose executives seemed enthusiastic about one of her books.[36]

When the completed manuscript exceeded 600,000 words, Cerf asked Rand to make cuts, but backed off when she compared the idea to cutting the Bible.[37] With 1168 pages in the first edition, Atlas Shrugged is Rand's longest published book.[38] Random House published the novel on October 10, 1957. The initial print run was 100,000 copies. The first paperback edition was published by New American Library in July 1959, with an initial run of 150,000.[39] A 35th-anniversary edition was published by E. P. Dutton in 1992, with an introduction by Rand's heir, Leonard Peikoff.[40] The novel has been translated into more than 30 languages.[a]

Title and chapters

[edit]
Painting of Atlas holding a sphere
The title refers to the mythological Atlas.

The working title of the novel was The Strike, but Rand thought this title would reveal the mystery element of the novel prematurely.[42] She was pleased when her husband suggested Atlas Shrugged, previously the title of a single chapter, for the book.[43] The title is a reference to Atlas, a Titan in Greek mythology, who is described in the novel as "the giant who holds the world on his shoulders".[b] The significance of this reference appears in a conversation in which Francisco d'Anconia asks Rearden what advice he would give Atlas if "the greater [the Titan's] effort, the heavier the world bore down on his shoulders". With Rearden unable to answer, d'Anconia gives his own advice: "To shrug".[45]

The novel is divided into three parts consisting of ten chapters each. Each part is named in honor of one of Aristotle's laws of logic: "Non-Contradiction" after the law of noncontradiction; "Either-Or", which is a reference to the law of excluded middle; and "A Is A" in reference to the law of identity.[46] Each chapter also has a title; Atlas Shrugged is the only one of Rand's novels to use chapter titles.[47]

Themes

[edit]

Philosophy

[edit]

The story of Atlas Shrugged dramatically expresses Rand's ethical egoism, her advocacy of "rational selfishness", whereby all of the principal virtues and vices are applications of the role of reason as man's basic tool of survival (or a failure to apply it): rationality, honesty, justice, independence, integrity, productiveness, and pride. Rand's characters often personify her view of the archetypes of various schools of philosophy for living and working in the world. Robert James Bidinotto wrote, "Rand rejected the literary convention that depth and plausibility demand characters who are naturalistic replicas of the kinds of people we meet in everyday life, uttering everyday dialogue and pursuing everyday values. But she also rejected the notion that characters should be symbolic rather than realistic."[48] Rand herself stated, "My characters are never symbols, they are merely men in sharper focus than the audience can see with unaided sight. ... My characters are persons in whom certain human attributes are focused more sharply and consistently than in average human beings."[48]

In addition to the plot's more obvious statements about the significance of industrialists to society, and the sharp contrast to Marxism and the labor theory of value, this explicit conflict is used by Rand to draw wider philosophical conclusions, both implicit in the plot and via the characters' own statements. Atlas Shrugged caricatures fascism, socialism, communism, and any state intervention in society as allowing unproductive people to "leech" the hard-earned wealth of the productive, and Rand contends that the outcome of any individual's life is purely a function of their ability, and that any individual could overcome adverse circumstances, given ability and intelligence.[49]

Sanction of the victim

[edit]

The concept "sanction of the victim" is defined by Leonard Peikoff as "the willingness of the good to suffer at the hands of the evil, to accept the role of sacrificial victim for the 'sin' of creating value".[50] Accordingly, throughout Atlas Shrugged, numerous characters are frustrated by this sanction, as when Hank Rearden appears duty-bound to support his family, despite their hostility toward him; later, the principle is stated by Dan Conway: "I suppose somebody's got to be sacrificed. If it turned out to be me, I have no right to complain." John Galt further explains the principle, such as "Evil is impotent and has no power but that which we let it extort from us" and "I saw that evil was impotent ... and the only weapon of its triumph was the willingness of the good to serve it".[51]

Government and business

[edit]

Rand's view of the ideal government is expressed by John Galt: "The political system we will build is contained in a single moral premise: no man may obtain any values from others by resorting to physical force", whereas "no rights can exist without the right to translate one's rights into reality—to think, to work and to keep the results—which means: the right of property".[52] Galt himself lives a life of laissez-faire capitalism.[53] In the world of Atlas Shrugged, society stagnates when independent productive agencies are socially demonized for their accomplishments. This is in agreement with an excerpt from a 1964 interview with Playboy magazine, in which Rand states: "The action in Atlas Shrugged takes place at a time when society has reached the stage of dictatorship."[54] Rand also depicts public choice theory, such that the language of altruism is used to pass legislation nominally in the public interest (the "Anti-Dog-Eat-Dog Rule" and "The Equalization of Opportunity Bill") but more to the short-term benefit of special interests and government agencies.[55]

Property rights and individualism

[edit]

Rand's heroes continually oppose "parasites", "looters", and "moochers" who demand the benefits of the heroes' labor. Edward Younkins describes Atlas Shrugged as "an apocalyptic vision of the last stages of conflict between two classes of humanity—the looters and the non-looters. The looters are proponents of high taxation, big labor, government ownership, government spending, government planning, regulation, and redistribution."[56] "Looters" are Rand's depiction of bureaucrats and government officials, who confiscate others' earnings by the implicit threat of force ("at the point of a gun"). Some officials execute government policy, such as those who confiscate one state's seed grain to feed the starving citizens of another; others exploit those policies, such as the railroad regulator who illegally sells the railroad's supplies for his own profit. Both use force to take property from the people who produced or earned it. "Moochers" are Rand's depiction of those unable to produce value themselves, who demand others' earnings on behalf of the needy, but resent the talented upon whom they depend, and appeal to "moral right" while enabling the "lawful" seizure by governments. The character Francisco d'Anconia indicates the role of "looters" and "moochers" in relation to money: "So you think that money is the root of all evil? ... Have you ever asked what is the root of money? Money is a tool of exchange, which can't exist unless there are goods produced and men able to produce them. ... Money is not the tool of the moochers, who claim your product by tears, or the looters who take it from you by force. Money is made possible only by the men who produce."[57]

Genre

[edit]

The novel includes elements of mystery, romance, and science fiction.[58][59] Rand referred to Atlas Shrugged as a mystery novel, "not about the murder of man's body, but about the murder—and rebirth—of man's spirit".[60] Nonetheless, when asked by film producer Albert S. Ruddy if a screenplay could focus on the love story, Rand agreed and reportedly said, "That's all it ever was."[59] Technological progress and intellectual breakthroughs in scientific theory appear in Atlas Shrugged, leading some observers to classify it in the genre of science fiction.[61] Fictional inventions such as Galt's motor, Rearden Metal, and Project X (a sonic weapon) are important to the plot.[62] Science fiction historian John J. Pierce describes it as a "romantic suspense novel" that is "at least a borderline case" of science fiction,[63] specifically American libertarian science fiction based on its political themes.[64] The novel's focus on philosophical issues, including ethics and metaphysics, marks it as a philosophical novel.[65][66]

Reception

[edit]

Sales

[edit]
Photo of Ayn Rand
Rand in 1957

Atlas Shrugged debuted at number 13 on The New York Times Best Seller list three days after its publication. It peaked at number 3 on December 8, 1957, and was on the list for 22 consecutive weeks.[67] By 1984, its sales had exceeded five million copies.[68] Sales of Atlas Shrugged increased following the financial crisis of 2007–2008. The novel's sales in 2009 exceeded 500,000 copies,[69] and it sold 445,000 copies in 2011.[70] As of 2022, the novel had sold 10 million copies.[71]

Contemporary reviews

[edit]

Atlas Shrugged was generally disliked by critics. Rand scholar Mimi Reisel Gladstein later wrote that "reviewers seemed to vie with each other in a contest to devise the cleverest put-downs"; one called it "execrable claptrap", while another said it showed "remorseless hectoring and prolixity".[72] In the Saturday Review, Helen Beal Woodward said that the novel was written with "dazzling virtuosity" but was "shot through with hatred".[73] In The New York Times Book Review, Granville Hicks similarly said the book was "written out of hate".[74] The reviewer for Time magazine asked: "Is it a novel? Is it a nightmare? Is it Superman – in the comic strip or the Nietzschean version?"[75] Whittaker Chambers wrote what was later called the novel's most "notorious" review[76][77] for the conservative magazine National Review, where he called it "remarkably silly"[78] and said it "can be called a novel only by devaluing the term".[79] He predicted that practicing Rand's godless ideology would lead to a dictatorship similar to Nazism or Stalinist communism, and said that within the novel "a voice can be heard ... commanding: 'To a gas chamber—go!'".[80]

There were some positive reviews. Richard McLaughlin, reviewing the novel for The American Mercury, described it as a "long overdue" polemic against the welfare state with an "exciting, suspenseful plot", although unnecessarily long. He drew a comparison with the antislavery novel Uncle Tom's Cabin, saying that a "skillful polemicist" did not need a refined literary style to have a political impact.[81] Journalist and book reviewer John Chamberlain, writing in the New York Herald Tribune, found Atlas Shrugged satisfying on many levels: as science fiction, as a "philosophical detective story", and as a "profound political parable".[82]

Influence and legacy

[edit]
Photo of Ludwig von Mises
Photo of Glenn Beck
Photo of Clarence Thomas
Photo of Ayelet Shaked
Notable figures who have expressed admiration for Atlas Shrugged include (clockwise from upper left) Austrian-American economist Ludwig von Mises, American commentator Glenn Beck, Israeli politician Ayelet Shaked, and Associate US Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.

Atlas Shrugged has attracted an energetic and committed fan base. Each year, the Ayn Rand Institute donates 400,000 copies of works by Rand, including Atlas Shrugged, to high school students.[60] According to a 1991 survey done for the Library of Congress and the Book of the Month Club, Atlas Shrugged was ranked second among the books that made the most difference in the lives of 17 out of 2,032 Book-of-the-Month club members who responded, between the Bible and M. Scott Peck's The Road Less Traveled.[83][84] Modern Library's 1998 nonscientific online poll of the 100 best novels of the 20th century found Atlas rated No. 1, although it was not included on the list chosen by the Modern Library board of authors and scholars.[85][86] The 2018 PBS Great American Read television series found Atlas Shrugged rated number 20 out of 100 novels,[87] based on a YouGov survey "asking Americans to name their most-loved novel".[88]

Rand's impact on contemporary American libertarian thought has been considerable. The title of one libertarian magazine, Reason: Free Minds, Free Markets, is taken from John Galt, the hero of Atlas Shrugged, who argues that "a free mind and a free market are corollaries". In a tribute written on the 20th anniversary of the novel's publication, libertarian philosopher John Hospers praised it as "a supreme achievement, guaranteed of immortality".[89] In 1997, the libertarian Cato Institute held a joint conference with The Atlas Society, an Objectivist organization, to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the publication of Atlas Shrugged.[90] At this event, Howard Dickman of Reader's Digest stated that the novel had "turned millions of readers on to the ideas of liberty" and said that the book had the important message of the readers' "profound right to be happy".[90]

Rand's former business partner and lover Nathaniel Branden expressed differing views of Atlas Shrugged. He was initially quite favorable to it, and even after he and Rand ended their relationship, he still referred to it in an interview as "the greatest novel that has ever been written", although he found "a few things one can quarrel with in the book".[91] In 1984, he argued that Atlas Shrugged "encourages emotional repression and self-disowning" and that Rand's works contained contradictory messages. He criticized the potential psychological impact of the novel, stating that Galt's recommendation to respond to wrongdoing with "contempt and moral condemnation" clashes with the view of psychologists who say this only causes the wrongdoing to repeat itself.[92]

The Austrian School economist Ludwig von Mises admired the unapologetic elitism he saw in Rand's work. In a letter to Rand written a few months after the novel's publication, he said it offered "a cogent analysis of the evils that plague our society, a substantiated rejection of the ideology of our self-styled 'intellectuals' and a pitiless unmasking of the insincerity of the policies adopted by governments and political parties ... You have the courage to tell the masses what no politician told them: you are inferior and all the improvements in your conditions which you simply take for granted you owe to the efforts of men who are better than you."[93] Murray Rothbard, another Austrian School economist, wrote a letter to Rand in 1958 in which he praised the book as "an infinite treasure house" and "not merely the greatest novel ever written, [but] one of the very greatest books ever written, fiction or nonfiction".[94] Rothbard soon distanced himself from Rand due to various disagreements in philosophy, and in the early 1960s he wrote a satirical one-act play titled Mozart Was a Red that spoofed Rand (as the character Carson Sand) and the novel (as Sand's book The Brow of Zeus).[95]

In the years immediately following the novel's publication, many American conservatives, such as William F. Buckley Jr., strongly disapproved of Rand and her Objectivist message. In addition to the strongly critical review by Whittaker Chambers, Buckley published a number of critical pieces: Russell Kirk called Objectivism an "inverted religion"; Frank Meyer accused Rand of "calculated cruelties" and called her message an "arid subhuman image of man"; and Garry Wills regarded Rand as a "fanatic".[96]

Man holding a poster that says "I am John Galt"
A protester's sign at a 2009 Tea Party rally refers to the character John Galt.

In the 21st century, the novel was referred to more positively by some conservatives. In 2005, Republican Congressman Paul Ryan said that Rand was "the reason I got into public service", and he required his staff members to read Atlas Shrugged,[97] although in 2012 he said his supposed devotion to Rand was "an urban legend".[98] In 2006, Clarence Thomas, an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, cited Atlas Shrugged as among his favorite novels.[99] Following the financial crisis of 2007–2008, conservative commentators suggested the book as a warning against a socialistic reaction to the crisis. Several conservative commentators, such as Neal Boortz,[100] Glenn Beck, and Rush Limbaugh,[101] offered praise of the book on their respective radio and television programs. In January 2009, conservative writer Stephen Moore wrote an article in The Wall Street Journal titled "Atlas Shrugged From Fiction to Fact in 52 Years",[102] and two months later Republican Congressman John Campbell said, "People are starting to feel like we're living through the scenario that happened in Atlas Shrugged."[103] Outside of the United States, the novel has been cited as an influence by right-wing politicians such Siv Jensen in Norway,[104] as well as Ayelet Shaked in Israel.[105]

References to Atlas Shrugged have appeared in a variety of other popular entertainments. In the first season of the drama series Mad Men, Bert Cooper urges Don Draper to read the book, and Don's sales pitch tactic to a client indicates he has been influenced by the strike plot.[106] Less positive mentions of the novel occur in episodes of the animated comedies Futurama, where it appears among the library of books flushed down to the sewers to be read only by grotesque mutants, and South Park, where a newly literate character gives up on reading after experiencing Atlas Shrugged.[107] The critically acclaimed 2007 video game BioShock is widely considered to be a response to Atlas Shrugged. The story depicts a society that has collapsed due to Objectivism, and significant characters in the game owe their naming to Rand's work, which the game's creator Ken Levine found "really fascinating".[108] In 2013, it was announced that Galt's Gulch, a settlement for libertarian devotees named for John Galt's safe haven, would be established near Santiago in Chile;[109] however, the project collapsed amid accusations of fraud.[110]

Awards

[edit]

In the United States, Atlas Shrugged was a finalist for the National Book Award for Fiction in 1958 but lost to The Wapshot Chronicle by John Cheever.[111] In 1983, it was one of the first two books given the Prometheus Awards' Hall of Fame Award for libertarian science fiction, alongside The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress by Robert Heinlein.[112]

Adaptations

[edit]

Film

[edit]

Early attempts

[edit]
Photo of John Aglialoro
John Aglialoro optioned the film rights in 1992.

A film adaptation of Atlas Shrugged was in "development hell" for nearly 40 years.[113] In 1972, Albert S. Ruddy approached Rand to produce a cinematic adaptation. Rand insisted on having final script approval, which Ruddy refused to give her, thus preventing a deal. In 1978, Henry and Michael Jaffe negotiated a deal for an eight-hour Atlas Shrugged television miniseries on NBC. Screenwriter Stirling Silliphant wrote the adaptation and obtained approval from Rand on the final script. When Fred Silverman became president of NBC in 1979, the project was scrapped.[114]

Rand, a former Hollywood screenwriter herself, began writing her own screenplay, but died in 1982 with only one-third of it finished. Her heir, Leonard Peikoff, sold an option to Michael Jaffe and Ed Snider. Peikoff would not approve the script they wrote, and the deal fell through. In 1992, investor John Aglialoro paid Peikoff over $1 million for an option with full creative control.[114] Two new scripts – one by screenwriter Benedict Fitzgerald and another by Peikoff's wife, Cynthia Peikoff – were deemed inadequate, and Aglialoro refunded early investors in the project.[115]

In 1999, under Aglialoro's sponsorship, Ruddy negotiated a deal with Turner Network Television (TNT) for a four-hour miniseries; however, the project was killed after TNT merged with AOL Time Warner. After the TNT deal fell through, Howard and Karen Baldwin obtained the rights while running Philip Anschutz's Crusader Entertainment. The Baldwins left Crusader to form Baldwin Entertainment Group in 2004 and took the rights to Atlas Shrugged with them. Michael Burns of Lions Gate Entertainment approached the Baldwins to fund and distribute Atlas Shrugged.[114] Although it was ultimately never produced, a draft screenplay was written by James V. Hart,[116] and then rewritten by Randall Wallace.[117]

2011–2014 trilogy

[edit]

Atlas Shrugged was made into a film trilogy, released between 2011 and 2014 to negative reviews.

Atlas Shrugged: Part I
[edit]
Photo of Taylor Schilling
Taylor Schilling played Dagny Taggart in Atlas Shrugged: Part I.

In May 2010, Brian Patrick O'Toole and Aglialoro wrote a screenplay, intent on filming in June 2010. Stephen Polk was set to direct;[118] however, Polk was fired and principal photography began on June 13, 2010, under the direction of Paul Johansson and produced by Harmon Kaslow and Aglialoro.[119] This resulted in Aglialoro's retention of his rights to the property, which were set to expire on June 15, 2010. Filming was completed on July 20, 2010,[120] and the movie was released on April 15, 2011.[121] Taylor Schilling played Dagny Taggart and Grant Bowler played Hank Rearden.[122]

The film was met with a generally negative reception from professional critics. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a score of 12% based on 52 reviews, with an average score of 3.8 out of 10.[123] The film had under $5 million in total box office receipts,[121] considerably less than the estimated $20 million invested by Aglialoro and others.[124] The poor box office and critical reception made Aglialoro reconsider his plans for the rest of the trilogy,[125] but other investors convinced him to continue.[126]

Atlas Shrugged: Part II
[edit]

On February 2, 2012, Kaslow and Aglialoro announced they had raised $16 million to fund Atlas Shrugged: Part II.[127] Principal photography began on April 2, 2012;[128] the producers hoped to release the film before the 2012 United States presidential election.[129] Because the cast for the first film had not been contracted for the entire trilogy, different actors were cast for all the roles.[130] Samantha Mathis played Dagny, with Jason Beghe as Hank and Esai Morales as Francisco d'Anconia.[131]

The film was released on October 12, 2012, without a special screening for critics.[132] It earned $1.7 million on 1012 screens for the opening weekend, which at that time ranked as the 109th worst opening for a film in wide release.[133] Critical response was highly negative; Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a 4% rating based on 23 reviews, with an average score of 3.2 out of 10.[134] The film's final box office total was $3.3 million.[133]

Atlas Shrugged: Part III: Who Is John Galt?
[edit]

The third part in the series, Atlas Shrugged Part III: Who Is John Galt?, was released on September 12, 2014.[135] Dagny was played by Laura Regan, with Rob Morrow as Hank, Kristoffer Polaha as John Galt, and Joaquim de Almeida as Francisco. The movie opened on 242 screens and grossed $461,179 on its opening weekend; the final box office total was $851,690.[136] It was reviewed unfavorably by critics, holding a 0% at Rotten Tomatoes based on 10 reviews, with an average score of 1.8 out of 10.[137]

Future

[edit]

In 2015, The New York Times reported that Ruddy had come to an agreement with Aglialoro to make a new television adaptation of Atlas Shrugged.[138] On November 17, 2022, producer Jeremy Boreing announced that conservative media company The Daily Wire optioned the rights to Atlas Shrugged. The company plans to create a series based on the novel for the DailyWire+ video on demand service, in cooperation with the Bonfire Legend movie studio and Aglialoro's Atlas Distribution Company.[139]

Stage

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Atlas Shrugged has been adapted twice as stage plays in German. In 2013, Stefan Bachmann [de; sv], director of the Schauspiel Köln in Cologne, staged Der Streik (The Strike), a four-hour adaptation co-written by Bachmann and Jens Gross [de]. Bachmann had begun the adaptation eight years earlier but the theaters he worked for prior to Schauspiel Köln were dismissive of the idea.[140] In January 2021, director Nicolas Stemann presented a three-hour musical adaptation, also titled Der Streik, in Zürich, Switzerland. Stemann's version of the story from the novel is presented as a story within a story being staged by a "Church of Ayn Rand" that is associated with the alt-right and white supremacy.[141]

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ According to the Ayn Rand Institute, Atlas Shrugged has been translated into Albanian, Bulgarian, Chinese, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, Georgian, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian, Icelandic, Italian, Japanese, Kazakh, Korean, Marathi, Mongolian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Slovak, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish, and Ukrainian.[39][41]
  2. ^ In ancient myths, Atlas supported the sky, not the earth. Artistic depictions of Atlas holding a sphere (representing the sky) led to a later misconception that he held the earth.[44]

References

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  15. ^ a b Heller 2009, p. 235.
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  17. ^ Heller 2009, pp. 260, 268.
  18. ^ Heller 2009, p. 271.
  19. ^ Younkins 2007, p. 1.
  20. ^ Gladstein 2000, p. 28.
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  127. ^ Key 2012
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  141. ^ Brühwiler 2021, pp. 221–222.

Works cited

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Further reading

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  • Branden, Nathaniel (1962). "The Moral Revolution in Atlas Shrugged". Who is Ayn Rand?. Book co-authored with Barbara Branden. New York: Random House. pp. 3–65. OCLC 313377536. Reprinted by The Objectivist Center as a booklet in 1999, ISBN 1-57724-033-2.
  • Michalson, Karen (1999). "Who Is Dagny Taggart? The Epic Hero/ine in Disguise". In Gladstein, Mimi Reisel & Sciabarra, Chris Matthew (eds.). Feminist Interpretations of Ayn Rand. Re-reading the Canon. University Park, Pennsylvania: The Pennsylvania State University Press. ISBN 978-0-534-57625-7.
  • Wilt, Judith (1999). "On Atlas Shrugged". In Gladstein, Mimi Reisel & Sciabarra, Chris Matthew (eds.). Feminist Interpretations of Ayn Rand. Re-reading the Canon. University Park, Pennsylvania: The Pennsylvania State University Press. ISBN 978-0-534-57625-7.
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