WRITER

Ayn Rand

1905 - 1982

Ayn Rand

Alice O'Connor (born Alisa Zinovyevna Rosenbaum; February 2 [O.S. January 20], 1905 – March 6, 1982), better known by her pen name Ayn Rand ( EYEN), was a Russian-born American author and philosopher. She is known for her fiction and for developing a philosophical system she named Objectivism. Born and educated in Russia, she moved to the United States in 1926. Read more on Wikipedia

Since 2007, the English Wikipedia page of Ayn Rand has received more than 14,514,050 page views. Her biography is available in 83 different languages on Wikipedia (up from 76 in 2019). Ayn Rand is the 62nd most popular writer (up from 72nd in 2019), the 21st most popular biography from Russia (up from 24th in 2019) and the 5th most popular Russian Writer.

Ayn rand is most famous for her novels, which explore themes of individualism, rational self-interest, and laissez-faire capitalism.

Memorability Metrics

15M
Page Views (PV)
79.23
Historical Popularity Index (HPI)
83
Languages Editions (L)
14.72
Effective Languages (L*)
2.79
Coefficient of Variation (CV)

Notable Works

Anthem

1936

The New Left

College students

1971

For the New Intellectual

1961

We the living

1936

Atlas Shrugged

Capitalism

The decisions of a few industrial leaders shake the roots of capitalism and reawaken man's awareness of himself as an heroic being.

19573 / 5

Anthem

Fiction, Individuality, Time travel in fiction

Anthem is a tale of a future dark age of the great “we” – a world that deprives individuals of name, independence, and values. He lived in the dark ages of the future. In a loveless world he dared to love the woman of his choice. In an age that had lost all traces of science and civilization he had the courage to seek and find knowledge. But these were not the crimes for which he would be hunted He was marked for death because he had committed the unpardonable sin: He had stood forth from the mindless human herd. He was alone.

1936

The Fountainhead

Fiction, Architects, Individualism

The Fountainhead is a 1943 novel by Ayn Rand. It was Rand's first major literary success and brought her fame and financial success. More than 6.5 million copies of the book have been sold worldwide.

1943

Atlas Shrugged

Fiction, Capitalism in fiction, Egoism

Set in a near-future U.S.A. whose economy is collapsing as a result of the mysterious disappearance of leading innovators and industrialists, this novel presents an astounding panorama of human life-from the productive genius who becomes a worthless playboy...to the great steel industrialist who does not know that he is working for his own destruction...to the philosopher who becomes a pirate...to the woman who runs a transcontinental railroad...to the lowest track worker in her train tunnels. Peopled by larger-than-life heroes and villains, charged with towering questions of good and evil, Atlas Shrugged is a philosophical revolution told in the form of an action thriller.

1936

We the living

Fiction, History, Fiction, historical, general

This book is about a young woman named Kira Argounova who is trying to live during the Soviet takeover of Russia. Kira wants to be an engineer, but the lack of freedom in Soviet Russia oppresses her. She becomes involved in a love triangle with Comrade Taganov and the mysterious Leo. The book is a philosophical exposition of the crushing nature of the collectivist philosophy, which oppresses the producers. “Can you sacrifice a few? When those few are the best? Deny the best its right to the top--and you have no best left. What are your masses but millions of dull, shriveled, stagnant souls that have no thoughts of their own, no dreams of their own, no will of their own, who eat and sleep and chew helplessly the words others put into their brains? And for those you would sacrifice the few who know life, who are life? I loathe your ideals because I know no worse injustice than the giving of the undeserved. Because men are not equal in ability and one can't trust them as if they were.”

1936

Anthem

Men -- Psychology -- Fiction, Individuality -- Fiction, Time travel -- Fiction

56 pages ; 21 cm

2000

The New Left

College students, New Left, Political activity

1971