Atlas Shrugged

Did You Know?

• Rand described the theme of Atlas Shrugged as 'the role of man's mind in existence'.
• The novel includes fictional inventions such as Galt's motor, Rearden Metal, and Project X, a sonic weapon.
• Rand's husband Frank O'Connor, after overhearing her conversation about a strike by creative minds, affirmed that it would make a good novel.

Synopsis

The novel is set in a dystopian United States at an unspecified time, with a national legislature and a head of state instead of Congress and a president. The country faces economic collapse, shortages, and declining productivity, with technology resembling the early 20th century and later inventions like jet planes absent. Dagny Taggart, operating vice-president of Taggart Transcontinental Railroad, struggles to keep her company afloat amid a depression and increasing government controls. Her brother Jim, the railroad's president, makes irrational decisions, such as buying from unreliable supplier Orren Boyle. Dagny is disappointed to learn that Francisco d'Anconia, her childhood friend, is risking his family's copper company on mines in Mexico that are likely to be nationalized. Jim and Boyle invest in a railway for that region while ignoring the Rio Norte Line in Colorado, where entrepreneur Ellis Wyatt has found oil. To recover losses, Jim influences the National Alliance of Railroads to ban competition in prosperous areas like Colorado, prompting Wyatt to demand adequate rails from Dagny before the ruling takes effect.

History

Rand's stated goal for 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. The core idea came during a 1943 phone conversation with friend Isabel Paterson, when Rand suggested that a strike by all creative minds would make a good novel. Rand began the first draft on September 2, 1946, initially expecting it to be easy but soon realizing the complexity of the philosophical issues. After finishing her obligations for the film adaptation of The Fountainhead, she worked full-time on the novel, tentatively titled The Strike. By summer 1950 she had written 18 chapters, and by September 1951 she had 21 chapters. As she completed new chapters, she read them to a circle of young admirers including Nathaniel Branden, his wife Barbara, Leonard Peikoff, and economist Alan Greenspan. Progress slowed in 1953 when Rand began working on Galt's lengthy radio address, which took over two years to finish, completed on October 13, 1955. The remaining chapters proceeded more quickly, and by November 1956 the manuscript was ready for publishers. Atlas Shrugged marked the end of Rand's career as a novelist and the beginning of her role as a popular philosopher.

Reception

Atlas Shrugged debuted at number 13 on The New York Times Best Seller list three days after publication, peaking at number 3 on December 8, 1957, and remaining on the list for 22 consecutive weeks. By 1984 sales exceeded five million copies, and after the 2008 financial crisis sales increased, with over 500,000 copies sold in 2009 and 445,000 in 2011. As of 2022, the novel had sold 10 million copies. Critics generally disliked the book; one reviewer called it execrable claptrap, while another noted remorseless hectoring and prolixity. Helen Beal Woodward in the Saturday Review praised its dazzling virtuosity but said it was shot through with hatred. Granville Hicks in The New York Times Book Review similarly stated the book was written out of hate. Time magazine questioned whether it was a novel, a nightmare, or Superman. Whittaker Chambers in National Review called it remarkably silly and predicted its godless ideology would lead to dictatorship. Some positive reviews appeared: Richard McLaughlin in The American Mercury described it as a long overdue polemic against the welfare state with an exciting, suspenseful plot, comparing it to Uncle Tom's Cabin. John Chamberlain in the New York Herald Tribune found it satisfying as science fiction, a philosophical detective story, and a profound political parable. In a 1991 Library of Congress survey, it ranked second among books that made the most difference in readers' lives.

Adaptations

A film adaptation of Atlas Shrugged spent nearly 40 years in development hell. In 1972, Albert S. Ruddy approached Rand but could not secure rights because Rand insisted on final script approval. In 1978, Henry and Michael Jaffe negotiated an eight-hour television miniseries on NBC with a script by Stirling Silliphant that Rand approved, but the project was scrapped when Fred Silverman became NBC president in 1979. Rand began writing her own screenplay but died in 1982 with only one-third finished. Her heir Leonard Peikoff sold an option to Michael Jaffe and Ed Snider, but Peikoff would not approve their script. In 1992, John Aglialoro paid over $1 million for an option with full creative control; two subsequent scripts were deemed inadequate. In 1999, Ruddy negotiated a four-hour miniseries with Turner Network Television, but it was killed after TNT merged with AOL Time Warner. Howard and Karen Baldwin later obtained the rights, and Lions Gate Entertainment agreed to fund and distribute, but the project was never produced. In May 2010, Brian Patrick O'Toole and Aglialoro wrote a screenplay, filming began on June 13, 2010, under director Paul Johansson, and the movie was released on April 15, 2011, with Taylor Schilling as Dagny Taggart and Grant Bowler as Hank Rearden. A film trilogy was released from 2011 to 2014 to negative reviews.