Rand,Ayn

Ayn Rand is a novelist and philosopher whose works, though often dismissed by the mainstream critical establishment, continue to sell well more than a generation after her death. Rand wrote romantic fiction that championed individualism, freedom, and laissez‐faire capitalism; her philosophy inspired adherents in the political and business worlds. Rand's abilities as a creative writer are all the more remarkable when one realizes that English was not her native language. Rand was born Alisa Rosenbaum in St. Petersburg, Russia on February 2, 1905. She graduated from the University of Leningrad (formerly St. Petersburg) with a degree in history, and then attended the State Institute for Cinematography in Leningrad to learn screenwriting. Always an independent thinker, Rand was fortunate to be able to leave Soviet Russia to visit family in Chicago; she never returned. Unlike some immigrants who retain a nostalgia for their mother countries, Rand abhorred Russia and was a committed US patriot, calling the United States “the noblest country in the history of men” in her breakthrough novel,The Fountainhead(1943, 715). Rand fought all her life against the various collectivist forces that worked to change the individualistic and capitalistic character of the country.