Why ‘Atlas Shrugged’ Matters

When I mentioned to friends I was reading Atlas Shrugged their response was uniform: “Oh that. I read it in college but now I have moved on to adult subjects.”  These were liberal friends, you understand, and I couldn’t help but wonder why they would want to discourage me from reading a literary classic that is selling better now than at any time in its history.  In fact, it has recently moved up to become Amazon’s 37th best-selling novel.  Last week it was 44.  By the time you read this it will have moved higher.

The reason becomes immediately apparent upon reading.  It might have been written yesterday.  Rand’s description of a socialist state taken over by “looters,” people who cannot create or produce but who seize power under the rubric of “fairness” is so spot-on accurate of today’s administration it’s scary.  At over one thousand pages long, Atlas Shrugged is not a weekend read and made me question whether my fun-loving liberal friends actually read it, or read the Cliff’s Notes version which is also selling at unprecedented levels. (more…)