Ayn Rand: Capitalism’s enduring crusader

Novelist Ayn Rand worshipped the free market. Why is she enjoying a revival when capitalism is supposedly in crisis?

How big is Rand’s comeback?

She’s more popular than ever. Rand has always had a strong following in the U.S., but her magnum opus, the 1,088-page Atlas Shrugged, has enjoyed a huge surge in sales since the start of the financial crisis. It sold 200,000 copies in the U.S. in 2008 and so far this year, the book is selling at its fastest rate since it was first published, in 1957. Sales have spiked whenever the federal government has intervened in the economy—during the subprime crisis, last October’s bank bailouts, and with the passage of President Obama’s economic stimulus package. In January, the book reached No. 33 on Amazon’s best-seller list, briefly surpassing Obama’s The Audacity of Hope, and is now at No. 20. There’s a Hollywood movie in the works, possibly starring Angelina Jolie as Rand.

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