Ayn Rand
From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ayn Rand (February 2, 1905 – March 6, 1982) was a Russian-born American writer, screenwriter playwright and philosopher who published several popular books in the United States in the mid-1900s, such as We the Living, Anthem, Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead.
Rand invented a way of thinking that she called Objectivism. She was against communism, socialism, and collectivism, which are political systems in which the government of a country takes the products and goods that businessmen and workers make and gives them to other people in that country.
She also thought that countries should have very small governments. Ayn Rand did not think that welfare payments to poor people were a good thing because it involves taking money away from other people.
She was also against religion and was an atheist (did not think that there is a God).
Her first novel was We the Living. It is about life in Russia during the Russian Revolution. Her second novel was Anthem, which is a science fiction book about a man named Equality 7-2521 who lives in the future. Equality 7-2521 lives in a society where everybody is given their name by the government and nobody can use the words "I" or "me". He escapes from this government to live freely with a house in a hidden place.
Her third novel was The Fountainhead. The Fountainhead became a best seller and was made into a movie. It is about an architect, who wants to have control over his building designs, and does not like when he has to compromise his building designs. Her fourth novel was Atlas Shrugged. It is her longest book. It was also a best seller.
After Atlas Shrugged she wrote non-fiction books about her Objectivist ideas. She died in 1982.