Ayn Rand Reviewed

Saturday, Ann Althouse talked about the NYTBR review of a new book on Ayn Rand.  The author of the book is Ms Anne C Heller and the title is Ayn Rand and the World She Made.

Now there is something from the Volokh Conspiracy, found here.

The author of the review, Adam Kirsch, is taking some hits.

One of the key hits is for being innumerate and for not understanding capitalism. He takes Ms Ayn Rand to task for giving up 7¢ in royalties on each copy of the book, when Random House publisher Bennett Cerf♠ made that the cost of keeping John Galt's speech in the book—the speech she had slaved over for weeks, at one point not leaving the house for 33 days.

So, if without the John Galt speech the book had sold 10,000 copies, she would have lost $700.  In fact, the initial press run was 100,000 copies, of which 70,000 sold in the first year, which meant a $4,900 loss for Ms Rand.  However, by 2008 some 6,500,000 copies had been printed, which suggests that even if she (or her estate) was making only a penny a copy, it was still $65,000.  It looks like Ms Rand's capitalist gamble paid off for her and also for all those Tea Party people who are carrying signs saying "Let's Go John Galt."

The review itself can be found here.  Interestingly enough, the title of the review in print is "Capitalist With a $" and in the on-line version "Ayn Rand's Revenge."  I think it all has to do with sticking it to the Republicans, as the lede shows.

A specter is haunting the Republican Party — the specter of John Galt.

Perhaps, as Kad Barma suggested to me with this link to an AP article, a third party is emerging.  While I like the stability of the two-party system, there is the example of the United Kingdom, with its three-party system (now edging toward the four-party system with the rise of the BNP, heaven help us).  In the decades after World War II Italy had constantly changing governments due to a multi-party system, but really the membership of the cabinet was surprisingly stable.

Maybe the future is going to be a political adventure.  Tuesday might be an indicator.

UPDATE:  Neal Crossland found a typo, corrected, and then I found a typo, corrected.

Regards  —  Cliff

♠  The New York Times Book Review reviewer, Mr Adam Kirsch, suggests that Mr Bennett Cerf, the founder of Random House publishing, was opposed to Ms Rand's philosophy, but the fact is he went after the book.  Mr Cerf was no wilting flower.  He is the one who arranged for a copy of James Joyce's Ulysses to be shipped to the United States, where it was seized by the US Customs and became a court case that was eventually decided for Random House—and decided against censorship.