The books listed on this page discuss either Objectivism or Ayn Rand in some way. For books by Ayn Rand, see the section on Ayn Rand's books. The listings are grouped based on their subject matter. Some books that contain a mixture of material are listed in multiple sections. If you are looking for information on a specific book, but are not sure when a book was published or what category it might fall under, try browsing the alphabetical list or the list by author.
Explanations, Defenses or Applications
These are books that either explain Objectivism to non-Objectivists, defend it from critics, or attempt to extend it to new subject matter. (The authors do not necessarily consider themselves Objectivists, and may disagree with one another about particular subjects.)
- Return to Reason, by Paul Lepanto (1971)
- The Ominous Parallels, by Leonard Peikoff (1982)
- The Philosophic Thought of Ayn Rand, edited by Douglas J. Den Uyl and Douglas B. Rasmussen (1984)
- The Ayn Rand Lexicon, edited by Harry Binswanger (1986)
- The Evidence of the Senses, by David Kelley (1986)
- The Biological Basis of Teleological Concepts, by Harry Binswanger (1990)
- Truth and Toleration, by David Kelley (1990)
- Objectivism: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand, by Leonard Peikoff (1991)
- The Ideas of Ayn Rand, by Ronald E. Merrill (1991)
- Ayn Rand: The Russian Radical, by Chris Matthew Sciabarra (1995)
- Moral Rights and Political Freedom, by Tara Smith (1997)
- On Ayn Rand, by Allan Gotthelf (2000)
- Ayn Rand, by Tibor Machan (2000)
- Viable Values, by Tara Smith (2000)
- What Art Is, by Louis Torres and Michelle Marder Kamhi (2000)
- Reason and Value, by Roderick T. Long (2000)
- The Contested Legacy of Ayn Rand, by David Kelley (2000)
- Ayn Rand and Business, by Donna Greiner and Theodore B. Kinni (2001)
- Loving Life, by Craig Biddle (2002)
- An Introduction to the Objectivist Community, by James H. Yoke (2002)
- Ayn Rand, Homosexuality, and Human Liberation, by Chris Matthew Sciabarra (2003)
- The Hijacking of a Philosophy, by Reginald Firehammer (2004)
- The Age of Rand, by Frederick Cookinham (2005)
- Ayn Rand's Normative Ethics, by Tara Smith (2006)
- Ayn Rand at 100, edited by Tibor Machan (2006)
Criticism or Rebuttal
These books attempt to refute Objectivism or take a distinctly negative position about some aspect(s) of Objectivism.
- Is Objectivism a Religion?, by Albert Ellis (1968)
- With Charity Toward None, by William F. O'Neill (1971)
- Answer to Ayn Rand, by John W. Robbins (1974)
- Ayn Rand and Alienation, by Sid Greenberg (1977)
- The Philosophic Thought of Ayn Rand, edited by Douglas J. Den Uyl and Douglas B. Rasmussen (1984)
- Ayn Rand, Libertarians, and The Fifth Revolution, by Jason Alexander (1988)
- Without a Prayer, by John W. Robbins (1997)
- The Stance of Atlas, by Peter Erickson (1997)
- Ayn Rand's Theory of Knowledge, by Tom Porter (1999)
- Reconsidering Ayn Rand, by Michael B. Yang (2000)
- In Defense of Altruism: Inadequacies of Ayn Rand's Ethics and Psychological Egoism, by Lloyd Bishop (2001)
- Ayn Rand Contra Human Nature, by Greg S. Nyquist (2001)
- Is Virtue Only a Means to Happiness?, by Neera K. Badhwar (2001)
- Objectivism and the Corruption of Rationality, by Scott Ryan (2003)
- Ayn Rand, Objectivists, and the History of Philosophy, by Fred Seddon (2003)
- Ayn Rand, Homosexuality, and Human Liberation, by Chris Matthew Sciabarra (2003)
- The Hijacking of a Philosophy, by Reginald Firehammer (2004)
- Then Athena Said, by Kathleen Touchstone (2006)
Biographical
- Who Is Ayn Rand?, by Nathaniel Branden and Barbara Branden (1962)
- The Ayn Rand Companion, by Mimi Reisel Gladstein (1984)
- The Passion of Ayn Rand, by Barbara Branden (1986)
- Ayn Rand, by James T. Baker (1987)
- Judgment Day: My Years with Ayn Rand, by Nathaniel Branden (1989)
- In Defense of Ayn Rand, by Virginia L.L. Hamel (1990)
- Ayn Rand: A Sense of Life, by Michael Paxton (1998)
- My Years with Ayn Rand, by Nathaniel Branden (1998)
- The Ayn Rand Cult, by Jeff Walker (1999)
- The New Ayn Rand Companion, by Mimi Reisel Gladstein (1999)
- The Day Ayn Rand Died, by Jim Peron (2001)
- Facets of Ayn Rand, by Mary Ann Sures and Charles Sures (2001)
- Ayn Rand, by Jeff Britting (2004)
- Ayn Rand and Song of Russia, by Robert Mayhew (2004)
- The Fountainheads, by Donald Leslie Johnson (2005)
- The Passion of Ayn Rand's Critics, by James S. Valliant (2005)
Literary
- Who Is Ayn Rand?, by Nathaniel Branden and Barbara Branden (1962)
- An Index to Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged, by Diana Avery Amsden (1983)
- The Ayn Rand Companion, by Mimi Reisel Gladstein (1984)
- Ayn Rand, by James T. Baker (1987)
- Ayn Rand: First Descriptive Bibliography, by Vincent Perinn (1990)
- The Fountainhead: An American Novel, by Douglas J. Den Uyl (1999)
- Feminist Interpretations of Ayn Rand, edited by Mimi Reisel Gladstein and Chris Matthew Sciabarra (1999)
- The New Ayn Rand Companion, by Mimi Reisel Gladstein (1999)
- CliffsNotes: Rand's Anthem, by Andrew Bernstein (2000)
- CliffsNotes: Rand's The Fountainhead, by Andrew Bernstein (2000)
- CliffsNotes: Rand's Atlas Shrugged, by Andrew Bernstein (2000)
- Atlas Shrugged: Manifesto of the Mind, by Mimi Reisel Gladstein (2000)
- SparkNotes: The Fountainhead, by Julio Machado and Bulbul Tiwari (2002)
- SparkNotes: Anthem, by Sara Davidson (2003)
- SparkNotes: Atlas Shrugged, by Anne Williams (2003)
- Essays on Ayn Rand's We the Living, edited by Robert Mayhew (2004)
- The Literary Art of Ayn Rand, edited by William Thomas (2005)
- Essays on Ayn Rand's Anthem, edited by Robert Mayhew (2005)
- Ayn Rand: My Fiction-Writing Teacher, by Erika Holzer (2005)
- Essays on Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead, edited by Robert Mayhew (2006)
- Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged, edited by Edward W. Younkins (2007)
- Rocking the Boat, by Gore Vidal (1962)
- They'd Rather Be Right, by Edward Cain (1963)
- An Existentialist Ethics, by Hazel E. Barnes (1967)
- Wallflower at the Orgy, by Nora Ephron (1970)
- It Usually Begins with Ayn Rand, by Jerome Tuccille (1972)
- Sixties Going on Seventies, by Nora Sayre (1973)
- The Modern American Novel and the Movies, edited by Gerald Peary and Roger Shatzkin (1978)
- The Music of the Laws, by Daniel Kornstein (1982)
- City of the Right, by Gerald L. Houseman (1982)
- The Libertarian Reader, edited by Tibor Machan (1982) [Note: This book should not be confused with the 1997 book of the same title.]
- Coordinates, edited by George E. Slusser, Eric S. Rabkin, and Robert Scholes (1983)
- Honoring the Self, by Nathaniel Branden (1983)
- Therapist, by Ellen Plasil (1985)
- On Classical Liberalism and Libertarianism, by Norman P. Barry (1987)
- The Metaphysics of Liberty, by Frank Forman (1989)
- Atheism, Ayn Rand, and Other Heresies, by George H. Smith (1991)
- Resonant Lives, by Paul Greenberg (1991)
- With Charity Toward None, by Florence King (1992) [Note: This book should not be confused with William F. O'Neill's book on Rand's philosophy, which has a similar title.]
- Classic Cult Fiction, by Thomas Reed Whissen (1992)
- Anarchism: Left, Right, and Green, by Ulrike Heider, translated by Danny Lewis and Ulrike Bode (1994)
- Legacy of Wisdom, by John Calhoun Merrill (1994)
- Profiles of Female Genius, by Gene N. Landrum (1994)
- Liberty Against Power, edited by Joan Kennedy Taylor (1994)
- Conceptions of Happiness, by Ignacio L. Gotz (1995)
- The Psychology of Action, edited by Peter M. Gollwitzer and John A. Bargh (1996)
- 2000 Years of Disbelief, by James A. Haught (1996)
- The Other Fifties, edited by Joel Foreman (1997)
- Why People Believe Weird Things, by Michael Shermer (1997)
- American Women Fiction Writers, edited by Harold Bloom (1997)
- The Libertarian Reader, edited by David Boaz (1997) [Note: This book should not be confused with the 1982 book of the same title.]
- In Praise of Decadence, by Jeff Riggenbach (1998)
- The Conservative Press in Twentieth-Century America, edited by Ronald Lora and William Henry Longton (1999)
- It Still Begins with Ayn Rand, by Jerome Tuccille (1999)
- Passionate Minds, by Claudia Roth Pierpont (2000)
- An Enemy of the State, by Justin Raimondo (2000)
- The Triumph of Liberty, by Jim Powell (2000)
- Greenspan: The Man Behind Money, by Justin Martin (2000)
- The Moral Life, edited by Louis P. Pojman (2000)
- Novels for Students, Volume 10, edited by David Galens, et al. (2000)
- Literary Trips, edited by Victoria Brooks (2000)
- Selling the Free Market, by James Arnt Aune (2001)
- Alan Shrugged, by Jerome Tuccille (2002)
- Novels for Students, Volume 16, edited by David Galens, et al. (2002)
- Philosophy: The Quest for Truth (Fifth Edition), edited by Louis P. Pojman (2002)
- Architectures: Modernism and After, edited by Andrew Ballantyne (2003)
- War and Film in America: Historical and Critical Essays, edited by Marilyn J. Matelski and Nancy Lynch Street (2003)
- The Woman and the Dynamo: Isabel Paterson and the Idea of America, by Stephen Cox (2004)
- Faith in Freedom: Libertarian Principles and Psychiatric Practices, by Thomas Szasz (2004)
- Philosophers of Capitalism, edited by Edward W. Younkins (2005)
- The Gospel According to Ayn Rand, by Jerome Tuccille (2007)
The following fictional works either mention Ayn Rand prominently within the story or include characters commonly interpreted as fictional representations of Rand.
- The Rainbow Cadenza, by J. Neil Schulman (1983)
- Two Girls, Fat and Thin, by Mary Gaitskill (1991)
- Sewer, Gas & Electric: The Public Works Trilogy, by Matt Ruff (1997)
- Death Wore a Fabulous New Fragrance, by Orland Outland (1998)
- The Pianist Who Liked Ayn Rand: A Novella and 13 Stories, by Gene H. Bell-Villada (1998)
- Cra$hmaker: A Federal Affaire, by Victor Sperandeo and Alvaro Almeida (2000)
- The Emotionalists, by Sky Gilbert (2001)
- Escape from Heaven, by J. Neil Schulman (2002)
- Getting It Right, by William F. Buckley (2003)
- Old School, by Tobias Wolff (2003)
Listed below are electronic books that discussion Ayn Rand and/or Objectivism. Each can be accessed using the links provided, although in some cases there may be a fee and/or mandatory registration required. All of the works listed exist only in electronic format. This list does not include electronic editions of books that are also available in print editions. Because electronic texts may be revised with more frequency than print editions, this listing is ordered by author names, rather than chronologically.
Links followed by this symbol are for documents in Adobe PDF (Acrobat) format, which requires Adobe Reader for viewing.
Each of the lists above is in chronological order according to the publication date of each book, which is provided after the author's name. For most books, additional information and links to materials can be accessed through pages linked to the book titles. (The links on the book titles do not go to Amazon.com!)
To borrow a phrase from another web site, these books "vary greatly in approach from positive and worthwhile to irrational and offensive." Caveat emptor.
In addition to books, there exist numerous pamphlets, audiotapes, etc., which discuss Objectivism and/or Ayn Rand. Because of the great quantity and variable availability of such products, they are not listed here.
Some of the books listed are out of print and rather hard to find. In most cases the actual books have been consulted to provide the contents, summaries, etc., but secondary sources have been used for some of the information.
Additional keywords: Ann Rand, Anne Rand, Ayn Rad, Ayn Ran, Any Rand
About the Objectivism Reference Center
The philosophy of Ayn Rand, a twentieth-century novelist and philosopher, is known as Objectivism. The Objectivism Reference Center provides resources about Rand, her ideas, her works, and places where those are discussed and debated. Visit the Site Information page for details on site policies. Suggestions for additional materials or additional links are welcomed.
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Copyright © 1999-2007 by Richard Lawrence. All rights reserved.
