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It Usually Begins with Ayn Rand

On this page: Summary  Contents  Related Links  Reviews, Criticism and Analysis

Summary

cover
  • Full Title: It Usually Begins with Ayn Rand
  • Author(s): Jerome Tuccille
  • Year Published: 1972 (original edition), 1997 (25th anniversary edition)
  • Publisher: Stein and Day (original edition); Cobden Press (paperback original edition reprint); Fox & Wilkes (25th anniversary edition)
  • Publication Type: Commercial
  • ISBN: 0-8128-1402-9 (hardcover original edition), 0-8128-1527-0 (paperback original edition), 0-930439-15-5 (paperback original edition), 0-930073-25-8 (paperback 25th anniversary)
  • Description: The primary thing to understand about this book (and its sequel, It Still Begins with Ayn Rand) is that it is not about Ayn Rand. It is a satirical memoir of the author's involvement with the libertarian movement. Dialog is invented, events are exaggerated, people's beliefs and characteristics are changed, etc., for the purpose of lampooning various individuals and political movements, including Ayn Rand and Objectivism.

Contents

Chapters significantly related to Ayn Rand or Objectivism are indicated with bold for the chapter title.

Part One: The Overview

  1. The Whim Worshipers
  2. The Rational Dancer
  3. With a Jaw Like That He Can't Lose
  4. The Impact of Ivy League Hegelianism
  5. Please Don't Kill Lenny Bruce
  6. The Right Wing Joan of Arc

Part Two: The Fracture

  1. A New Kind of Telepathic Imperialism
  2. Look What Happened to Kerensky
  3. A Claque of Porcine Revolutionaries
  4. Deviationism Rides Again

Part Three: The Coalition

  1. Greed Is What Makes the World Go Round
  2. Ragnar Lets Me Down
  3. I Fail to Make a Citizen's Arrest
  4. Left, Right, and In Between
  5. The Center Is Big Enough for All

Part Four: What Happens Now?

  1. An Optimistic Prophecy

Related Links

Reviews, Criticism and Analysis

The following perspectives on the 25th anniversary edition of this book are available online:

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