Material on Ayn Rand and the New Biographies

Neil Parille's picture
Submitted by Neil Parille on Sat, 2009-11-07 13:14

This is a collection of links to material on Ayn Rand's life and the new biographies. There are links which concern the "PARC Wars." I've included them because they shed light on the controversy concerning Rand.

JENNIFER BURNS
Website
http://jenniferburns.org/

Blog
http://jenniferburns.org/blog

Daily Show (October 2009)
http://www.thedailyshow.com/fu...

Interviews and Reviews
http://jenniferburns.org/press

Ari Armstrong "Review" (October 2009)
http://www.dianahsieh.com/blog...

Dan Barnes Review (December 2009)
http://aynrandcontrahumannatur...

Robert Mayhew Review (The Objective Standard, December 2009)
http://www.theobjectivestandar...

Jeff Montgomery Review (October 2009)
http://funwithgravity.blogspot...

Greg Nyquist Review (Ayn Rand Contra Human Nature Blog, October 2009)
http://aynrandcontrahumannatur...

Lindsay Perigo Review (November 2009)
http://www.solopassion.com/nod...

Jeff Perren Review (October 2009)
http://shavingleviathan.blogsp...

Discussion on Forum 4 Ayn Rand Fans
http://forums.4aynrandfans.com...

ANNE HELLER
Inc. Magazine Interview (November 2009)
http://www.inc.com/magazine/20...

NPR Interview (Audio)
http://www.npr.org/templates/s...

NYT Interview (Audio)
http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes....

Wall Street Journal Interview (November 2009)
http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy...

Barbara Branden (November 2009)
http://www.objectivistliving.c...

Stephen Cox Review (Liberty Magazine, October 2009)
http://libertyunbound.com/arti...

A.C. Grayling Review (October 2009)
http://search.barnesandnoble.c...

Adam Kirsch Review (New York Times, October 2009)
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11...

Alexander Nazaryan
http://thesecondpass.com/?p=3438

Radio Interviews
http://radiotime.com/Search.as...

Discussion on Forum 4 Ayn Rand Fans
http://forums.4aynrandfans.com...

JENNIFER BURNS AND ANNE HELLER
Book TV (November 8, 2009)
http://www.booktv.org/Program/...

Cato Institute Video (2009)
http://www.cato.org/event.php?...

Ayn Rand Institute Archives (June 2009, page 6)
http://www.aynrand.org/site/Do...

Jonathan Chait Review (The New Republic, September 2009)
http://www.tnr.com/article/boo...

Ed Cline Reviews of Reviews (October 2009)
http://ruleofreason.blogspot.c...
http://ruleofreason.blogspot.c...

The Economist Review (October 2009)
http://www.economist.com/books...

Daniel Flynn Review (November 2009)
http://www.city-journal.org/20...

Nick Gillespie Review (The Wilson Quarterly)
http://www.wilsoncenter.org/in...

Janet Maslin Review (New York Times, October 2009)
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10...

Greg Perkins Review of Cato Appearance
http://www.dianahsieh.com/blog...

______________________________________________

HARRY BINSWAGER
Letter to New York Times re Kirsch Review (November 2009)
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11...

HARRY BINSWANGER AND ALLAN GOTTHELF
Reminisces of Rand (2005)
http://facetsofaynrand.com/add...

BARBARA BRANDEN
In Answer to Ayn Rand (1968)
http://www.barbarabranden.com/...

The Passion of Ayn Rand (1986) Wikipedia Entry
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T...

Jennifer Burns on the Brandens
http://jenniferburns.org/blog/...

Reason TV (November 2009)
http://reason.com/blog/2009/11...

NATHANIEL BRANDEN
In Answer to Ayn Rand (1968)
http://www.barbarabranden.com/...

Reason TV (November 2009)
http://reason.tv/video/show/na...

ROBERT CAMPBELL
The Peikovian Doctrine of the Arbitrary Assertion (JARS, 2009)
http://hubcap.clemson.edu/~cam...

BRIAN DOHERTY
Reason TV (2009)
http://reason.tv/video/show/11...

ALLAN GOTTHELF
Prodos Interview (2000)
http://www.prodos.com/archive0...

ERIKA HOLZER
Interview (Full Context, 1996)
http://www.erikaholzer.com/int...

JOHN HOSPERS
Memories of Ayn Rand (Full Context, 1998)
http://www.fullcontext.org/bac...

Conversations with Ayn Rand (Liberty Magazine, 1987)
http://johnhospers.com/Article...
http://johnhospers.com/Article...

MICHAEL STUART KELLY
PARC Fallacies (Objectivist Living, 2006)
http://www.objectivistliving.c...

Why Nobody Takes PARC Seriously Anymore (Objectivist Living, 2008)
http://www.objectivistliving.c...

RICHARD LAWRENCE (OBJECTIVIST REFERENCE CENTER)
Ayn Rand as a Person and Author (Links)
http://www.noblesoul.com/orc/b...

LUDWIG VON MISES AND MURRAY ROTHBARD
Letters to Ayn Rand
http://mises.org/journals/jls/...

NEIL PARILLE
The Passion of James Valliant's Criticism (2008)
http://www.scribd.com/doc/9421...

Retouching Rand (August 2009)
http://aynrandcontrahumannatur...

LEONARD PEIKOFF
My Thirty Years with Ayn Rand (1987)
http://facetsofaynrand.com/add...

LINDSAY PERIGO
The Passion of Ayn Rand's Critics (2006)
http://solohq.solopassion.com/...

RALPH RAICO
The Mises Circle (Mises Institute, 2006)
http://mises.org/media/1630

A Little Perspective, Please (November 2009)
http://www.lewrockwell.com/rai...

AYN RAND
To Whom It May Concern (1968)
http://www.objectivistliving.c...

Wikipedia Entry
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A...

Speeches and Lectures
http://atlasshrugged.com/ayn-r...

GEORGE REISMAN
Memories of Mises, Rothbard, and Rand (Mises Institute, 2005)
http://mises.org/media/1484

JOEY ROTHBARD
The Good Life of Murray Rothbard (Mises Institute, 1996)
http://mises.org/media/2824

MURRAY ROTHBARD
The Sociology of the Ayn Rand Cult (1972)
http://www.lewrockwell.com/rot...

Branden’s Judgment Day (American Libertarian, August 1989)
http://www.lewrockwell.com/rot...

Mozart Was A Red (Early 1960s)
http://aynrandcontrahumannatur...

CHARLES AND M.A SURES
Facets of Ayn Rand (2001)
http://facetsofaynrand.com/

JAMES VALLIANT
The Passion of Ayn Rand's Critics, Introduction
http://www.solopassion.com/nod...

The Passion of Ayn Rand's Critics, Chapter 2
http://www.solopassion.com/nod...

The Passion of Ayn Rand's Critics, Chapter 3
http://www.solopassion.com/nod...

The Passion of Ayn Rand's Critics, Chapter 4
http://www.solopassion.com/nod...

Prodos Radio Show (2005)
http://www.prodos.com/archive0...


Updated

Neil Parille's picture

And finally found Rand's 2008 To Whom It May Concern from the So-Called Objectivists Who Lie For A Living website.

Numerous Heller Interviews

Neil Parille's picture

Helpful list Neil

gregster's picture

From the WSJ link, an example of the misrepresentation that goes on.

Speakeasy talked with Heller about Rand’s worldview and the fact that she’s suddenly back in vogue.

How do her novels hold up as literature?

Her books are what I would call melodramas of ideas. I don’t think anyone would consider them great novels. But in spite of her plots being rather implausible and her characters wooden, she does carry reader along on a rollicking mystery tour and delivers her ideas at just the right intervals.

That’s the way the interview appeared.

Heller replies in the comments:

I may have made all of the statements attributed to me in the Speakeasy Q & A above, but I do not recognize many of them either as my thought or as my way of expressing myself.
A couple of corrections.

First, I firmly believe that Rand’s mature novels are great and brilliant novels. In interviews I sometimes cede the point that many readers find her heroic characters unbelievable and stiff. In other words, they have few or no inner conflicts. They ARE wooden–that is, theatrical in an old-fashioned sense. Because I do declare my admiration for the novels and explain why at length and in detail, a number of people who knew Rand have remarked that the book is “brave.” If I didn’t love the novels, I would not have written about Ayn Rand.

Reminisces

Neil Parille's picture

If anyone who posts here knew Rand and has posted their experiences with Rand, I'd like to link to them.

Thanks,
NP

Magnificent

Kyrel Zantonavitch's picture

Magnificent list, Neil! Smiling

Aaron - Thanks

Neil Parille's picture

I plan on updating this, so any additions or corrections would be appreciated.

In particular, speeches by people who knew Rand would be excellent additions. There aren't too many on the web.

-Neil

I haven't cared for all the

Aaron's picture

I haven't cared for all the arguing about the various biographies and minutia of Rand's life, but do appreciate having a list compiled of online sources and will look at some when I get a chance. Thanks for compiling this.

Aaron

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