The 1998 Kevin Murphy Book Review Of Atlas Shrugged By Ayn Rand

From Kevin Murphy:

Atlas Shrugged is a terrible book.

As a novel, it is awful, running on forever in a fantasy land of unbelievable plot and unbelievable characterization. Who is John Galt? Who cares after 250 pages of this mind numbing rot, let alone the 1000 plus you have to wade through to get to the end. Ms. Rand obviously had little idea of the geography or economy of the United States.

As a polemic, it is insulting, pounding every point in by tedious repetition until your head aches. You want to learn about a real hero - read a biography of Benjamin Franklin. There was a man who excelled at so many fields and who did so much for humanity it puts the ersatz heroes of Atlas Shrugged to shame. If you want to read a good polemic then read The Road to Serfdom by Hayek - at a quarter of the size and 100 times the content it provides 400 times more value, and your head won't ache when you're done.

The premise of Atlas Shrugged isn't liberty for all, but licence for the few ubermen who singlehandedly shower the rest of us with the benefits of their superiority. What a crock. The point of liberty, the rule of law, the free market is that we all have dreams, we all can contribute, and those comprise the system to allow us to do so. It isn't so that a few titans can be free to do as they will and provide for the teeming masses of us mere mortals.

She was wrong about Modern Architecture, too.

So now I got Kevin to join me in Hell with old Whittaker Chambers. If you have written a bad review of Atlas Shrugged, drop me a line and maybe you can be one of us: The Few, The Proud, The I've-Been-Told-To-Go-To-Hell-with-Whittaker-Chambers Club.

Comments

[Kevin Murphy]

Tom,

I brought along a pitcher of ice water for you and Whittaker.

Um, I know it's not the best review, but is it really a bad review? It's negative for sure, but that doesn't make it bad, does it?

[Tom McMahon]

It's a GREAT bad review!

[Dad29]

You could always email Bill Buckley and ask for HIS thoughts on that stupid witch; he, personally, threw her out of a NYCity cocktail party for Conservatives.

[Guy]

I think you guys are missing the point of Atlas Shrugged: We all have the ability to be the superman of our own lives, if we only choose to.

And since use of force, or coercion, is forbidden in Ayn Rand's world - you will only get what you can honestly work for, or trade with other people.

Of course there's always going to be somebody better than somebody else at any particular thing - like the Superman, Spiderman, The Tick, etc...

"The point of liberty, the rule of law, the free market is that we all have dreams, we all can contribute, and those comprise the system to allow us to do so." Exactly the point.

[Ronsonic]

I couldn't have written it better. Mine wouldn't be quite as negative, but pretty darn close.

[rob]

I was banned from NoodleFood for speaking ill of Ann Rand... does that count?
For the record, I've read Atlas Shurgged and I feel like that's a week of my life I'll never get back. The real hero of the story was the guy at the end fixing the engine. He fixed it eventually you know...

[Tom McMahon]

Sure, getting banned from NoodleFood counts. Well Done!