Peikoff, Leonard

The ominous parallels : the end of freedom in America by Leonard Peikoff ( Book )
12 editions published between 1982 and 1993 in English and held by 1,272 libraries worldwide
A collection of essays argues that philosophy is an essential element of human life, a force that shapes human character and national culture and destiny, and offers the rational philosophy of objectivism as an alternative. Ayn Rand chose Leonard Peikoff to be her successor as the spokesman for Objectivism. And in this brilliantly reasoned, thought provoking work we learn why, as he demonstrates how far America has been detoured from its original path and led down the same road that Germany followed to Nazism. Self sacrifice, oriental mysticism, racial, truth, the public good, doing ones duty, these are among the seductive catch phrases that Leonard Peikoff dissects, examining the kind of philosophy they symbolize, the type of thinking that lured Germany to its doom and that he says is now prevalent in the United States. Here is a frightening look at where America may be heading, a clarion call for all who are concerned about preserving our right to individual freedom.

The fountainhead by Ayn Rand ( Book )
8 editions published between 1993 and 2007 in English and Spanish and held by 1,241 libraries worldwide
The story of a gifted architect, his struggle against conventional standards, and his violent love affair.

Journals of Ayn Rand by Ayn Rand ( Book )
8 editions published between 1997 and 1999 in English and held by 836 libraries worldwide
Rarely has a writer and thinker of the stature of Ayn Rand afforded us access to her most intimate thoughts and feelings. From Journals of Ayn Rand, we gain an invaluable new understanding and appreciation of the woman, the artist, and the philosopher, and of the enduring legacy she has left us.

The early Ayn Rand : a selection from her unpublished fiction by Ayn Rand ( Book )
22 editions published between 1984 and 2010 in English and held by 810 libraries worldwide
Includes a selection of early short stories, excerpts from "The Fountainhead," and two full-length plays, with a critical introduction to the writer as an artist and philosopher.

Objectivism : the philosophy of Ayn Rand by Leonard Peikoff ( Book )
16 editions published between 1991 and 2009 in English and held by 795 libraries worldwide
The full philosophical system underlying Ayn Rand's stories about life "as if might be and ought to be."

The voice of reason : essays in objectivist thought by Ayn Rand ( Book )
13 editions published between 1988 and 2009 in English and held by 766 libraries worldwide
In the years between her first public lecture in 1961 and her last in 1981, Ayn Rand spoke and wrote about topics as different as education, medicine, Vietnam, and the death of Marilyn Monroe. In The Voice of Reason, these pieces are gathered together in book form for the first time. Written in the last decades of Rand's life, they reflect a life lived on principle, a probing mind, and a passionate intensity. With them are five essays by Leonard Peikoff, Rand's longtime associate and literary executor.

Anthem by Ayn Rand ( Book )
13 editions published between 1995 and 2008 in English and Spanish and held by 720 libraries worldwide
He lived in the dark ages of the future. In a loveless world he dared to love the woman of his choice. In an age that had lost all trace of science and civilization he had the courage to seek and find knowledge. But these were not the crimes for which he would be hunted. In a future where there is no love, no science, and everyone is equal and of one entity, one man defies the group to be his own person. That is a serious offense. Written with all the power and conviction that made The Fountainhead a classic of American letters, Ayn Rand's Anthem is a hymn to man's independent spirit and to the highest word in the human language - "Ego." First written in 1937, Anthem was published in England, but was refused in publication in America, for reason which the reader might discover by reading it for himself. In 1946, it appeared as a pamphlet, issued by Pamphleteers, Inc., of Los Angeles. This is its first American publication in regular book form. Anthem tells the story of a man who rediscovers the individualism and his own "I" - in a world of absolute collectivization, a world where sightless, joyless, selfless men exist for the sake of serving the State; where their work, their food and their mating are prescribed to them by order of the Collective's rulers in the name of society's welfare - a world which has lost all the achievements of science and civilization, when it lost their root, the independent mind, and has reverted to primitive savagery - a world where language contains no singular pronouns, where the "We" has replaced the "I," and where men are put to death for the crime of discovering and speaking the "unspeakable word." The story tells of one man who rebelled, of his struggle and his victory. Assigned to the life work of street sweeper by the rulers who resented his brilliant, questioning, unsubmissive mind - he becomes a scientist, secretly, risking his life for the sake of his quest for knowledge. In the midst of collective stagnation, where men toil at manual labor by the light of candles - he discovers electricity. In the midst of eugenic planning and State-controlled Palaces of Mating - he discovers a personal love and a woman of his own choice. In the midst of brutal morality which proclaims that man is only a sacrificial animal to the needs of others - he discovers that man's greatest moral duty is the pursuit of his own happiness. He endures danger, denunciation, imprisonment, torture - but he breaks the chains of the Collective, he escapes with the woman he loves, to start a new life in an uncharted wilderness, and he reaches the day when he is able to predict that "my home will become the capital of a world where each man will be free to exist for his own sake. "Anthem presents not merely a frightening projection of existing trends, but, more importantly, a positive answer to those trends and a weapon against them, a key to the world's moral crisis and to a new morality of individualism - a morality which, if accepted today, will save us from a future such as the one presented in this story.

Introduction to objectivist epistemology by Ayn Rand ( Book )
9 editions published between 1979 and 1990 in English and held by 442 libraries worldwide

Atlas shrugged by Ayn Rand ( Book )
5 editions published between 1992 and 2007 in English and held by 426 libraries worldwide
The story of a man who said he would stop the motor of the world--and did. This novel is the setting for the author's philosophy of objectivism.

The Ayn Rand reader by Ayn Rand ( Book )
6 editions published in 1999 in English and held by 314 libraries worldwide
The Fountainhead, which became one of the most influential and widely read philosophical novels of the twentieth century, made Ayn Rand famous. An impassioned proponent of rational self-interest, individualism, and laissez-faire capitalism, she expressed her unique views in numerous works of fiction and non-fiction that have been brought together for the first time in this one-of-a-kind volume. The Fountainhead, which became one of the most influential and widely read philosophical novels of the twentieth century, made Ayn Rand famous. An impassioned proponent of reason, rational self-interest, individualism, and laissez-faire capitalism, she expressed her unique views in numerous works of fiction and non-fiction that have been brought together for the first time in this one-of-a-kind volume. Containing excerpts from all her novels--including Atlas Shrugged, Anthem, and We The Living--The Ayn Rand Reader is a perfect introduction for those who have never read Rand, and provides teachers with an excellent guide to the basics of her viewpoint.