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Biography

Ayn Rand (1902-1982) was born in St. Petersburg, Russia. She taught herself to read as a child and was strongly opposed to the collectivism of Russian culture. When she began writing, she considered herself a European writer and not a Russian writer. Her favorite author was Victor Hugo. In 1925 she came to America on a temporary visa, but was determined never to return to Russia. She traveled to Hollywood to try to pursue a screen-writing career that never paid off.

She began writing The Fountainhead in 1935. The book that has sold millions of copies was originally rejected by 12 different publishers. Her writing career took off and she moved to New York where she remained. In 1957, Atlas Shrugged, her last work of fiction, was published. From then on she stayed in New York and lectured about her philosophy: Objectivism.

Many of her works were published posthumously (after her death) and hundreds of thousands of copies of her works are published yearly. Together, all of her works have sold over 20 million copies to date.

Objectivism

In order to understand Ayn Rand and her works, you have to understand Objectivism, the theory that Rand developed and taught through her works. To explain Objectivism to people, Rand split it up like this:

Objective Reality
Reality exists as an objective absolute. Facts are facts, independent of man's hopes, fears, or wishes.
Reason
Reason is man's only form of survival, his way of perceiving reality, and his only source of knowledge.
Self-interest
Man is an end in himself, not the means to the end of others. He must exist for his own sake, neither sacrificing himself to others nor sacrificing others to himself. The pursuit of his own interests and happiness is the highest purpose in life.
Capitalism
The ideal economic policy, laissez-faire capitalism, is about men dealing with one another as free and equal traders. No man has the right to use physical force to control another man and the government serves only as a protector of man's rights.

*These ideas outline the abstract principles with which man must learn to think and to live is he is to live a proper life as a human on Earth. This is Objectivism, as outlined by Ayn Rand.

Works

The Fountainhead (1943) The story of Howard Roark, an innovative architect that fights the traditional establishment. This is about individualism versus collectivism.

Atlas Shrugged (1957) Set in near-future USA, the economy is collapsing due to a mysterious disappearance of leading innovators. The theme is the importance of man's mind in existence.

Anthem (193 cool A futuristic society that is so collectivist that the word "I" no longer exists. This is about glorifying man's ego and individualism.

We the Living (1936) This is the closest to an autobiographical novel for Rand. Again, it's about the individual against the state.

Night of January 16th (1934) This is a play depicting a murder trial. It even includes two different endings, depending on which verdict the jury decides to give.

The Ayn Rand Lexicon (1986) This is a compilation of 400 articles and essays about Objectivism.

The Romantic Manifesto (1969) Ayn Rand's philosophy of art.

The Virtue of Selfishness (1964) Ayn Rand's concept of egoism and how selfishness is moral.

(Ayn Rand has published many more things than this, posthumously and while alive. These are merely the big ones. If there's something I've forgotten that you feel should be added, let me know. )

I think she's a good writer. My only problem is she wrote anti-cmmunist books but she left the Soviet Union before the ideas fully developed and before everyone was forced to go to school and read.