Atlas Shrugged
(Ayn Rand)
There are very few books that I have read that I feel have made a solid contribution to the field of literature, and that are so profound that they set the bar higher for all other authors. Not only is Ayn Rand?s Atlas Shrugged in this list, it is at the top of it. Sprawling, both in narrative as well as in the underlying philosophical ideas of the narrative, Atlas Shrugged is the pinnacle of Rand?s already vast literary achievements.
What makes Atlas Shrugged such a literary triumph is not only the way that Rand expounds upon the seeds of her objectivist philosophy that were planted in The Fountainhead, but the story itself. Even evaluated completely independently from its philosophical ideas, the story is intensely compelling, and is populated with characters who are staggering in their complexities. A woman, who fights her brother to keep her family?s railroad alive. The promising heir to a global copper empire, who squanders his potential to become a mindless playboy. A steel tycoon, who fights to keep the rights to a revolutionary new metal that he himself created and that the government is trying to take away. A brilliant philosopher, who completely abandons society and its moral codes and becomes a pirate. While these people are fighting their respective struggles, a Destroyer is taking away some of the most promising minds in the nation. An oil tycoon, a brilliant philosophy professor, and a prolific composer one by one vanish without a trace.
Although Atlas Shrugged was written forty-eight years ago, it is still relevant today. The themes of individuals struggling against a corrupt collective, as well as people who perform horrifying acts under the pretense of moral righteousness are still relatable and current. It also poses important philosophical questions, such as, what truly powers this world, and what is the root of evil in our society today? Atlas Shrugged, as complex as it is interesting, as entertaining as it is thought-provoking, as profound as it is elegantly written, is a timeless masterpiece.
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