Barbara Branden (1929–2013)

My own intellectual history with Rand aside, I read this because of this, which you should click immediately: http://the-toast.net/2016/02/11/ayn-rand-once-cursed-a-guys-dick-so-bad-he-moved...

Anyway, the book is uncomfortably fawning like 75% of the time, but vastly compelling, partly because Ayn Rand couldn't stop being Ayn Rand and doing the most Ayn Rand things possible. Seriously.

I first read an Ayn Rand book during my sophomore year in high school (Fountainhead, if anyone cares). Though my New Relationship Energy with her ideas faded away many decades ago, I continue to find her ideas interesting. Throughout her lifetime, Rand blocked efforts to see her in any terms other than the terms she demanded: as a shining living example of the heroes whose stories she wrote down. She kept hoping that she would find other "living examples," and died in bitter disappointment show more that she never did.

This book is a fascinating after-the-penny-dropped account of a remarkable author who unwittingly made her own life more dramatic (and more pathetic) than the lives of any of her heroic characters. Branden shows her as human, uncertain, and as willing to rationalize her mistakes as any other person. I found it fascinating, and I am very glad I read it. show less

One review here says this book would never be read by admirers of Ayn Rand. Well, maybe not uncritical doctrinaire ones. I was an admirer when I started the book and one when I left it. In fact, I'm glad I found it early on when I had just discovered Ayn Rand and she had created a revolution in my thinking. I think if there had been any danger I'd become a "Randroid" as I've heard some describe it, this book did put paid to that, because goodness it's true this book does a good job of idol show more smashing--and I think that's healthy actually in some ways if we're going to judge Rand by her ideas--and not worship her (or condemn her) unthinkingly.

And yes, it's true, Barbara Branden did have good reason to be bitter towards Ayn Rand. She was the wife of the man Rand had an affair with--Nathaniel Branden--after Rand informed both Barbara and Rand's own husband she was going to pursue this affair. And when Nathaniel fell for yet another women and decided to break things off, Barbara supported him and was relegated to the outer darkness by Ayn. Barbara also reports many instances of cult-like behavior within Rand's circle. But it should be noted that some time after this book's release, Leonard Peikoff, Rand's designated "intellectual heir" admitted that having gone through Rand's papers, the affair did happen much in the way Barbara described. And the stories of Ayn Rand's circle and its purges? I'm afraid that's substantiated by too many sources to just brush off as an attack by a women with a grudge.

And yet what was remarkable to me despite that, is that, yes, I do think Barbara Branden writes this biography with both empathy and admiration for her subject. And some understanding born of years of close association with the woman. I do recommend reading Nathaniel Branden's memoir Judgement Day as well for similar reasons, though I think there the tone is much more bitter and self-serving. And certainly if you find Ayn Rand's ideas and life of interest, there are two recent books from outside, I dare say more "objective" perspectives that are well thought of and from what I've read not hatchet jobs-- Anne C. Heller's Ayn Rand and the World She Made and Jennifer Burns Goddess of the Market. I haven't read either yet, but I've already picked up Heller's as an ebook. show less

A expose' of the weirdness that was Ayn Rand. What a piece of work she was. Reading this book is like watching a trainwreck - you want to look away but you can't. I used to think that religion-based narcissism was the worst kind. Ayn Rand proved me wrong.

I recommend this book to the very people who will not read it - the admirers of Ayn Rand.