James Valliant

Ayn Rand has been dead almost 25 years and yet here we are a quarter of a century later with this tripe as the latest sorry example of the state of scholarship dealing with arguably one of the more important and fascinating thinkers of the twentieth century. For those not familiar with the subject matter of this book it serves as a polemic against two of Ayn Rand's early admires and associates Barbara and Nathanial Branden and picks apart each of their memoirs dealing with Rand "The Passion of Ayn Rand" and "Judgment Day" respectively. The author's conclusion... (Skip this part if you don't want me to give away the ending) The Brandens are bad people - to which I ask the question - So what? Valliant's book reads like a court transcript having diligently researched every sentence of the Branden's testimony... I mean their books, and formulates his well-researched counter argument based on extensive study of the highly sacred Ayn rand archives. What unfortunate nonsense this has all become. Nathaniel and Barbra Branden Leonard Piekoff and the rest of the original disciples are getting old and this was their fight from a long time ago. What is most discouraging about this book, even more than the irrelevant topic, dry and rigid style is the picture of the author on the dust wrapper - he looks like a young guy. I dread the thought of a new generation of thinkers incapable of delving any deeper into Rand than he said she said.… (mais)