But what if the source of much of your material in this essay on Ayn Rand’s life is itself inaccurate and untrue? Another author—James Valliant—who wrote on Ayn Rand’s life studied her private journals (that were unavailable to Barbara Branden and Nathaniel Brandon). According to him, the air of cultishness was initiated and encouraged by Nathaniel Brandon, who monitored all of Rand’s guests, visitors, and letters, to ensure that they were not antagonistic to Rand.
A single anecdote should throw enough light on Rand’s character to disprove this hypothesis. The libertarian economist Murray Rothbard was for a time part of Rand’s circle of friends. But when Rand learned that Rothbard’s wife was a Christian, she gave Rothbard six months to convert her to atheism, or else divorce her. Rothbard of course did neither, and was, accordingly, excommunicated soon thereafter.
But what if the source of much of your material in this essay on Ayn Rand’s life is itself inaccurate and untrue? Another author—James Valliant—who wrote on Ayn Rand’s life studied her private journals (that were unavailable to Barbara Branden and Nathaniel Brandon). According to him, the air of cultishness was initiated and encouraged by Nathaniel Brandon, who monitored all of Rand’s guests, visitors, and letters, to ensure that they were not antagonistic to Rand.
A single anecdote should throw enough light on Rand’s character to disprove this hypothesis. The libertarian economist Murray Rothbard was for a time part of Rand’s circle of friends. But when Rand learned that Rothbard’s wife was a Christian, she gave Rothbard six months to convert her to atheism, or else divorce her. Rothbard of course did neither, and was, accordingly, excommunicated soon thereafter.