Atlas Shrugged

Ayn Rand. First edition, twenty-fifth printing (stated). New York: Random House, 1957. Unclipped dust jacket, in a mylar wrapper, is in Very Good condition. There is a piece missing and a tear along the crease and the top of spine as well on a few of the edges. Jacket designed by the great George Salter. The hardcover is in Very Good+ condition. There is no writing or markings found in the book, 1168 pp. 

The book was originally priced at $6.95 at the time of first publication. In subsequent printings it would increase to $15 to $17.95 (1972), with this particular edition priced at $25.

The theme of Atlas Shrugged, as Rand described it, is "the role of man's mind in existence." The book explores a number of philosophical themes that Rand would subsequently develop into the philosophy of Objectivism. In a 1991 Library of Congress survey Americans named it second only to the Bible as the book that had most influenced their lives.

Rand's magnus opus, is one of the most influential works of the 20th century. It was her last work of fiction. It raises and answers questions on the nature, source, and validation of morality. Why is it immoral to produce a value and keep it, but moral to give it away? And if it is not moral for you to keep a value, why is it moral for others to accept it? If you are selfless and virtuous when you give it, are they not selfish and vicious when they take it? Does virtue consist of serving vice? Is the . . . purpose of those who are good, self-immolation for the sake of those who are evil?" In her title essay For the New Intellectual (Random House, 1959), Rand would elaborate: "The world crisis of today is a moral crisis--and nothing less than a moral revolution can resolve it: a moral revolution to sanction and complete the political achievement of the American Revolution."