Ayn Rand

Ayn Rand was born to a bourgeois family in Saint Petersburg, Russia. A precocious child, Rand was writing screenplays at age 8 and novels by age 10. Rand attended a three-year program at Saint Petersburg University, majoring in history. In 1925, Rand traveled to America and decided to stay in the U.S. and become a screenwriter in L.A. After writing several screenplays, Rand focused on writing novels, her first major success coming with The Fountainhead in 1943. This book became an international hit, but Atlas Shrugged, published in 1957, is considered Rand’s magnum opus. Both books reflect Rand’s philosophical system, Objectivism, which would influence conservative and libertarian politics.