Ayn Rand: A Sense of Life
by Michael Paxton

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Book Reviews of Ayn Rand: A Sense of Life

Book Review: Beatiful portrait of a titan
Summary: 5 Stars

Ayn Rand wrote those words in 1936, 10 years after escaping Soviet Russia, but several years before publishing The Fountainhead, her famous novel about an idealistic architect named Howard Roark. Though many Americans know her as an advocate of laissez-faire capitalism, her primary goal as a philosopher was not political activism, but the development of a consistent philosophy of reason that she called Objectivism.

In Ayn Rand: A Sense of Life, the companion book to the Academy Award nominated documentary of the same name, author Michael Paxton takes us on an intimate tour of the life of one of the 20th century's most controversial novelist-philosophers.

What is a "sense of life?" Ayn Rand defined it as: "...a pre-conceptual equivalent of metaphysics, an emotional, subconsciously integrated appraisal of man and of existence." In Paxton's beautiful book, we see in vivid detail Ayn Rand's sense of life - and what a life it was.

Ayn (pronounced like "mine") Rand was born Alisa Rosenbaum in czarist Russia in 1905. She knew from the age of nine that she wanted to be a writer. By the time she reached adolescence, she realized that the only way she could be fully free to write was to escape Soviet Russia - a culture she had always despised for its mysticism, irrationalism and collectivism. At the same time, she was beginning to formulate her unique view of the world.

Though life in Soviet Russia was bleak, the novels of Victor Hugo and Viennese operettas such as Emmerich Kálmán's "The Gypsy Princess" gave her the emotional fuel to press forward with her goals. Paxton does a superb job of showing the development of Ayn Rand's character with vibrant descriptions, still photos and images from her life in Russia.

Once Ayn Rand escaped to the United States in 1926, she wasted no time pursuing her goal of becoming a writer. After a brief period with relatives in Chicago, she set out for Hollywood to seek work as a screenwriter for silent movies. Particularly charming is the story of how she met her future husband, Frank O'Connor, on the set of Cecil B. DeMille's The King of Kings: "...during a scene where Christ carries the cross through the city of Jerusalem, Ayn watched carefully as Frank hit his marks on the first take. On the second take, she maneuvered herself to get in his way. He stepped on her foot and apologized. From that moment on, they didn't stop talking."

Paxton shows us the essentials of Ayn Rand's exciting and inspiring life - from her early struggles to write and publish her first novel We the Living to the monumental success of her towering bestseller Atlas Shrugged to her loving relationship with her husband. Paxton successfully integrates the content of the book with its theme. He does not focus on insignificant minutiae, rather he selects the crowning achievements of Ayn Rand's life and career.

Critics of the documentary and the book have argued that Paxton is not objective in his treatment of Ayn Rand because he does not give equal time to her detractors. In the preface, philosopher and longtime friend of Ayn Rand, Leonard Peikoff, addresses this issue:

"In an age like ours - when evil is deemed to be real and virtue a mere illusion, when feet of clay, real or invented, are regarded as the essence of `objective' biography, and any positive portrait is dismissed as `hagiography'... Michael Paxton has had the courage to say: `Ayn Rand is a value, and here is the proof.'"

If you have read Ayn Rand's novels and have wondered what kind of woman she was, Michael Paxton's lovely book will give you a rare glimpse of true heroism. Ayn Rand: A Sense of Life is a treasure trove of positive values in a culture desperately in need of them.

Summary of Ayn Rand: A Sense of Life

Authors Books

• Books > Subjects > Biographies & Memoirs > Arts & Literature
• People, A-Z > ( R ) > Rand, Ayn
• Professionals & Academics > Philosophers
• Specific Groups > Women
• Literature & Fiction > History & Criticism