Nonfiction books from an Objectivist Perspective, or recommended by Ayn Rand. More books coming soon as time permits.
Click here for Ayn Rand’s Novels & Fiction
OBJECTIVISM (OPAR)
Objectivism: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand by Leonard Peikoff
Said Ayn Rand of the lectures Dr. Peikoff gave on which this book (OPAR) is based:
“Until or unless I write a comprehensive treatise on my philosophy, Dr. Peikoff’s course is the only authorized presentation of the entire theoretical structure of Objectivism, i.e., the only one that I know of my own knowledge to be fully accurate.” — Ayn Rand
PHILOSOPHY (GENERAL)
Philosophy: Who Needs It by Ayn Rand
This collection of essays was the last work planned by Ayn Rand before her death in 1982. In it, she summarizes her view of philosophy and deals with a broad spectrum of topics.
A Companion to Ayn Rand (Blackwell Companions to Philosophy) ed. Allan Gotthelf & Greg Salmieri
An academic examination of Ayn Rand’s ideas on a variety of topics. The chapters on government, markets, capitalism, and objective law will be of special interest to students of capitalism.
EPISTEMOLOGY
Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology (1966)
“Ayn Rand states her revolutionary theory of concepts; transcripts of invaluable epistemology workshops she conducted are also included.”
How We Know by Harry Binswanger
How We Know explains how following methods of cognition based on the facts of reality and on the nature of our cognitive equipment makes it possible to achieve rational certainty, no matter how abstract the issue.
ETHICS
The Virtue of Selfishness by Ayn Rand
Ayn Rand explains her revolutionary concept of rational self-interest.
Viable Values: A Study of Life as the Root and Reward of Morality by Tara Smith
Dr. Smith provides an academic presentation on the Objectivist ethics.
Ayn Rand’s Normative Ethics: The Virtuous Egoist by Tara Smith
The Virtuous Egoist examines the nature of the essential virtues — rationality, honesty, independence, justice, integrity, productiveness, and pride — and what they demand in practice, while addressing the status of conventional traits such as kindness, charity, generosity, temperance, courage, forgiveness, and humility.
POLITICS
Capitalism The Unknown Ideal by Ayn Rand
Ayn Rand explains the rational and moral basis for capitalism in theory and in practice. The first essay What is Capitalism? is the inspiration for the capitalism tour.
Capitalism Unbound by Andrew Bernstein
This slim, 150-page book is a passionate and well-researched defense of capitalism.
The Capitalist Manifesto by Andrew Bernstein
The Historic, Economic and Philosophic Case for Laissez-Faire
A New Textbook of Americanism: The Politics of Ayn Rand by Jonathan Hoenig ed.
Examines the application of the principle of individual rights to various issues in the 21st century.
Free Market Revolution: How Ayn Rand’s Ideas Can End Big Government by Don Watkins and Yaron Brook
How Rand’s philosophy can enable defenders of the free market to seize the moral high ground in their fight to limit statist government.
Foundations of a Free Society: Reflections on Ayn Rand’s Political Philosophy (Ayn Rand Society Philosophical Studies)
Moral Rights and Political Freedom by Tara Smith
Smith’s academic presentation provides a systematic account of the nature and foundations of rights, and explains why rights are teleological and that respect for freedom is necessary for individuals’ flourishing.
ESTHETICS (PHILOSOPHY OF ART)
The Romantic Manifesto (1969)
“Art is a selective re-creation of reality based on the artist’s metaphysical value-judgments”
Windows on Humanity by Sandra Shaw
Windows on Humanity is a new art history book authored by the artist Sandra Shaw. This survey chronologically explores major trends in the visual arts from prehistory to the fall of Rome.
BUSINESS
How to be Profitable and Moral: A Rational Egoist Approach to Business by Jaana Woiceshyn
“According to conventional morality, either a business manager maximizes profits and necessarily compromises on ethics, or necessarily sacrifices profits in order to be moral. Woiceshyn explains why this is a false dichotomy and offers rational egoism as an alternative moral code to businesspeople who want to maximize profits ethically.”
The Leadership Crisis and the Free Market Cure by John Allison
Why the Future of Business Depends on the Return to Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness
Why Businessmen Need Philosophy: The Capitalist’s Guide to the Ideas Behind Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged by Debi Ghate, et. al.
CORPORATIONS
In Defense of the Corporation by Robert Hessen
How the rights of a corporation derive from the principle of individual rights.
CULTURE
The Return of the Primitive: The Anti-Industrial Revolution by Ayn Rand, et. al.
Examines the primitive, tribalist, “anti-industrial” intellectual roots of the New Left and their impact on our culture today.
The Voice of Reason: Essays in Objectivist Thought by Ayn Rand and Leonard Peikoff
Ayn Rand’s Ford Hall Forum talks on topics as varied as education, medicine, Vietnam, and the death of Marilyn Monroe.
Neoconservatism: An Obituary for an Idea by C. Bradley Thompson & Yaron Brook
Neoconservatism as a species of anti-Americanism.
ECONOMICS
Economics in One Lesson by Henry Hazlitt
A beautifully written book that explains how the market works. Not Objectivcist, but recommended by Ayn Rand.
Markets Don’t Fail by Brian P. Simpson
An excellent supplement to contemporary economics textbooks. Topics covered include: monopoly, antitrust laws and predatory pricing, ‘externalities,’ safety and quality regulation, environmentalism, economic inequality, ‘public goods,’ and asymmetric information.
Capitalism: A Treatise on Economics by George Reisman
An encyclopedic presentation (1000 pages) of the nature and value of capitalism.
The Abolition of Antitrust by Gary Hull (ed.)
Essays on the economics, history, and morality of antitrust.
Socialism by Ludwig Von Mises
Professor Mises explains why any attempt to implement socialism will always lead to the destruction of capitalism and civilization. Recommended by Ayn Rand.
EDUCATION
Teaching Johnny to Think by Leonard Peikoff
Dr. Peikoff makes a compelling case for a rational system of education by contrasting three schools of philosophy and the different educational alternatives they propose to replace our present system. In the process, he defines a proper methodology and curriculum that will produce thinking high school graduates confident of their ability to achieve their goals.
Freedom and School Choice in American Education by Bradley Thompson, et. al.
A series of essays for a variety of perspectives (capitalist and anti-capitalist) on privatizing education.
ENERGY
The Moral Case for Fossil Fuels by Alex Epstein
How fossil fuels are moral based on the standard of human flourishing.
FREEDOM OF SPEECH
Defending Free Speech by Steve Simpson
How those who attack the freedom of speech are the product of anti-capitalist ideologies.
HISTORY
The Ominous Parallels: The End of Freedom in America by Leonard Peikoff
The intellectual roots of Nazism and their ominous parallels in modern America.
The DIM Hypothesis: Why the Lights of the West Are Going Out by Leonard Peikoff
On the influence of how a culture’s philosophy (disintegration, integration, and misintegration) shapes its history and its future.
The God of the Machine by Isabel Patterson
“It is brilliant in the perceptiveness, the incisiveness, the power, the scope of its analysis that presents–in carefully chosen, dramatically illuminating essentials the history of man’s long quest for freedom, from ancient Greece to World War II. It offers an unforgettable experience: a panorama of the centuries, as seen from the elevation of a truly grand intellectual scale.” — Ayn Rand, The Objectivist Newsletter
INEQUALITY
Equal Is Unfair: America’s Misguided Fight Against Income Inequality by Don Watkins and Yaron Brook
Why the attempt to achieve the altruistic-egalitarian ideal of economic equality (equality of results) at the expense of the moral-capitalist ideal of political equality (equal political rights) will lead to the destruction of all.
LAW
Judicial Review in an Objective Legal System by Tara Smith
Elaborates on how the concept objectivity applies to the proper functioning of the legal system in order to explain the conditions required for objective judicial review.
MILITARY & FOREIGN POLICY
The Foreign Policy of Self-Interest: A Moral Ideal for America by Peter Schwartz
Schwartz advocates a policy under which our nation’s interests are measured by only one standard: the individual liberty of its citizens.
Nothing Less than Victory: Decisive Wars and the Lessons of History by John David Lewis
John David Lewis shows how victorious military commanders achieved long-term peace by identifying the fundamentals of the enemy’s ideological and social support for a war and then striking at this support destroying the enemy’s will to fight.
Winning the Unwinnable War ed. Elan Journo
America’s self-crippled response to Islamic totalitarianism.
What Justice Demands: America and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict by Elan Journo
Failing to Confront Islamic Totalitarianism: From George W. Bush to Barack Obama and Beyond by Onkar Ghate and Elan Journo
MONEY & FINANCE
In Pursuit of Wealth: The Moral Case for Finance by Yaron Brook and Don Watkins
Explains the economic importance and moral value of finance to human flourishing.
Gold & Liberty and Breaking The Banks by Richard Salsman
Along with George Reisman, Professor Salsman is one of the leading Objectivist economists of today.
The Financial Crisis and the Free Market Cure by John Allison
As the nation’s longest-serving CEO of a top-25 financial institution, Professor Allison has had a unique inside view of the events leading up to the financial crisis. He explains how government intervention and regulation of the marketplace caused the housing crisis and the Great Recession of 2008-2009.
WELFARE-STATE/SOCIAL SECURITY
Rooseveltcare: How Social Security is Sabotaging the Land of Self-Reliance by Don Watkins
This elegantly written book, explains how the entitlement-welfare state is destroying our hope for the future. The definitive case for gradually abolishing social security and the welfare state.
WRITING
The Art of Fiction: A Guide for Writers and Readers (2000)
Edited by Tore Boeckmann
“In 1958 Ayn Rand gave a series of extemporaneous lectures, to a handful of people in her living room, on the nature of fiction. This book is the edited transcript of those sessions. Miss Rand presents her distinctively enlightening views, as she explains the four essential elements of fiction: plot, theme, characterization and style. The book offers Ayn Rand’s incisive analysis of her own works as well as those of other famous authors, such as Victor Hugo, Sinclair Lewis and Thomas Wolfe. This is an invaluable work for any reader or writer of fiction.”
The Art of Nonfiction: A Guide for Writers and Readers (2001)
Edited by Robert Mayhew
“In 1958, Ayn Rand… gave a private series of extemporaneous lectures in her own living room on the art of fiction…. The Art of Fiction offers invaluable lessons, in which Rand analyzes the four essential elements of fiction: theme, plot, characterization, and style. She demonstrates her ideas by dissecting her best-known works, as well as those of other famous authors, such as Thomas Wolfe, Sinclair Lewis, and Victor Hugo.” “[Ayn Rand] maintains that writing is a rational sphere, governed by rationally identifiable principles. ‘Writing is no more difficult a skill than any other, such as engineering,’ she says. ‘Like every human activity, it requires practice and knowledge. But there is nothing mystical to it.’ ”
