Over thirty million copies of English-language editions of Ayn Rand’s books have been sold since the 1940s, with many more in dozens of other languages, and sales have not slowed down [1].  This article’s sub-title captures the heart of why her work—especially her fiction—has enduring appeal, despite academia and the popular press being generally hostile even to the mention of her name. The quotation appears in the last part of The Fountainhead, Rand’s 1943 novel that put her on the cultural map. A young man recently graduated from college rides his bicycle through the hills of Pennsylvania, wondering whether life is worth living and whether he should pursue his dream of being a composer.  He longs to see others’ achievements as tangible products of their quest for happiness, if only to see that it’s possible. Suddenly, he is confronted with a newly finished summer home community that seems to spring organically from the sides of the hills. He notices a man perched on a boulder who serenely gazes over the beautiful homes in the valley below. After finding out that the man—Howard Roark—is the architect responsible for the scene before them, he thanks Roark and confidently rides off into his future armed with “the courage to face a lifetime.”

Many readers have been inspired by these words, amazed at the story unfolding before their eyes. It’s unusual to encounter literature that embodies such benevolent, life-affirming values. This is an extraordinary kind of Hero’s Journey. Filled not only with heroes meeting challenges with the assistance of friends against one’s foes, it also contains the message that philosophy matters—for everyone. How well or poorly your life goes depends on whether you hold the right ideas or not. The Fountainhead—as well as Rand’s 1957 magnum opus, Atlas Shrugged—paints a world where happiness and joy are attainable through using one’s mind to pursue one’s passion with integrity and to face and overcome obstacles with reality-oriented determination.  It’s a universe where achievement is possible; self-esteem is earned through productive work; and voluntary interactions foster intensely rewarding personal, social, and professional relationships. And it’s a reality that any person can choose to help create every day of one’s life.

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"Rand's work contains the message that philosophy matters—for everyone. How well or poorly your life goes depends on whether you hold the right ideas or not."
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Journeying through the rest of Rand’s corpus—her fiction as well as her non-fiction philosophy, which she named Objectivism—is challenging and rewarding.  The essentials of Objectivism are: reality exists, we can know reality objectively through our senses and the use of reason, one’s own happiness is one’s highest moral purpose (egoism), limited government is justified only for the protection of individual rights, people should be free to trade the fruits of their work (capitalism), and the purpose of art is to project and experience in concrete form one’s vision of life. Many people have been engaged and inspired by these ideas, ideally using them as springboards for further thought about what’s true and how best to live. There are also many who reject Rand’s ideas, though few of those have bothered to read her work carefully (or at all) before passing judgment on it.