The Miami Herald has printed an article by Phil Kloer (“Many hearts still held captive by Ayn Rand“) examining Rand’s influence among her readers. It begins:
Fay Stephenson’s old copy of Atlas Shrugged was turned into soggy mush when her basement flooded and ruined a bunch of stored books. Bill Fallin keeps his copy of the novel in his desk and re-reads sections occasionally. Ron Mahre read The Fountainhead in college and plans to give his battered copy to his daughter Bethany, 17.
Like a first rock concert or a first slow dance, some people never forget their first encounter with Ayn Rand, the passionate, controversial author of Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead, creator of the philosophy called objectivism, patron saint of libertarians (both capital “L” and small “l”) and galvanizer of several generations of intellectually inclined teenagers.
See the full article for more information.