In a column from last December, conservative pundit George Will mentions Atlas Shrugged, semi-favorably, in a piece discussing Michael Crichton’s latest novel.
State of Fear is the story of the hunt for a group of radical environmentalists planning a ‘natural’ disaster for publicity purposes. Along the way a naïve, moderately left-leaning attorney has his eyes opened by a professor-cum-government operative who interrupts the plot occasionally to deliver miniature lectures.
Will writes:
“State of Fear,” with a first printing of 1.5 million copies, resembles Ayn Rand’s “Atlas Shrugged” — about 6 million copies sold since 1957 — as a political broadside woven into an entertaining story. But whereas Rand had only an idea — a good one (capitalism is splendid), but only one — Crichton has information.
See Will’s full article for more information about Crichton’s book.