Ayn Rand

Ayn Rand was born Alisa Zinovyevna Rosenbaum in Saint Petersburg, Russia, in 1905. She witnessed the Russian Revolution as a child, an experience that instilled in her a lifelong horror of collectivism and state power. She studied philosophy and history at Petrograd State University, then emigrated to the United States in 1926, changed her name, and worked as a screenwriter in Hollywood before turning to fiction and philosophy. Her early novels, We the Living and Anthem, drew on her Russian experiences, but it was The Fountainhead in 1943 that made her famous. This author hub collects 2 works in the Canon Compass ranking, led by The Fountainhead.