Sales of "Atlas Shrugged" at All-Time Record

[ARI Media Feed]

By David Holcberg from The Ayn Rand Institute Stories,cross-posted by MetaBlog

Sales of "Atlas Shrugged" at All-Time Record

March 10, 2008

Irvine, CA--Fifty years after its publication, Ayn Rand's "Atlas Shrugged" is selling more than ever, having reached the astounding mark of 185,000 copies sold in 2007.

As noted by Dr. Yaron Brook, executive director of the Ayn Rand Institute, "this sales figure is an all-time annual record, far exceeding sales of any year in Ayn Rand's lifetime." "Even more impressive," added Dr. Brook, "is that since its publication in 1957, more than 6 million copies of 'Atlas Shrugged' have been sold."

According to statistics from Penguin Group (USA), the English paperback sales of "Atlas Shrugged" have been climbing steadily through the decades since the novel was first published.

"In the 1980's," pointed out Dr. Brook, "'Atlas Shrugged' sold an average of 77,000 copies a year, increasing to 95,000 in the 1990s, and jumping to 130,000 in the first years of the new century.

"The trend is clear and inescapable. 'Atlas Shrugged' is selling more than ever and tens of millions of individuals in America and across the world are now aware of Ayn Rand's revolutionary ideas."

Media coverage of the 50th anniversary of "Atlas Shrugged" was extensive, with pieces printed in the "Wall Street Journal," "Los Angeles Times," "New York Times," "Washington Times," and "Forbes" magazine.

The "Los Angeles Times" called Ayn Rand's message "inspiring" and praised her most important novels, "Atlas Shrugged" and "The Fountainhead," as "masterpieces of plotting." The article acknowledged that there is "good reason" that her novels continue to sell hundreds of thousands of copies a year and noted that 25 years after Ayn Rand's death "she's still big business and still very much a force."

The "New York Times" lauded the novel as "One of the most influential business books ever written" and aptly described it as "Ayn Rand's glorification of the right of individuals to live entirely for their own interest."

According to another piece, in "Forbes" magazine, "A quarter century after her death, and half a century after the publication of 'Atlas Shrugged,' Ayn Rand is back." But according to the historical record of the sales of "Atlas Shrugged," said Dr. Brook, "Ayn Rand never really went away."

 

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[DarkWaters]

This is fantastic news! I assume that the free books for teachers program does not count towards these record sales figures?

Edited March 21, 2008 by DarkWaters

[Dr. Radiaki]

One of those 185,000 was mine.

[KevinDW78]

"Ayn Rand's glorification of the right of individuals to live entirely for their own interest."

Sounds like typical liberal condemnation thinly guised as praise.

[Dr. Radiaki]

Sounds like typical liberal condemnation thinly guised as praise.

Why do you think that?

[Tenure]

I suppose because it can be read two ways.

"Ayn Rand's glorification of the right of individuals to live entirely for their own interest."

To us, yes, obviously that is right. And what it says is true. However, suppose the wording went like this:

"Ayn Rand's glorification of the right of individuals to live entirely for their own interest, and how that right leads to the most just and humane society"

By their wording, they are being technically accurate, but it does seem that they are phrasing it as such to give the impression that Ayn Rand neccessarily supported self-interest at the direct detriment of others.