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S E CONDARY SOURCE S
ESSAY ON SOURCES 295
There is a large body of secondary scholarship on Rand, much of which has enhanced and
sharpened my own ideas, and only a fraction of which I can mention here. Scholarship
on Rand has gone through roughly three overlapping waves. The fi rst books written
about Rand attempted to either vindicate or denounce her philosophy. Into the critical
camp fall works like William O’Neil’s With Charity towards None: An Analysis of Ayn
Rand’s Philosophy (1971) and Sidney Greenberg’s Ayn Rand and Alienation (1977). Books
that defend Rand, many written by her former students, include Douglas J. Den Uyl and
Douglass B. Rasmussen’s The Philosophic Thought of Ayn Rand (1984), Leonard Peikoff’s
Ominous Parallels: The End of Freedom in America (1982), and David Kelley’s Evidence of the
Senses (1986). These works were largely consumed by the Objectivist community itself, a
world riven with breaks and schisms dating from Rand’s day. These dynamics are described
in Kelley, Truth and Toleration (1990) and The Contested Legacy of Ayn Rand: Truth and
Toleration in Objectivism (2000).
The 1986 publication of Barbara Branden’s Passion of Ayn Rand, followed by Nathaniel
Branden’s Judgment Day: My Years with Ayn Rand (1989), decisively shifted the terms of
debate by bringing Rand’s personal life front and center, at the same time attracting a
broad popular audience. As a historical source, Barbara Branden’s biography has both
strengths and weaknesses. Like the material issued by Rand’s estate, it does not adhere
to rigorous standards of accuracy. Sentences that are presented in quotes as if they were
spoken verbatim by Rand have been signifi cantly edited and rewritten, as anyone who
listens to or reads the original interviews Branden used will quickly detect. Rand never
lost either her Russian accent or her awkward sentence structure, and her actual words
are full of circumlocutions and jarring formulations. Like the editors of Rand’s journals,
Branden has created a new Rand, one far more articulate than in life.
Moreover, Branden’s biography is marred by serious inaccuracies and tales that do
not stand up to historical investigation, including the now debunked story that Rand
named herself after her typewriter. Too often Branden takes Rand’s stories about herself
at face value, reporting as fact information contradicted by the historical record.
Although Branden’s biography was the fi rst book to describe Rand’s early life, it should
be used with caution and in conjunction with volumes like Jeff Britting’s short biography,
Ayn Rand (2004) and Anne Heller’s Ayn Rand and the World She Made (2009).
Shoshana Milgram’s forthcoming authorized biography should become another
resource of note.
Nonetheless, as Rand’s closest friends for nearly twenty years, the Brandens’ memoirs
remain important as accounts of Rand’s personal life. Barbara and Nathan were privy
to Rand’s inner doubts, triumphs, and insecurities as were no others. Both memoirs are
marked by a certain amount of score settling, often between the Brandens themselves.
Responding to postpublication criticism, Nathaniel Branden released a revised My Years
with Ayn Rand (1999), notable primarily for its softened portrait of Barbara Branden and
an addendum describing Rand’s encounter with his third wife. All three of the Brandens’
books concur in the fundamentals of their fi rst meeting with Rand, the progress of
their relationship with her, and the events surrounding the rise and fall of NBI. Still the
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