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More oxford books @ www.OxfordeBook.comFore more urdu books visit www.4Urdu.com118FROM NOVELIST TO PHILOSOPHER, 1944–1957implicit praise of equality as a social good was a particular sore spot.When Friedman and Stigler refused to alter their text, Read inserted acritical footnote, stating, “Even from the standpoint of those who putequality above justice and liberty, rent controls are the height of folly.”His willingness to publish a pamphlet he disliked indicated the paucity oflibertarian intellectual resources at the time. That two economists withlegitimate academic positions would take a public stand against rentcontrol was enough to ensure FEE’s support. Still, the whole episode wasproblematic. In addition to incurring Rand’s wrath the pamphlet alienatedFriedman and Stigler, who were deeply offended by Read’s unauthorizedfootnote. For many years they refused any collaboration withFEE or Read, until finally reconciling through their mutual connectionto the Mont Pelerin Society. For her part, Rand felt betrayed by Read’sfailure to understand the principles at stake in their work and woundedby his disregard for their “ghost” agreement. 47Only weeks later Read added insult to injury when he sent Randa sheaf of anonymous comments on her short article, “Textbook ofAmericanism.” Rand had written the piece for The Vigil, the official publicationof the Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of AmericanIdeals, the Hollywood anti-Communist group that had recruited her toits board. “Textbook” was a very brief piece that included her first publisheddiscussion of rights. Written in the style of a catechism, the piecedefined a right as “the sanction of independent action.” Rand offereda secular defense of natural rights, which were “granted to man by thefact of his birth as a man—not by an act of society.” Paramount in the“Textbook” was the noninitiation principle, the idea that “no man hasthe right to initiate the use of physical force against another man” (shecapitalized the entire phrase for emphasis). 48 The noninitiation principle,sometimes called the nonaggression principle, can be traced tothinkers as varied as Thomas Aquinas, John Locke, and Herbert Spencer.Placing it at the center of her natural rights theory, Rand breathed newlife into an old idea.At Rand’s urging, Read shared the “Textbook of Americanism” withthe FEE staff and selected donors, all “men high in the country’s businessand academic life.” The principle of noninitiation in particularappealed viscerally to Read. But most FEE friends were less enthusiastic.Rand had not spelled out or defended her basic premises, and much