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More oxford books @ www.OxfordeBook.comFore more urdu books visit www.4Urdu.com232WHO IS JOHN GALT? 1957–1968also host seven informal, casual dress social evenings targeted towardsingles. 43 Though much of this social activity stemmed from studentdemand, it was also linked to Rand’s belief that she lived in a “dead culture.”It was axiomatic to Objectivists that they lived in a state of crisis,a world uniformly opposed to their values and interests. This camethrough most clearly in Rand’s devotion to Romantic art and her attackon contemporary art, literature, and movies. Since the mainstream containednothing of value for Objectivists, it was necessary to create analternative world, where NBI students could find the cultural nourishmentthey needed. The institute’s new quarters were a testament to thedurability and power of the universe Rand had forged. Few noticed thatNathan escaped to California for two months to personally teach theBasic Principles course in San Francisco and Los Angeles.For all the successes of the New York NBI, the organization was developingan unsavory reputation. The idea that Objectivism was a weirdpseudo-religion had wide currency in the mass media. Some of thissprang from the obvious passion Rand inspired in her readers. Religiousmetaphors were often used to describe her: she was a “prophetess” or“she-messiah,” and her audience was “a congregation” or “disciples.” 44Much of the religious imagery, however, stemmed from eyewitnessreports of NBI classes. Life quoted a student who described an NBIclass as “almost liturgical: an immaculate white cloth altar with a taperecordedtabernacle.” “As a newcomer,” the student said, “I was askedthree times if I were a ‘believer.’ ” Similarly, Jerome Tuccille wrote of histime as an NBI student, “My first reaction to all of this was awe, thestunned awe of the true believing convert as devout now in my atheisticcapitalism as I had ever been in the Baroque Catholicism of the 1950s.”At NBI Rand’s writings were like holy writ. In his lectures and articlesBranden used Rand’s characters to make his arguments, citing JohnGalt’s reaction during a particular scene in Atlas Shrugged as an exampleof “psychological maturity.” Rand’s creative world was cited as analternative to reality, and passages from her novels were taken as proofof various trends and problems affecting the contemporary world. 45 Atcritical stages of argumentation Rand and others tended to insert passagesfrom Atlas Shrugged to carry the point.Visitors to NBI lectures were alarmed by the exalted place Randheld at NBI and the conformity of the students Nathan taught. “When