Claim: Ayn Rand was a novelist.

Ayn Rand -LRB- -LSB- ˈaɪn_ˈrænd -RSB- born Alisa Zinov ` yevna Rosenbaum , Али́са Зино́вьевна Розенба́ум -- March 6 , 1982 -RRB- was a Russian-American novelist , philosopher , playwright , and screenwriter . She is known for her two best-selling novels , The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged , and for developing a philosophical system she called Objectivism . Educated in Russia , she moved to the United States in 1926 . She had a play produced on Broadway in 1935 -- 1936 . After two early novels that were initially unsuccessful in America , she achieved fame with her 1943 novel , The Fountainhead .   In 1957 , Rand published her best-known work , the novel Atlas Shrugged . Afterward , she turned to non-fiction to promote her philosophy , publishing her own magazines and releasing several collections of essays until her death in 1982 . Rand advocated reason as the only means of acquiring knowledge , and rejected faith and religion . She supported rational and ethical egoism , and rejected altruism . In politics , she condemned the initiation of force as immoral , and opposed collectivism and statism as well as anarchism , and instead supported laissez-faire capitalism , which she defined as the system based on recognizing individual rights . In art , Rand promoted romantic realism . She was sharply critical of most philosophers and philosophical traditions known to her , except for Aristotle , Thomas Aquinas , and classical liberals .   Literary critics received Rand 's fiction with mixed reviews , and academia generally ignored or rejected her philosophy , though academic interest has increased in recent decades . The Objectivist movement attempts to spread her ideas , both to the public and in academic settings . She has been a significant influence among libertarians and American conservatives .