The Virtue of Selfishness (Signet)
The problem with Rand is easily detectable by careful listeners  of this production: a good essayist with a flair for the  dramatic turn of phrase, she wasted her obvious writing skills  in an effort to support outlandish personal opinions cloaked in  the guise of logic. An absolutist thinker, she devotes one whole  essay to an effort to persuade us that we really should see  things as black and white, with no shades of gray. Born in  Soviet Russia, Rand so despised socialism and collectivist  thinking that she leapt to the furthest extreme possible to  become the champion of unbridled capitalism, the rights of the  individual at the expense of the community, and the diminution  of all regulation by the state, with the exception of a judicial  system and the control of crime. Among the sadly dated ideas she  conveys are the attitude that homosexuals are mutant symptoms of  a sick society and the belief that anyone with an interest in  internationalism is a "one world" proponent. To use one of her  own favored words, Rand's political and social philosophy is  critically "muddled." C.M. Herbert's voice is efficient and  cold, making it a perfect choice for the narration of this  author's work. Recommended only as documentation of an anomaly  in the history of ideas. Mark Pumphrey, Polk Cty. P.L.,  Columbus, NCCopyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.