Branden was greatly influenced by Ayn Rand and was a close friend and collaborator. He writes about this part of his life in MY YEARS WITH AYN RAND.
Smith's book, and the morality that is expounded there, is grounded in part by the ethics of Ayn Rand.
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Born Alisa Rosenbaum, Ayn Rand graduated from the University of Petrograd and immediately immigrated to the U.S., joining relatives in Chicago and then moving to Hollywood, where she hoped to write screenplays. She worked first as an extra in films, but eventually did begin to write. Most of her screenplays, like her novels, were fiercely anti-Communist, pro-capitalist diatribes. Her first successful novel, THE FOUNTAINHEAD (1945), was a bestseller; it was followed by ATLAS SHRUGGED. Both novels more...
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02/02/1905 St. Petersburg, Russia, Soviet Union,
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OK, so it's over the top...but the story is relevant to our current state of affairs.