Atlas Shrugged is a novel by
Ayn Rand, first published in 1957 in the United States. Rand's fourth and last novel, it was also her
longest, and the one she considered to be her
magnum opus in the realm of fiction writing.
[1] The book explores a
dystopian United States where leading innovators, ranging from industrialists to artists, refuse to be exploited by society. The
protagonist,
Dagny Taggart, sees society collapse around her as the government increasingly asserts control over all industry, while society's most productive citizens, led by the mysterious
John Galt, progressively disappear. Galt describes the strike as "stopping the motor of the world" by withdrawing the "minds" that drive society's growth and productivity. In their efforts, these "men of the mind" hope to demonstrate that a world in which the individual is not free to create is doomed, that civilization cannot exist where men are slave to society and government, and that the destruction of the
profit motive leads to the collapse of society.
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