How Ayn Rand, Emerson and Thoreau perverted the American Dream
In 'Bootstrapped,' Alissa Quart takes aim at our myths and our solipsism
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Culture The Navy Is Disciplining Sailors With Ayn Rand (Yes, Really)
The Russian-Jewish novelist Ayn Rand’s books are many things: A surprisingly formative force in modern conservatism, the subject of the hilarious scorn of Nora Ephron, something your high school boyfriend felt, like, really passionate about, alarmingly attractive to Rand Paul and unconscionably long. Now, as the United States Navy seeks more humane forms of discipline,…
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Culture Want To See Chomsky, Rand, Marx And Musk Argue About Technology? Now You Can — In A Puppet Show
If you have ever sat in a critical theory lecture and wished that your professor would be replaced by a group of dapper, miniaturized historical figures who sometimes rap, there’s now a puppet show to satiate that desire. Mexican artist Pedro Reyes will debut a goofy new production, “Manufacturing Mischief,” on April 26 at the…
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Culture When Nora Ephron Eviscerated Ayn Rand In The New York Times
When Nora Ephron passed away in 2012, you may have caught a mention, in her New York Times obituary of a “tart, sharply observed” profile of Ayn Rand she had penned in the 1960s. The idea might have struck you as odd: Ephron on Rand? Sure, both were Jewish writers who were among the defining…
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The Schmooze 18 Absolutely Accurate Pop Culture Predictions For 2018
As has been the case for two years in a row now, exactly one of our pop culture predictions for 2017 turned out to be right. Unfortunately, it began with the words “Lena Dunham will pen a well-intentioned but tone deaf open letter to someone or another,” and yes, that turned out even worse than…
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Culture Should We Give Ayn Rand A Second Chance? Tony Award-Winning Director Says Yes.
An excellent way to win the scorn of your coworkers, I have learned over the past month, is to display Ayn Rand’s “The Fountainhead” and “Atlas Shrugged” on your desk. (Yes, dear colleagues, Rand was Jewish, born as Alisa Rosenbaum in pre-revolutionary Russia. No, dear colleagues, I am not turning into an individualist psychopath, or…
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The Schmooze Ayn Rand, Worst Jewish Aunt — Ever
Lior Zaltzman It’s hard to imagine Ayn Rand as having a warm and fuzzy family life. And yet, this letter to her niece Connie shows that Rand — born Alisa Zinov’yevna Rosenbaum in 1905 to Russian-Jewish parents — did indeed have humans who loved her. Well, maybe. The missive (posted below) outlines the rather, um, severe…
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Opinion 5 Jewish Things About Grand Central Terminal
Grand Central Terminal turns 100 this year, and the party kicks off February 1 with celebrity appearances, musical entertainment and vendor promotions, including vintage 1913 prices at selected shops in the terminal. But six-cent loaves of rye bread at Zaro’s aren’t the only Jewish connection to the famed station. Here are five Jewish things to…
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