Atlas Shrugged

Ayn Rand

Jan 1991 · Blackstone Audio Inc. · Narrated by Christopher Hurt

About this audiobook

Atlas Shrugged is the “second most influential book for Americans today” after the Bible, according to a joint survey of five thousand people conducted by the Library of Congress and the Book of the Month Club in 1991.

In a scrap heap within an abandoned factory, the greatest invention in history lies dormant and unused. By what fatal error of judgment has its value gone unrecognized, its brilliant inventor punished rather than rewarded for his efforts?

This is the story of a man who said that he would stop the motor of the world—and did. In defense of those greatest of human qualities that have made civilization possible, he sets out to show what would happen to the world if all the heroes of innovation and industry went on strike. Is he a destroyer or a liberator? Why does he have to fight his battle not against his enemies but against those who need him most? Why does he fight his hardest battle against the woman he loves? The answers will be revealed once you discover the reason behind the baffling events that wreak havoc on the lives of the amazing men and women in this remarkable book.

Tremendous in scope and breathtaking in its suspense, Atlas Shrugged is Ayn Rand’s magnum opus, which launched an ideology and a movement. With the publication of this work in 1957, Rand gained an instant following and became a phenomenon. Atlas Shrugged emerged as a premier moral apologia for Capitalism, a defense that had an electrifying effect on millions of readers (and now listeners).

Ratings and reviews

I don't often listen to audiobooks as I prefer to read books myself. I found this one convenient to my situation, and in that light the only complaint I have against it was that words and sections are clearly missing noted by abrupt cutoffs in places that seem unusual. The work of Ayn Rand, however, more than makes up for the failings of its presentation in any facet. I have studied the works of many Philosophers and those whose Philosophies are both explicitly and implicitly esteemed whom I cannot regard as such, and I would rank her work as being among those opinions I value most including Bacon, Locke, and most especially Machiavelli whose Philosophy of Realism is clearly akin to Rand's own Philosophy of Objectivism. Listening to this book, I find it no wonder that her work was not easily received and as quickly misread as the Biblia Vulgata: Rand, by this work, implicitly condemns many common practices and casts into question everything we have been taught "human" to mean.

wonderful book, very thought-provoking, well read. Only note is a bit of background noise when using sound canceling headphones or earbuds. A must-read for businessmen.

Great book but could be condensed as alot of it is repetitive.

About the author

Ayn Rand (1905–1982) was born in Russia, graduated from the University of Leningrad, and came to the United States in 1926. She published her first novel in 1936. With the publication of The Fountainhead in 1943, she achieved a spectacular and enduring success, and her unique philosophy, Objectivism, gained a worldwide following.

Christopher Hurt is an accomplished narrator with a lengthy résumé of popular titles for Blackstone. A graduate of George Washington University’s acting program, he currently resides in New York City.