Atlas Shrugged Atlas Shrugged Atlas Shrugged cover
Atlas Shrugged is a novel by Ayn Rand first published in in the USA It is a highly philosophical and allegorical story that deals with themes of Rand's own Objectivist philosophy.
Spoiler warning Plot and or ending details follow.
Philosophy and writing
The theme of Atlas Shrugged is that independent rational thought is the motor that powers the world In the book men of the mind go on strike allowing the collapse of what only they hold together a peaceful cohesiveness Rand claims that humans may create wherever forceful human interference is absent Given no alternative they remove themselves from the looters The book is rooted in Objectivism the philosophical system founded by Rand.
Rand suggests that society stagnates when independence and individual achievement are discouraged or demonized and that inversely a society will become more prosperous as it allows encourages and rewards independence and individual achievement Rand believed that independence flourishes to the extent that people are free and that achievement is rewarded best when private property is respected strictly She advocated laissez faire capitalism as the political system that is most consistent with these beliefs These considerations make Atlas Shrugged a highly political book especially in its portrayal of fascism socialism and communism or indeed any form of state intervention in societal affairs as fatally flawed However Rand claimed that it is not a fundamentally political book but that the politics portrayed in the novel are a result of her attempt to display her image of the ideal man and the position of the human mind in society.
Rand argues that independence and individual achievement drive the world and should be embraced Her worldview requires a rational moral code She disputes the notion that self sacrifice is a virtue and is similarly dismissive of human faith in a god or higher being The book positions itself against Christianity specifically often directly within the characters' dialogue.
 Setting.
Exactly when Atlas Shrugged is meant to take place is kept deliberately vague In section the population of New York City is given as million The historical New York City reached million people in the which might place the novel sometime after that There are many early century technologies available but the political situation is clearly different from actual history One interpretation is that the novel takes place a hundred or perhaps hundreds of years in the future implying that since the world lapsed into its socialistic morass a global wide stagnation has occurred in technological growth population growth and indeed growth of any kind the wars economic depressions and other events of the century would be a distant memory to all but scholars and academicians This would be in line with Rand's ideas and commentary on other novels depicting utopian and dystopian societies The concept of societal stagnation in the wake of collectivist systems is central to the plot of another of Rand's works Anthem.
All countries outside the US have become or become during the novel People's States There are many examples of early century technology in Atlas Shrugged but no post war advances such as nuclear weapons helicopters or computers Jet planes are mentioned briefly as being a relatively new technology Television is a novelty that has yet to assume any cultural significance while radio broadcasts are prominent Though Rand does not use in the book many of the technological innovations available while she was writing she introduces some advanced fictional inventions e g sound based weapon of mass destruction torture device power plant.
Most of the action in Atlas Shrugged occurs in the United States However there are important events around the world such as in the People's States of Mexico Chile and Argentina and piracy at sea.
Plot
A section by section analysis of Atlas Shrugged is available on Wikibooks.