Passionate, inspiring, and immaculately reasoned
By way of review, I thought I would simply provide some brief excerpts from one of the essays in this collection, "The Argument from Intimidation", so that readers can get a glimpse of her reasoning and writing style. As an added bonus, these excerpts are relevant to some other reviews of it I've seen: "[The Argument from Intimidation] is used in the form of an ultimatum demanding that the victim renounce a given idea without discussion, under threat of being considered morally unworthy... "All smears are Arguments from Intimidation: they consist of derogatory assertions without any evidence or proof, offered as a substitute for evidence or proof, aimed at the moral cowardice or unthinking credulity of the hearers... "A moral judgment must always follow, not precede (or supersede), the reasons on which it is based. "When one gives reasons for one's verdict, one assumes responsibility for it and lays oneself open to objective judgment: if one's reasons are wrong or false, one suffers the consequences. But to condemn without giving reasons is an act of irresponsibility, a kind of moral 'hit-and-run' driving, which is the essence of the Argument from Intimidation." This book also includes Rand's groundbreaking essay on moral philosophy, "The Objectivist Ethics", as well as applications of her theory of rational egoism to produce original analyses of topics such as "Racism". A truly exceptional book...read it for yourself and make up your own mind!