A Companion to Ayn Rand, edited by Allan Gotthelf and Greg Salmieri

A Companion to Ayn Rand, edited by Allan Gotthelf and Greg Salmieri. West Sussex, UK: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., 2016. 538 pp. $195 (hardcover).

This Companion is the first volume in three decades to offer a comprehensive examination, by professional intellectuals (most of whom have academic positions), of Ayn Rand’s thought in all of its dimensions—metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, politics, and aesthetics. Overall, it’s a meritorious work, which surpasses a prior effort (see The Philosophic Thought of Ayn Rand, edited by Douglas J. Den Uyl and Douglas B. Rasmussen in 1984), partly because intervening decades have seen the release of more of Rand’s writings (her correspondence, journals, interviews, Q&A sessions, etc.) and partly because these contributors are generally more knowledgeable and more incisive about the distinctiveness of her philosophy. The most integrated, authoritative, and accessible account of Rand’s unique system of thought remains Leonard Peikoff’s Objectivism: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand (1991), but this Companion effectively showcases the truth and importance of Objectivism through the reasoning and writing of scholars who have closely studied Rand and Peikoff. With it, one can better grasp the depth and originality of Rand’s philosophic thought, especially in relation to conventional academic thought and her critics. . . .

About Richard M. Salsman

Richard M. Salsman is president of InterMarket Forecasting, Inc., an assistant professor of political economy at Duke University, and a senior fellow at the American Institute for Economic Research. Previously he was an economist at Wainwright Economics, Inc. and a banker at the Bank of New York and Citibank. Dr. Salsman has authored three books: Breaking the Banks: Central Banking Problems and Free Banking Solutions (1990), Gold and Liberty (1995), and The Political Economy of Public Debt: Three Centuries of Theory and Evidence (2017). In 2021 his fourth book – Where Have all the Capitalist Gone? – will be published by the American Institute for Economic Research. He is also author of a dozen chapters and scores of articles. His work has appeared in the Georgetown Journal of Law and Public Policy, Reason Papers, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, Forbes, the Economist, the Financial Post, the Intellectual Activist, and The Objective Standard. Dr. Salsman earned his B.A. in economics from Bowdoin College (1981), his M.A. in economics from New York University (1988), and his Ph.D. in political economy from Duke University (2012). His personal website is https://richardsalsman.com/.

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