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Atlas Shrugged
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Atlas Shrugged

novel by Rand
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Atlas Shrugged, novel by Ayn Rand, published in 1957. The book’s female protagonist, Dagny Taggart, struggles to manage a transcontinental railroad amid the pressures and restrictions of massive bureaucracy. Her antagonistic reaction to a libertarian group seeking an end to government regulation is later echoed and modified in her encounter with a utopian community, Galt’s Gulch, whose members regard self-determination rather than collective responsibility as the highest ideal. The novel contains the most complete presentation of Rand’s personal philosophy, known as objectivism, in fictional form.

The Editors of Encyclopaedia BritannicaThis article was most recently revised and updated by Adam Augustyn.