Aug 14, 2005

Ten Years After

by Liberty and Power

File this blog entry under the category of"Self-Promotion." I suspect I'll be forgiven a bit of that by my L&P colleagues, who know my admiration for Ayn Rand.

On this date, ten years ago, my book Ayn Rand: The Russian Radical was published by Penn State Press. It was actually my second book, but it arrived four days before the publication of my first book, Marx, Hayek, and Utopia, by SUNY Press. These books, together with my Total Freedom: Toward a Dialectical Libertarianism (also published by Penn State Press), make up my"Dialectics and Liberty Trilogy."

So, this week, I'll be looking back at Notablog, at L&P, and at SOLO HQ, which publishes one of my retrospective pieces today, entitled"Ten Years After." There will be interviews posted to different sites throughout the week, and additional pieces will be published into the Fall 2005 semester.

Thanks to those readers who have given me their support, even if they didn't always agree with my conclusions.

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Chris Matthew Sciabarra - 8/15/2005

Gents, I just wanted to thank you both for your very kind words of support.

All my best,
Chris

Kenneth R. Gregg - 8/15/2005

Chris,
I first Ayn Rand: The Russian Radical about eight years ago and on my first read, didn't quite know what to make of your interpretation and your use of dialectics in analyzing her philosophy. It took me a couple of readings before it sunk in. The historical data I found quite interesting and more than a little exciting in that you were independent from the major objectivist organizations, and that you even prided yourself in this!

That's a man after my own heart! Independence, originality and even creativity! How novel in objectivist circles! Of course you were taken as an outcast from ARI and purged from their mentality--how could you be otherwise? Even your work on Murray was independent (although that somewhat surprised me) in your later work.

I got purged out years before you were (remember the INVICTUS crowd?) and even had Andrew Galambos privately interview me for heresy (but that's another story), and Murray thought I was a LeFevrian even when I explained that I thought of myself as a rothbardian instead (was anti-LP and MNR considered me infected like George H. Smith and Wendy McElroy--another story).

Anyway, Cheers to being independent, and good luck on your further writings!

Just a thought.
Just Ken
kgregglv@cox.net

Sheldon Richman - 8/14/2005

Congratulations, Chris! You've made valuable contributions to the literature of liberty. And the writing is superb!