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Highlights of the Past Year aynrand.org/impact Volume 17, Number 12, December 2011 Highlights of the Past Year RI’s mission is to foster a growing awareness, paign this fall, we received more orders for free A understanding and acceptance of Ayn Rand’s books in the first month of this academic year revolutionary philosophy of Objectivism, in order than in the same period over the last few years. to create a culture whose guiding principles are As a result, ARI projects it will be out of reason, rational self-interest and laissez-faire books for distribution by the end of this month. If capitalism—a culture in which individuals are free you would like to contribute to the Free Books to to pursue their own happiness. All of ARI’s activi- Teachers program so more high school students ties are geared towards achieving this end. are exposed to Ayn Rand’s ideas in the class- OAC instructor Keith Lockitch (at right) discussing environmentalism with Our efforts are focused on impacting three main room, please visit aynrand.org/freebooks to learn this year’s interns areas in the culture, those targets that, if impacted more about the program and how you can make a internship program for college students new to effectively, will most directly and widely change difference. Rand’s ideas but who are planning to pursue intel- the culture as a whole. These areas of focus are the Another effort to educate young people about lectual careers at its offices in Irvine, California. education system, which includes students and aca- Ayn Rand’s ideas includes ARI’s annual essay This year’s class, our largest yet, consisted of nine- demics; public policy, which includes think tanks, contests, most of which are held exclusively for teen students eager to learn about Rand’s scholar- politicians and activists; and business, the field that high school and college students. A new essay ship at a more in-depth level from ARI’s experts. funds and influences the other two systems. contest, based on the themes in We the Living, was The three-week program included classes on Rand’s Below are this year’s highlights of ARI’s introduced this year, bringing the total number of novels, topics in philosophy and application of activities in these areas. essay contests ARI offers to five. In addition to We Rand’s ideas to public policy issues. Students also the Living, students can participate in contests on participated in debates and professional-skills semi- the themes in Atlas Shrugged, The Fountainhead nars, and gained real-world office experience. Education and Anthem. Those who previously entered an ARI essay contest can also enter a contest on how Scholars Students Ayn Rand’s novels have affected them. In addition to students, ARI reaches out to profes- Two of ARI’s longest standing programs, the Free ARI received more than 22,000 entries this sors and scholars to enrich understanding of Rand Books to Teachers program and our annual essay year and awarded more than $100,000 in prize in academic circles. For example, ARI senior fellow contests, completed another successful year. money to the winners of these contests. Onkar Ghate contributed several new essays on Established in 2002, the Free Books to Teachers To introduce college students interested in Rand’s fiction and philosophy to scholarly publica- program gives free copies of Anthem, We the Liv- free markets and capitalism to Rand’s contribution tions. For the forthcoming volume Concepts and ing, The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged to high to moral and political thought, a new initiative, Their Role in Knowledge: Reflections on Objectivist school teachers. The program exposes young people, the Books to Free-Market Students program, was Epistemology, Dr. Ghate contributed two pieces. The some of whom will go on to be the leaders and launched. Through the program, ARI distributes collection is spearheaded by the Ayn Rand Society important thinkers of tomorrow, to Ayn Rand’s nov- Atlas Shrugged to organizations who work with (not a part of ARI), which is an affiliate of the Amer- els, and helps to establish Rand’s literature as a regu- young people interested in free-market ideas. These ican Philosophical Association, Eastern Division. lar inclusion in the high school English curriculum. organizations hold summer seminars and internship Dr. Ghate also wrote a new article for the upcoming ARI has shipped more than two million programs for college students. The response to the expanded edition of Essays on Ayn Rand’s “We the books as part of the Free Books to Teachers pro- program was extremely positive—all copies of the Living,” edited by Robert Mayhew, on the character gram, and demand from teachers continues to book were claimed within just a few months of the Leo Kovalensky. In addition, Dr. Ghate has two grow. ARI estimates that as a result of this pro- offer by various organizations, including the Foun- contributions to the forthcoming Blackwell volume gram, more than five million students have been dation for Economic Education, the Koch Founda- Ayn Rand: A Companion to Her Works and Thought, introduced to Ayn Rand’s ideas in the classroom. tion and the Institute for Humane Studies. edited by Allan Gotthelf and Gregory Salmieri. One In response to a more targeted marketing cam- In addition, ARI held its growing summer continued on page 2 Ayn Rand in the Culture nterest in Ayn Rand’s ideas has soared in the last that they must choose between her philosophy and FoxNews.com, about the I few years. Since the 2008 election, more than Christianity. In response, ARI senior fellow Onkar relevance of the novel to one million copies of Atlas Shrugged have been Ghate wrote in an article on FoxNews.com about today’s events. sold, more than any similar period in the book’s how America’s founding principles cannot be ARI also responded fifty-four-year publishing history. This year alone, reconciled with the Christian teachings of faith and to technological trends in Atlas Shrugged was on the top one hundred best- self-sacrifice and need Rand’s pro-reason, pro-self- the culture more broadly in sellers list on Amazon for more than thirty days. interest philosophy to support them. ARI board order to expose more peo- At one point it climbed member Harry Binswanger wrote in American ple to Ayn Rand’s ideas. to number 4 on the list. Thinker magazine about AVN’s improper attempt In response to the growing As Rand has to bring religion into politics. ARI intellectuals popularity of e-books, ARI Home page of the new Atlas appeared in the cultural also appeared on several programs to discuss the Shrugged iPad app worked with Penguin, and political debates issue, including ones on National Public Radio and the publisher of Atlas this year, ARI has CNN Radio. Shrugged, to develop an application for Apple’s sought, as always, to When a movie adaptation of the first third of iPad that offers readers an amplified edition of the amplify understanding Atlas Shrugged was released, with which ARI was book, making Ayn Rand’s magnum opus one of the Atlas Shrugged number 4 on of her novels and ideas. not affiliated, we anticipated an increased interest few amplified e-books on the market today. The Amazon’s overall best-sellers list For example, during in the novel and ramped up our efforts to promote app offers many exciting features that allow readers the summer, the American Values Network, a it. These efforts included, among other activities, to learn more about the novel, Ayn Rand and her left-wing public advocacy organization, launched the launch of a “Read Atlas Shrugged” campaign ideas, and was advertised in leading publications, a campaign against Rand, telling religious and the publication of articles in major news out- such as the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, the conservatives who have voiced support for Rand lets, such as The Christian Science Monitor and continued on page 2 Highlights of the Past Year, continued from page 1 were offered in live video format, enabling students which were on the meaning of freedom and the and instructors to see each other during class. morality of capitalism, respectively. is on man as a being of self-made soul and another is ARI intellectuals continued to appear every on the free mind and the free market. week on the online news program Front Page, Last month Tom Bowden, ARI’s outreach liai- Public Policy where we commented on the latest issues mak- son, published a book review in the George Mason ing headlines, such as the Occupy Wall Street Law Review, a journal of the George Mason Uni- In addition to educating students and scholars about protests, proposals from election candidates and versity School of Law in Arlington, Virginia. The Objectivism, some ARI intellectuals focus their the financial crisis in Europe. We also appeared article discussed a recent book by David E. Bern- efforts on writing and speaking on public policy on popular TV programs, such as Freedom Watch, stein, a George Mason law professor, titled Reha- issues to influence other think tanks, policymakers Stossel and Glenn Beck, and radio programs, such bilitating Lochner: Defending Individual Rights and activists. as National Public Radio, the Wall Street Shuffle against Progressive Reform. In 2011 we published more than twenty opin- and CNN Radio. “Professor Bernstein’s book explores the his- ion pieces in leading publications. ARI executive In addition to regularly commenting on issues tory behind a landmark case in which the Supreme director Yaron Brook and analyst Don Watkins in the culture today, ARI organized campaigns Court struck down a labor regulation that violated continued to write articles for their column on around issues Ayn Rand has a particularly distinct liberty of contract,” Mr.
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