To those who found Ayn Rand's blockbuster Atlas Shrugged a powerful voice raised in defense of the individual, this book is a must. It proclaims the same explosive philosophy, and its theme is one of the most significant of our day-the right of the individual to the pursuit of his own happiness. It portrays the impact of the Russian Revolution on three people who demand the right to live their own lives. It tells of a girl's passionate love, held like a fortress against the viciousness, cruelty, and oppression of a totalitarian state.

Of this book, Ayn Rand said: "...it is as near to an autobiography as I will ever write. The plot is invented, the background is not. I was born in Russia, I was educated under the Soviets; I have seen the conditions of existence that I describe. The specific events of Kira's life were not mine; her ideas, her convictions, her values were and are."

Ayn Rand was born in Russia, graduated from the University of Leningrad, and in 1926 came to the United States where she was naturalized. Her first novel, We the Living, was published in 1936. With the publication of The Fountainhead in 1943, she achieved a spectacular and enduring success and her unique philosophy, objectivism, gained a worldwide following.