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== Summary ==

== Summary ==

Probably no novel that tries to make a serious point about the world or the people who live in it will be entirely without its critics. Most of the criticism that ''Atlas Shrugged'' has received, reflects more resentment of its content and message than an actual appraisal of the novel as an example of literary craft. Indeed, any close reader of the novel will recognize, in the novel's villains, the very critics who condemn it most scathingly. That those same critics would recognize themselves in those villains is only logical to suppose. And, as [[Nathaniel Branden]] might predict, they reacted defensively and launched what amounted to a concerted counterattack—not on any legitimate literary grounds but purely on the ground of mutual dislike and contempt between themselves on the one hand, and [[Ayn Rand]] on the other.

Probably no novel that tries to make a serious point about the world or the people who live in it will be entirely without its critics. Most of the criticism that ''Atlas Shrugged'' has received, reflects more resentment of its content and message than an actual appraisal of the novel as an example of literary craft, which are of course two entirely separate entities. Indeed, any close reader of the novel will recognize, in the novel's villains, the very critics who condemn it most scathingly. That those same critics would recognize themselves in those villains is only logical to suppose. And, as [[Nathaniel Branden]] might predict, they reacted defensively and launched what amounted to a concerted counterattack—not on any legitimate literary grounds but purely on the ground of mutual dislike and contempt between themselves on the one hand, and [[Ayn Rand]] on the other.

Nevertheless, several criticisms of the novel's craft appear fairly frequently, and from sources that have been shown have varying degrees of sympathy with, or antipathy against, the novel's central message. They include:

Nevertheless, several criticisms of the novel's craft appear fairly frequently, and from sources that have been shown have varying degrees of sympathy with, or antipathy against, the novel's central message. They include: