| − | ''Atlas Shrugged'' has never been a critical favorite. Indeed, [[Barbara Branden]], as quoted by Harold Leiendecker,<ref name=Leiendecker>Leiendecker H, "Atlas Shrugged," ASPEC Writers' Workshop, n.d. Accessed May 5, 2009. <http://www.eckerd.edu/aspec/writers/atlas_shrugged.htm></ref> summed up the criticism thus:{{cquote|The reviews of ''[[We the Living]]'' had been bad. The reviews of ''[[The Fountainhead]]'' has been worse. The reviews of ''Atlas Shrugged'' were savage.}} | + | ''Atlas Shrugged'' has never been a critical favorite. Indeed, [[Barbara Branden]], as quoted by Harold Leiendecker,<ref name=Leiendecker>Leiendecker H, "Atlas Shrugged," ASPEC Writers' Workshop, n.d. Accessed May 5, 2009. <http://www.eckerd.edu/aspec/writers/atlas_shrugged.htm></ref> summed up the criticism thus:{{cquote|The reviews of ''[[We the Living]]'' had been bad. The reviews of ''[[The Fountainhead]]'' had been worse. The reviews of ''Atlas Shrugged'' were savage.}} |
| | Not all the reviews were savage, but most of them were. Even some [[conservative]] reviewers spoke scathingly of it. The most infamous of these reviews came from [[Whittaker Chambers]], who said of the novel in ''[[National Review]]'' that every page screams, "To a gas chamber—go!"<ref name=chambers>Chambers W, "Big Sister Is Watching You," ''National Review'', December 28, 1957. Hosted at National Review Online, published January 5, 2005. Accessed May 1, 2009. <http://www.nationalreview.com/flashback/flashback200501050715.asp></ref> [[Nathaniel Branden]] said of it, among other things, that it taught emotional repression as a virtue.<ref name=branden>Branden N, "The Benefits and Hazards of the Philosophy of Ayn Rand," audio presentation, 1984. Transcript hosted at <http://www.nathanielbranden.com/catalog/articles_essays/benefits_and_hazards.html>.</ref> | | Not all the reviews were savage, but most of them were. Even some [[conservative]] reviewers spoke scathingly of it. The most infamous of these reviews came from [[Whittaker Chambers]], who said of the novel in ''[[National Review]]'' that every page screams, "To a gas chamber—go!"<ref name=chambers>Chambers W, "Big Sister Is Watching You," ''National Review'', December 28, 1957. Hosted at National Review Online, published January 5, 2005. Accessed May 1, 2009. <http://www.nationalreview.com/flashback/flashback200501050715.asp></ref> [[Nathaniel Branden]] said of it, among other things, that it taught emotional repression as a virtue.<ref name=branden>Branden N, "The Benefits and Hazards of the Philosophy of Ayn Rand," audio presentation, 1984. Transcript hosted at <http://www.nathanielbranden.com/catalog/articles_essays/benefits_and_hazards.html>.</ref> |