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''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]]'' has been worse. The reviews of ''Atlas Shrugged'' were savage.}}

Not all the reviews were savage, but most of them were. Even [[conservative]] reviewers spoke scathingly of it; for example, [[Whittaker Chambers]] said of it that every page screams, "To a gas chamber&mdash;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&mdash;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>

Leiendecker, however, reminds us that many of the nefarious laws and "directives" that the novel mentions have in fact come to pass. His chief criticism was that the dialog (and in, [[John Galt]]'s memorable case, monolog) of the heroes and anti-villains of the work often sounds "stilted," while the words of the villains ring true to their respective real-life anti-types.<ref name=Leiendecker/>

Leiendecker, however, reminds us that many of the nefarious laws and "directives" that the novel mentions have in fact come to pass. His chief criticism was that the dialog (and in, [[John Galt]]'s memorable case, monolog) of the heroes and anti-villains of the work often sounds "stilted," while the words of the villains ring true to their respective real-life anti-types.<ref name=Leiendecker/>