Atlas Shrugged was Ayn Rand's third and final novel. She has commented that in Atlas Shrugged she said everything she had to say on the subject of human freedom and responsibility, and therefore no fourth novel was necessary. She did, however, continue to lecture and write many non-fiction pieces on her philosophy of Objectivism. Ayn Rand (February 2, 1905 – March 6, 1982; first name pronounced (IPA) (rhymes with mine)), born Alissa Alice Zinovievna Rosenbaum, was a popular and controversial American philosopher and novelist, best known for her philosophy of Objectivism and her novels The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged. ... Objectivism is opposed to subjectivism and may mean: Metaphysical objectivism The philosophy of Ayn Rand, Objectivist philosophy The poetry of the Objectivist poets Moral objectivism, Objective morality This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ...

THE STRUCTURE

Atlas Shrugged is a philosophical novel in the form of an exciting mystery and romantic love story. Its main protagonist is Dagny Taggart, a young woman who actually (tho not in name) runs the country's pre-eminent transcontinental railroad. The story takes place before the era of commonplace air travel, when trains were the main means of interstate commerce and travel.

Dagny becomes alarmed to find that the country's great brains are disappearing. The men who are the giants of industry and science are abandoning their fields and physically vanishing. She sets out to find out who "the Destroyer" is, the man she believes is seducing them away from their lifes work. She begins searching for him.

During her search, the state of the country and of the world declines greatly. Without the men of genius, industries grind to a halt. The economy falters and recedes.

Finally Dagny finds the man who she had termed the Destroyer. In reality he is a man of high integrity and principle. He lured the industrialists and scientists away from their work by convincing them that working for a world which despises them, and which takes their efforts without adequate compensation, is not only counter-productive but immoral as well. He has formed a secret community with them, in a hidden valley.

In the end, Dagny is won over to this view. She joins this man (his name is John Galt) both philosophically and romantically. Their goal is to bring down society as it exists, so that a new society can be reborn which truly respects genius, hard work, and integrity. Signs are seen at the end of the novel that people are slowly realizing, as the old world crumbles around them, the virtue of living a life of responsibility and respect for the ideas and hard work of others.