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with a heavy foreign debt algiers concluded a one year standby arrangement with the international monetary fund in april one nine nine four and the following year signed onto a three year extended fund facility which ended three zero april one nine nine eight some progress on economic reform paris club debt reschedulings in one nine nine five and one nine nine six and oil and gas sector expansion contributed to a recovery in growth since one nine nine five reducing inflation to approximately one and narrowing the budget deficit algeria s economy has grown at about four annually since one nine nine nine the country s foreign debt has fallen from a high of two eight billion in one nine nine nine to its current level of two four billion the spike in oil prices in one nine nine nine two zero zero zero and the government s tight fiscal policy as well as a large increase in the trade surplus and the near tripling of foreign exchange reserves has helped the country s finances however an ongoing drought the after ef |
fects of the november one zero two zero zero one floods and an uncertain oil market make prospects for two zero zero two zero three more problematic the government pledges to continue its efforts to diversify the economy by attracting foreign and domestic investment outside the energy sector however it has thus far had little success in reducing high unemployment officially estimated at three zero and improving living standards president bouteflika has announced sweeping economic reforms which if implemented will significantly restructure the economy still the economy remains heavily dependent on volatile oil and gas revenues the government has continued efforts to diversify the economy by attracting foreign and domestic investment outside the energy sector but has had little success in reducing high unemployment and improving living standards other priority areas include banking reform improving the investment environment and reducing government bureaucracy the government has announced plans to sell off stat |
e enterprises sales of a national cement factory and steel plant have been completed and other industries are up for offer in two zero zero one algeria signed an association agreement with the european union it has started accession negotiations for entry into the world trade organization agriculture since roman times algeria has been noted for the fertility of its soil about a quarter of the inhabitants are engaged in agricultural pursuits more than seven five zero zero zero zero zero acres three zero zero zero zero km are devoted to the cultivation of cereal grains the tell is the grain growing land during the time of french rule its productivity was increased substantially by the sinking of artesian wells in districts which only required water to make them fertile of the crops raised wheat barley and oats are the principal cereals a great variety of vegetables and of fruits especially citrus products is exported a considerable amount of cotton was grown at the time of the united states civil war but the in |
dustry declined afterwards in the early years of the two zero th century efforts to extend the cultivation of the plant were renewed a small amount of cotton is also grown in the southern oases large quantities of crin vegetal vegetable horse hair an excellent fibre are made from the leaves of the dwarf palm the olive both for its fruit and petroleum and tobacco are cultivated with great success algeria also exports figs dates esparto grass and cork wine production throughout algeria the soil favours the growth of vines the country in the words of an expert sent to report on the subject by the french government can produce an infinite variety of wines suitable to every constitution and to every caprice of taste the growing of vines was undertaken early by the colonists but it was not until vineyards in france were attacked by phylloxera that the export of wine from algeria became significant in one eight eight three despite precautionary measures algerian vineyards were also attacked but in the meantime the q |
uality of their wines had been proved in one eight five zero less than two zero zero zero acres eight km were devoted to the grape but in one eight seven eight this had increased to over four two zero zero zero acres one seven zero km which yielded seven four three six zero zero zero gallons two eight zero zero zero m of wine despite bad seasons and ravages of insects cultivation extended and in one eight nine five the vineyards covered three zero zero zero zero zero acres one two zero zero km the produce being eight eight zero zero zero zero zero zero gallons three three three zero zero zero m the area of cultivation in one nine zero five exceeded four zero zero zero zero zero acres one six zero zero km and in that year the amount of wine produced was one five seven zero zero zero zero zero zero gallons five nine four zero zero zero m by that time the limits of profitable production had been reached in many parts of the country practically the only foreign market for algerian wine is france which in one nine |
zero five imported about one one zero zero zero zero zero zero zero gallons four one six zero zero zero m fishing fishing is a flourishing but minor industry fish caught are principally sardines bonito smelt and sprats fresh fish are exported to france dried and preserved fish to spain and italy coral fisheries are found along the coast from bona to tunis minerals algeria is rich in minerals the country has many iron lead and zinc copper calamine antimony and mercury mines the most productive are those of iron and zinc lignite is found in algiers immense phosphate beds were discovered near tebessa in one eight nine one yielding three one three five zero zero tons in one nine zero five phosphate beds are also worked near setif guelma and ain beida there are more than three zero zero quarries which produce amongst other stones onyx and beautiful white and red marbles algerian onyx from ain tekbalet was used by the romans and many ancient quarries have been found near kleber some being certainly those from whic |
h the long lost numidian marbles were taken salt is collected on the margins of the chotts foreign trade under french administration the commerce of algeria developed greatly the total imports and exports at the time of the french occupation one eight three zero did not exceed one seven five zero zero zero in one eight five zero the figures had reached five zero zero zero zero zero zero in one eight six eight one two zero zero zero zero zero zero in one eight eight zero one seven zero zero zero zero zero zero and in one eight nine zero two zero zero zero zero zero zero zero from this point progress was slower and the figures varied considerably year by year in one nine zero five the total value of the foreign trade was two four five zero zero zero zero zero about five sixths of the trade is with or via france into which country several algerian goods have been admitted duty free since one eight five one and all since one eight six seven french goods except sugar have been admitted into algeria without payment |
of duty since one eight three five after the increase in one eight nine two of the french minimum tariff which applied to algeria also foreign trade greatly diminished by far algeria s most significant exports financially are petroleum and natural gas the reserves are mostly in the eastern sahara the algerian government curbed the exports in the one nine eight zero s to slow depletion exports increased again somewhat in the one nine nine zero s other significant exports are sheep oxen and horses animal products such as wool and skins wine cereals rye barley oats vegetables fruits chiefly figs and grapes for the table and seeds esparto grass oils and vegetable extracts chiefly olive oil iron ore zinc natural phosphates timber cork crin vegetal and tobacco the import of wool exceeds the export sugar coffee machinery metal work of all kinds clothing and pottery are largely imported of these by far the greater part comes from france the british imports consist chiefly of coal cotton fabrics and machinery exports |
algeria trades most extensively with france and italy in terms of both imports and exports but also trades with the united states and spain statistics reference cia world factbook see also algeria organization of the petroleum exporting countries economies by country economy of algeria african union member economies the people s democratic republic of algeria arabic or algeria arabic is a presidential state in north africa and the second largest country on the african continent sudan being the largest it is bordered by tunisia in the northeast libya in the east niger in the southeast mali and mauritania in the southwest and morocco as well as a few kilometers of its annexed territory western sahara in the west constitutionally it is defined as an islamic arab and amazigh berber country the name algeria is derived from the name of the city of algiers from the arabic word al jaz ir which translates as the islands referring to the four islands which lay off that city s coast until becoming part of the mainland |
in one five two five history algeria has been inhabited by berbers or amazigh since at least one zero zero zero zero bc from one zero zero zero bc on the carthaginians became an influence on them establishing settlements along the coast berber kingdoms began to emerge most notably numidia and seized the opportunity offered by the punic wars to become independent of carthage only to be taken over soon after by the roman republic in two zero zero bc as the western roman empire collapsed the berbers became independent again in much of the area while the vandals took over parts until later expelled by the generals of the byzantine emperor justinian i the byzantine empire then retained a precarious grip on the east of the country until the coming of the arabs in the eight th century roman arch of trajan at thamugadi timgad algeria after some decades of fierce resistance under leaders such as kusayla and kahina the berbers adopted islam en masse but almost immediately expelled the caliphate from algeria establishin |
g an ibadi state under the rustamids having converted the kutama of kabylie to its cause the shia fatimids overthrew the rustamids and conquered egypt they left algeria and tunisia to their zirid vassals when the latter rebelled and adopted sunnism they sent in a populous arab tribe the banu hilal to weaken them thus incidentally initiating the arabization of the countryside the almoravids and almohads berber dynasties from the west founded by religious reformers brought a period of relative peace and development however with the almohads collapse algeria became a battleground for their three successor states the algerian zayyanids tunisian hafsids and moroccan merinids in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries spain started attacking and taking over many coastal cities prompting some to seek help from the ottoman empire algeria was brought into the ottoman empire by khair ad din and his brother aruj who established algeria s modern boundaries in the north and made its coast a base for the corsairs their priva |
teering peaked in algiers in the one six zero zero s piracy on american vessels in the mediterranean resulted in the first and second barbary war with the united states on the pretext of a slight to their consul the french invaded algiers in one eight three zero however intense resistance from such personalities as emir abdelkader ahmed bey and fatma n soumer made for a slow conquest of algeria not technically completed until the early one nine zero zero s when the last tuareg were conquered constantine algeria one eight four zero meanwhile however the french suppressed slavery and made algeria an integral part of france a status that would end only with the collapse of the fourth republic tens of thousands of settlers from france italy spain and malta moved in to farm the algerian coastal plain and occupy the most prized parts of algeria s cities benefiting from the french government s confiscation of communally held land people of european descent in algeria the so called pieds noirs as well as the native a |
lgerian jews were full french citizens starting from the end of the one nine th century by contrast the vast majority of muslim algerians even veterans of the french army remained outside of french law possessing neither french citizenship nor the right to vote algeria s social fabric was stretched to breaking point during this period literacy dropped massively while land confiscation uprooted much of the population in one nine five four the national liberation front fln launched the guerrilla algerian war of independence after nearly a decade of urban and rural warfare they succeeded in pushing france out in one nine six two most of the one zero two five zero zero zero pieds noirs as well as nine one zero zero zero harkis pro french muslim algerians serving in the french army together forming about one zero of the population of algeria in one nine six two fled algeria for france in just a few months in the middle of that year the battle of algiers is a movie about the algerian war of independence algeria s f |
irst president the fln leader ahmed ben bella was overthrown by his former ally and defense minister houari boum di nne in one nine six five under ben bella the government had already become increasingly socialist and dictatorial and this trend continued throughout boumedienne s government however boumedienne relied much more heavily on the army and reduced the sole legal party to a merely symbolic role agriculture was collectivised and a massive industrialization drive launched oil extraction facilities were nationalized and this increased the state s wealth especially after the one nine seven three oil crisis but the algerian economy became increasingly dependent on oil bringing hardship when the price collapsed in the one nine eight zero s in foreign policy algeria was a member and leader of the non aligned nations a dispute with morocco over the western sahara nearly led to war dissent was rarely tolerated and the state s control over the media and the outlawing of political parties other than the fln was |
cemented in the repressive constitution of one nine seven six boum dienne died in one nine seven eight but the rule of his successor chadli bendjedid was little more open the state took on a strongly bureaucratic character and corruption was widespread the modernization drive brought considerable demographic changes to algeria village traditions underwent significant change as urbanization increased new industries emerged agriculture was substantially reduced and education a rarity in colonial times was extended nationwide raising the literacy rate from less than one zero to over six zero improvements in healthcare led to a dramatic increase in the birthrate seven eight children per mother which had two consequences a very youthful population and a housing crisis the new generation struggled to relate to the cultural obsession with the war years and two conflicting protest movements developed left wingers including berber identity movements and islamic int gristes both protested against one party rule but al |
so clashed with each other in universities and on the streets during the one nine eight zero s mass protests from both camps in autumn one nine eight eight forced benjedid to concede the end of one party rule and elections were announced for one nine nine one in december one nine nine one the islamic salvation front won the first round of the country s first multiparty elections the military then canceled the second round forced then president bendjedid to resign and banned the islamic salvation front the ensuing conflict engulfed algeria in the violent algerian civil war more than one zero zero zero zero zero people were killed often in unprovoked massacres of civilians the question of who was responsible for these massacres remains controversial among academic observers many were claimed by the armed islamic group after one nine nine eight the war waned and by two zero zero two the main guerrilla groups had either been destroyed or surrendered taking advantage of an amnesty program though sporadic fighting |
continued in some areas elections resumed in one nine nine five and in one nine nine nine after a series of short term leaders representing the military abdelaziz bouteflika the current president was elected the issue of berber language and identity increased in significance particularly after the extensive kabyle protests of two zero zero one and the near total boycott of local elections in kabylie the government responded with concessions including naming of tamazight berber as a national language and teaching it in schools politics the head of state is the president of the republic who is elected to a five year term renewable once algeria has universal suffrage the president is the head of the council of ministers and of the high security council he appoints the prime minister who is also the head of government the prime minister appoints the council of ministers the algerian parliament is bicameral consisting of a lower chamber the national people s assembly apn with three eight zero members and an upper |
chamber the council of nation with one four four members the apn is elected every five years throughout the one nine six zero s algeria supported many independence movements in sub saharan africa and was a leader in the non aligned movement while it shares much of its history and cultural heritage with neighbouring morocco the two countries have had somewhat hostile relations with each other since algeria s independence this is due to two reasons morocco s claim to portions of western algeria which led to the sand war in one nine six three and algeria s support for the polisario an armed group of sahrawi refugees seeking independence for the moroccan ruled western sahara which it hosts within its borders in the city of tindouf tensions between algeria and morocco as well as issues relating to the algerian civil war have put great obstacles in the way of tightening the maghreb arab union nominally established in one nine eight nine but with little practical weight with its coastal neighbors provinces algeria i |
s divided into four eight wilayas provinces geography map of algeria with cities the hoggar mountains most of the coastal area is hilly sometimes even mountainous and there are few good harbours the area just south of the coast known as the tell is fertile further south is the atlas mountain range and the sahara desert algiers oran and constantine are the main cities algeria s climate is arid and hot although the coastal climate is mild and the winters in the mountainous areas can be severe algeria is prone to sirocco a hot dust and sand laden wind especially common in summer see also extreme points of algeria economy algerian coins the fossil fuels energy sector is the backbone of the economy accounting for roughly six zero of budget revenues three zero of gdp and over nine five of export earnings algeria has the fifth largest reserves of natural gas in the world and is the second largest gas exporter it ranks one four th in petroleum reserves algeria s financial and economic indicators improved during the m |
id one nine nine zero s in part because of policy reforms supported by the imf and debt rescheduling from the paris club algeria s finances in two zero zero zero and two zero zero one benefited from an increase in oil prices and the government s tight fiscal policy leading to a large increase in the trade surplus record highs in foreign exchange reserves and reduction in foreign debt the government s continued efforts to diversify the economy by attracting foreign and domestic investment outside the energy sector has had little success in reducing high unemployment and improving living standards in two zero zero one the government signed an association treaty with the european union that will eventually lower tariffs and increase trade demographics algiers coast about nine zero of algerians live in the northern coastal area the minority who inhabit the sahara desert are mainly concentrated in oases although some one five million remain nomadic or partly nomadic ninety nine percent of the population is classif |
ied ethnically as arab berber and religiously as muslim other religions are restricted to extremely small groups mainly of foreigners europeans account for less than one most algerians are arab by language and identity and of mixed berber arab ancestry the berbers inhabited algeria before the arrival of arab tribes during the expansion of islam in the seven th century the issue of ethnicity and language is sensitive after many years of government marginalization of berber or amazigh as some prefer culture today the arab berber issue is often a case of self identification or identification through language and culture rather than a racial or ethnic distinction the two zero or so of the population who self identify as berbers and primarily speak berber languages such as tamazight are divided into several ethnic groups notably kabyle the largest in the mountainous north central area chaoui in the eastern atlas mountains mozabites in the m zab valley and tuareg in the far south language the official language is a |
rabic spoken natively in dialectal form darja by some eight zero of the population the other two zero or so speak berber tamazight officially a national language french is the most widely studied foreign language distantly followed by english but is very rare as a native language since independence the government has pursued a policy of linguistic arabization of education and bureaucracy with some success although many university courses continue to be taught in french culture mosque in algiers modern algerian literature split between arabic and french has been strongly influenced by the country s recent history famous novelists of the two zero th century include mohammed dib and kateb yacine while assia djebar is widely translated important novelists of the one nine eight zero s included rachid mimouni later vice president of amnesty international and tahar djaout murdered by an islamist group in one nine nine three for his secularist views as early as roman times apuleius born in mdaourouch was native to wh |
at would become algeria in philosophy and the humanities malek bennabi and frantz fanon are noted for their thoughts on decolonization while augustine of hippo was born in tagaste about six zero miles from the present day city of annaba and ibn khaldun though born in tunis wrote the muqaddima while staying in algeria algerian culture has been strongly influenced by islam the main religion the works of the sanusi family in precolonial times and of emir abdelkader and sheikh ben badis in colonial times are widely noted the algerian musical genre best known abroad is ra a pop flavored opinionated take on folk music featuring international stars such as khaled and cheb mami however in algeria itself the older highly verbal chaabi style remains more popular with such stars as el hadj el anka or dahmane el harrachi while the tuneful melodies of kabyle music exemplified by idir ait menguellet or loun s matoub have a wide audience for more classical tastes andalusi music brought from al andalus by morisco refugees is |
preserved in many older coastal towns in painting mohammed khadda and m hemed issiakhem are notable in recent years picture gallery image houbel jpg the monument of the martyrs algiers image algernuit jpg algiers by night image finace jpg minister of the finances image makam echehid jpg algiers view by air image benyen jpg the forest bainem in algeria at bouzareah image algierssnow jpg snow on algiers image church saintcharlesalgiers jpg the church saint charles at algiers image pe algerie sahara zero one two one jpg sahara of algeria miscellaneous topics archeology of algeria communications in algeria foreign relations of algeria list of algeria related topics list of cities in algeria list of algerians list of sovereign states military of algeria transportation in algeria the battle of algiers movie algerian war of independence one nine five four one nine six two algerian civil war one nine nine one two zero zero two directories yellow pages of algeria external links government el mouradia official preside |
ntial site in french and arabic national people s assembly official parliamentary site the embassy of algeria in washington dc news allafrica com algeria news headline links el khabar the north africa journal business news overviews cia world factbook algeria library of congress country study algeria data as of december one nine nine three algeria the psychos will inherit the earth an irreverent look at algeria s military situation tourism other algeria watch human rights organization critical of widespread torture practiced by the r gime in french algeria s past needs opening not closing analysis on the public referendum held two nine september two zero zero five by veerle opgenhaffen and hanny megally all city of alg ria algerian english online dictionary african union member states algeria arab league peace and security council characters in ayn rand s novel atlas shrugged balph eubank called the literary leader of the age despite the fact that he is incapable of writing anything that people actually want |
to read what people want to read he says is irrelevant he complains that it is disgraceful that artists are treated as peddlers and that there should be a law limiting the sales of books to ten thousand copies he is a member of the looters balph eubank appears in section one six one ben nealy a railroad contractor whom dagny taggart hires to replace the track on the rio norte line with rearden metal nealy is incompetent but dagny can find no one better in all the country nealy believes that anything can get done with enough muscle power he sees no role for intelligence in human achievement and this is manifest in his inability to organize the project and to make decisions he relies on dagny and ellis wyatt to run things and resents them for doing it because it appears to him like they are just bossing people around ben nealy appears in section one seven one bertram scudder editorial writer for the magazine the future he typically bashes business and businessmen but he never says anything specific in his artic |
les relying on innuendo sneers and denunciation he wrote a hatchet job on hank rearden called the octopus he is also vocal in support of the equalization of opportunity bill bertram scudder appears in section one six one betty pope a wealthy socialite who is having a meaningless sexual affair with james taggart that coincides with the overall meaninglessness of her life she regrets having to wake up every morning because she has to face another empty day she is deliberately crude in a way that casts ridicule on her high social position betty pope appears in sections one four two and one six one brakeman an unnamed employee working on the taggart comet train dagny taggart hears brakeman whistling the theme of a concerto when she asks him what piece it is from he says it is halley s fifth concerto when dagny points out that richard halley only wrote four concertos brakeman claims he made a mistake and he doesn t recall where he heard the piece later after dagny instructs the train crew how to proceed he asks a |
co worker who she is and learns she is the one who runs taggart transcontinental it is later discovered that the unknown brakeman is one of the strikers when dagny meets him in the valley brakeman appears in sections one one two and one one three cherryl brooks dime store shopgirl who marries james taggart after a chance encounter in her store the night the john galt line was deemed his greatest success she marries him thinking he is the heroic person behind taggart transcontinental she is horrible to dagny until the night before she commits suicide when she confesses to dagny that she married jim thinking she was marrying dagny like eddie willers cherryl is one representation of a good person who lacks the extraordinary capacities of the primary heroes of the novel claude slagenhop the president of political organization friends of global progress which is supported by philip rearden and one of lillian rearden s friends he believes that ideas are just air that this is no time for talk but for action he is no |
t bothered by the fact that action unguided by ideas is random and pointless global progress is a sponsor of the equalization of opportunity bill claude slagenhop appears in section one six one cuffy meigs a looter who s assigned by wesley mouch to keep watch over the workings of taggart transcontinental and later assumes control over the company after dagny taggart leaves he carries a pistol and a lucky rabbit s foot he dresses in a military uniform the intellectual heir of dr robert stadler meigs comes to a fitting end at the hands of project x dagny taggart the main character in atlas shrugged also the name of her namesake mrs nathaniel taggart dagny is vice president in charge of operation at taggart transcontinental she is the female hero the counterpart to john galt her journey is the journey of the reader exploring and understanding galts philosophy those in the know understand that she is the one who really runs the railroad in the course of the novel she forms romantic liaisons with three men of abil |
ity francisco hank rearden and john galt in order john is the one who because of the sum total of his qualities will become the choice of dagny dagny appears in sections one one two one one three one one four one three two one three three one four one one four five one four six one four seven one four eight one five one one five two and one six one dan conway the middle aged president of the phoenix durango railroad running a railroad is just about the only thing he knows when the anti dog eat dog rule is used to drive his business out of colorado he loses the will to fight and resigns himself to a quiet life of books and fishing he claims that somebody had to be sacrificed it turned out to be him and he has no right to complain bowing to the will of the majority when pressed he says he doesn t really believe this is right but he can t understand why it is wrong and what the alternative might be he is trapped by a moral code that makes him a willing victim and rather than challenge that morality he simply giv |
es up dan conway appears in sections one four five and one four six and is mentioned in section one four eight dick mcnamara a contractor who finished the san sebastian line and who is hired to lay the new rearden metal track for the rio norte line before he gets a chance to do so he mysteriously disappears dick mcnamara is mentioned in sections one three three and one four one eddie willers special assistant to the vice president in charge of operation at taggart transcontinental he grew up with dagny taggart his father and grandfather worked for the taggarts and he followed in their footsteps he is completely loyal to dagny and to taggart transcontinental he is also secretly in love with dagny willers is generally assumed to represent the common man someone who does not possess the promethian creative ability of the strikers but nevertheless matches them in moral courage and is capable of appreciating and making use of their creations eddie willers appears in sections one one one one one four one one seven |
one three two one three three one four one one five one and one five two ellis wyatt the head of wyatt oil he has almost single handedly revived the economy of colorado by discovering oil there of all the disappearances of industrialists in the novel wyatt s involving the fiery destruction of his oil wells is surely the most dramatic ellis wyatt is mentioned or appears in sections one one one one one four one three two one four six one four seven one four eight and one five two francisco d anconia one of the central characters in atlas shrugged by all accounts he is a worthless millionaire playboy owner by inheritance of the world s largest copper mining empire the man behind the san sebastian mines and a childhood friend and first love of dagny taggart francisco began working on the sly as a teenager in order to learn all he could about business while still a student at patrick henry university he began working at a copper foundry and investing in the stock market by the time he was twenty he had made enough |
to purchase the foundry he began working for d anconia copper as assistant superintendent of a mine in montana but was quickly promoted to head of the new york office he took over d anconia copper at age two three after the death of his father when he was two six francisco secretly joined the strikers and began to slowly destroy the d anconia empire so the looters could not get it he adopted the persona of a worthless playboy by which he is known to the world as an effective cover his full name is francisco domingo carlos andres sebastian d anconia according to mailto areed two calstatela edu adam reed who is francisco d anconia d anconia is the only hero class character who is recognizably jewish not in the religious but in the historical sense like ayn rand herself francisco d anconia appears or is mentioned in sections one three two one four one one four four one five one and one five two this last section includes a detailed history of his life hank rearden one of the central characters in atlas shrugged |
he is the founder of rearden steel and the inventor of rearden metal he lives in philadelphia with his wife lillian his brother philip and an elderly woman known only as rearden s mother all of whom he supports gwen ives is his secretary the character of hank rearden has two important roles to play in the novel first he is in the same position as the reader in that he is aware that there is something wrong with the world but is not sure what it is rearden is guided toward an understanding of the solution through his friendship with francisco d anconia who does know the secret and by this mechanism the reader is also prepared to understand the secret when it is revealed explicitly in galt s speech second rearden is used to illustrate rand s theory of sex lillian rearden cannot appreciate hank rearden s virtues and she is portrayed as being disgusted by sex dagny taggart clearly does appreciate rearden s virtues and this appreciation evolves into a sexual desire rearden is torn by a contradiction because he ac |
cepts the premises of the traditional view of sex as a lower instinct while responding sexually to dagny who represents his highest values rearden struggles to resolve this internal conflict and in doing so illustrates rand s sexual theory rearden appears in sections one two one one three two one four seven and one six one and is mentioned in sections one one four and one three one hugh akston identified as one of the last great advocates of reason he was a renowned philosopher and the head of the department of philosophy at patrick henry university where he taught francisco d anconia john galt and ragnar danneskj ld he was along with robert stadler a father figure to these three akston s name is so hallowed that a young lady on hearing that francisco had studied under him is shocked she thought he must have been one of those great names from an earlier century hugh akston is mentioned in section one six one james taggart the president of taggart transcontinental and a leader of the looters taggart is an expe |
rt influence peddler who is incapable of making decisions on his own he relies on his sister dagny taggart to actually run the railroad but nonetheless opposes her in almost every endeavor in a sense he is the antithesis of dagny as the novel progresses the moral philosophy of the looters is revealed it is a code of nihilism the goal of this code is to not exist to become a zero taggart struggles to remain unaware that this is his goal he maintains his pretence that he wants to live and becomes horrified whenever his mind starts to grasp the truth about himself this contradiction leads to the recurring absurdity of his life the desire to destroy those on whom his life depends and the horror that he will succeed at this james taggart appears in sections one one one one one four one three one one three two one four three one four four one five two and one six one and is mentioned in sections one four six and one four eight john galt the question who is john galt is asked repeatedly throughout atlas shrugged lat |
e into the book we learn that john galt is the man who stopped the motor of the world and the leader of the strikers he is also the same character as the mystery worker the son of an ohio garage mechanic galt left home at age one two and began college at patrick henry university at age one six there he befriended francisco d anconia and ragnar danneskj ld all three of whom double majored in physics and philosophy they were the cherished students of the brilliant scientist robert stadler and the brilliant philosopher hugh akston after graduating galt became an engineer at the twentieth century motor works where he designed a revolutionary new motor powered by ambient static electricity with the potential to change the world like ellis wyatt he has created what many had for years said was impossible when the company owners decided to run the factory by the collectivist maxim by each according to his ability to each according to his need galt organized a successful labor strike proclaiming his promise to stop th |
e motor of the world he began traversing the globe meeting the world s most successful businessmen systematically convincing them to follow in his footsteps one by one they began abandoning their business empires which galt convinced them were doomed to failure anyhow given the increased nationalization of industry by the government secretly these captains of industry led by galt and banker midas mulligan had created their own society a secret enclave of rational individualists living in galt s gulch a town secluded high in a wilderness of mountains dagny accidentally finds the town and a shocked john galt by crash landing a light aircraft while pursuing quentin daniels since everyone across the country is repeating the phrase who is john galt it is natural that many people have attempted to answer that question the phrase becomes an expression of helplessness and despair at the current state of the world dagny taggart hears a number of john galt legends before finding the real john galt and eventually joinin |
g his cause and learning that all of the stories have an element of truth to them there is a clothing store in vail colorado called john galt ltd one presumes that on occasion a customer unknowingly walks in and asks who is john galt lillian rearden the wildly unsupportive wife of hank rearden they have been married eight years as the novel begins lillian is a frigid moocher who seeks to destroy her husband she compares being rearden s wife with owning the world s most powerful horse since she cannot comfortably ride a horse that goes too fast she must bridle it down to her level even if that means it will never reach its full potential and its power will be greviously wasted lillian also serves to illustrate rand s theory of sex she believes sex is a base animal instinct and that sexual indulgence is a sign of moral weakness she is incapable of feeling this kind of desire which she believes testifies to her moral superiority however according to the theory of sex lillian s lack of sexual capacity results fro |
m her inability to experience value in herself she is therefore unable to respond sexually when she experiences value in others lillian tolerates sex with her husband only because she is realistic enough to know he is just a brute who requires satisfaction of his brute instincts in section one six one she indicates that she abhors francisco d anconia because she believes he is a sexual adventurer lillian rearden appears in sections one two one and one six one the looters a group of evil characters sometimes referred to as james taggart and his friends they are similar to the moochers the looters consist of men and women who use force to obtain value from those who produce it they seek to destroy the producers despite the fact that they are dependent upon them the looters include mr thompson balph eubank floyd ferris james taggart orren boyle paul larkin robert stadler simon pritchett wesley mouch and cuffy miegs midas mulligan a wealthy banker who mysteriously disappears in protest after he is given a court o |
rder to loan money to an incompetent loan applicant midas mulligan is responsible for the creation and distribution of the money that is exclusively used in galt s gulch and is the original owner of the land where galt s gulch is located he is also responsible for the production of the money used there the moochers a group of characters similar to the looters who use guilt as a weapon against those who produce value they seek to destroy the producers despite the fact that they are dependent upon them the moochers include lillian rearden philip rearden and hank rearden s mother mort liddy a hack composer who writes trite scores for movies and modern symphonies that no one listens to he believes melody is a primitive vulgarity he is one of lillian rearden s friends and a member of the cultural elite mort liddy appears in section one six one mr mowen the president of the amalgamated switch and signal company inc of connecticut he is a businessman who sees nothing wrong with the moral code that is destroying soci |
ety and would never dream of saying he is in business for any reason other than the good of society he is unable to grapple with abstract issues and is frightened of anything controversial dagny taggart hires mr mowen to produce switches made of rearden metal he is reluctant to build anything with this unproven technology and has to be ridden and cajoled before he is willing to accept the contract when pressured by public opinion he discontinues production of the switches forcing dagny to find an alternative source mr mowen appears in section one seven one mystery worker a menial worker for taggart transcontinental who often dines with eddie willers in the employee s cafeteria eddie finds him very easy to talk to and mystery worker not so subtly leads him on so that eddie reveals important information about dagny taggart and taggart transcontinental eddie tells him which suppliers and contractors dagny is most dependent on and with remarkable consistency those are the next men to disappear mysteriously myster |
y worker is actually john galt mystery worker appears in section one three three the unnamed newsstand owner he works in the taggart terminal twenty years ago he owned a cigarette factory but it went under and he s been working at his newsstand ever since he is a collector of cigarettes and knows every brand ever made he occasionally chats with dagny taggart when she comes by on one occasion in section one three two after dagny asks him about his collection he bemoans the fact that there are no new brands and the old brands are all disappearing he examines a cigarette given to dagny by hugh akston but it is a new brand that he has never seen before it carries the sign of the dollar in his first appearance the newsstand owner likens the fire of a cigarette to the fire of the mind this alludes to the greek myth of prometheus who gave mankind the gift of fire allowing it to raise itself up and become civilized in atlas shrugged it is the mind of man that raises mankind thus the cigarettes become symbolic of the |
men of the mind the disappearance of the old brands represents the disappearance of the men of the mind and the newsstand owner s discovery of the new brand foreshadows dagny s discovery of a new kind of men of the mind orren boyle the head of associated steel and a friend of james taggart he is one of the looters he is an investor in the san sebastian mines orren boyle appears or is mentioned in sections one one one one one four one three one one three two one four four and one five two owen kellogg assistant to the manager of the taggart terminal in new york he catches dagny taggart s eye as one of the few competent men on staff after seeing the sorry state of the ohio division she decides to make him to its new superintendent however as soon as she returns to new york kellogg informs her that he is quitting his job he admits that he loves his work but that s not enough to keep him he won t say why he is leaving or what he will do later he is noticed working as transient labor by the unsuccessful unmotivate |
d businessman mr mowen owen kellog eventually reaches and settles in atlantis owen kellogg appears in sections one one two and one one four paul larkin an unsuccessful middle aged businessman a friend of the rearden family and a member of the looters in section one two one larkin visits philadelphia to warn hank rearden of possible trouble from washington in section one three one he meets with the other looters to work out a plan to bring rearden down james taggart knows he is friends with hank rearden and challenges his loyalty and larkin assures taggart that he will go along with them paul larkin appears in sections one two one one three two and two a one philip rearden the younger brother of hank rearden and a moocher he lives in his brother s home in philadelphia and is completely dependent on him he believes that the source of his sustenance is evil and would love to see him destroyed he has never had a career and spends his time perfunctorily working for various social groups he becomes resentful of his |
brother s charity he then requests that he be granted a job from his brother because he should not have to be burdened by the feeling of inadequacy of not earning his own livelihood when confronted by his brother on how this job should be a mutually beneficial arrangement philip shrugs the argument off as irrelevant and that the job should be entitled to him solely based on his need for money and the fact of familial ties philip rearden appears in sections one two one and one six one quentin daniels an enterprising engineer hired by dagny taggart to reconstruct john galt s motor partway through this process quentin withdraws his effort for the same reasons john galt himself had dagny sets out to meet quentin in hopes of convincing him to resume his work john galt narrowly gets to him first dagny s pursuit of quentin leads her to galt s gulch ragnar danneskj ld one of the original strikers he is now world famous as a pirate ragnar was from norway the son of a bishop and the scion of one of norway s most ancie |
nt noble families he attended patrick henry university and became friends with john galt and francisco d anconia while studying under hugh akston and robert stadler ragnar seizes relief ships that are being sent from the united states to europe no one knows what he does with the goods he seizes as the novel progresses ragnar begins for the first time to become active in american waters and is even spotted in delaware bay reportedly his ship is better than any available in the fleets of the world s navies when he became a pirate he was disowned and excommunicated there is a price on his head in norway portugal turkey according to ayn rand verbal report his name is a tribute to victor hugo in hugo s first novel hans of iceland the hero becomes the first of the counts of danneskj ld his name may be a pun on dane s gold although skj ld means shield not gold ragnar danneskj ld appears in section one six one rearden s mother named gertrude she is a moocher who lives with her son hank rearden at his home in philadel |
phia she is involved in church based charity work and berates rearden whenever she can she insults him by saying he was always selfish even as a child she dotes on her weak son philip rearden rearden s mother appears in section one two one richard halley dagny taggart s favorite composer who mysteriously disappeared after the evening of his greatest triumph in section one four one we learn that richard halley spent years as a struggling and unappreciated composer at age two four his opera phaethon was performed for the first time to an audience who booed and heckled it it was based on the greek myth in which phaethon steals his father s chariot and dies in an audacious attempt to drive the sun across the sky halley changed the story though into one of triumph in which phaethon succeeds for years halley wrote in obscurity after nineteen years phaethon was performed again but this time it was received to the greatest ovation the opera house had ever heard it appears his critics felt he had paid his dues long en |
ough that he was at last worthy of their approval the following day halley retired sold the rights to his music and disappeared richard halley is mentioned in sections one one two one one four one three three and one four one and appears in section one five two dr robert stadler a former professor at patrick henry university mentor to francisco d anconia john galt and ragnar danneskj ld he has since become a sell out one who had great promise but squandered it for social approval to the detriment of the free he works at the state science institute where all his inventions are perverted for use by the military including the instrument of his demise project x dr simon pritchett the prestigious head of the department of philosophy at patrick henry university and is considered the leading philosopher of the age he is also a looter he is certainly representative of the philosophy of the age he is a crude reductionist who believes man is nothing but a collection of chemicals he believes there are no standards that |
definitions are fluid reason is a superstition that it is futile to seek meaning in life and that the duty of a philosopher is to show that nothing can be understood he explains all this in his book the metaphysical contradictions of the universe and at cocktail parties dr pritchett appears in section one six one the strikers people of the mind who go on strike because they do not appreciate being exploited by the looters and demonized by a society who depends on them for its very existence the leader of the strikers is john galt other strikers include hugh akston francisco d anconia ragnar danneskj ld richard halley and the brakeman characters who join the strikers in the course of the book include dagny taggart ellis wyatt hank rearden dick mcnamara and owen kellogg mr thompson the head of the state which essentially means that he s the president of the united states though he s never specifically referred to as such in the world of atlas shrugged all presidents and prime ministers are referred to simply as |
head of the state and mr this is because countries have been standardized as people s states which seem to share a common form of government thomspon s title can thus be seen as reflecting the fact that the us is in the process of evolving into one of these people s states one of the looters he s not particularly intelligent and has a very undistinguished look he knows politics however and is a master of public relations and back room deals rand s notes indicate that she modelled him on president harry s truman wesley mouch a member of the looters and at the beginning of the storyline the incompetent lobbyist whom hank rearden reluctantly employs in washington initially wesley mouch is the least powerful and least significant of the looters the other members of this group feel they can look down upon him with impunity eventually he becomes the most powerful looter and the country s economic dictator thereby illustrating rand s belief that a government run economy places too much power in the hands of incompe |
tent bureaucrats who would never have positions of similar influence in a private sector business wesley mouch appears in section one three one and is mentioned in section one six one see also minor characters in atlas shrugged atlas shrugged lists of fictional characters technology in atlas shrugged ayn rand s novel includes a variety of technological products and devices in addition to real world technology aircraft automobiles diesel engines phonograph records radios telephones television and traffic signals atlas shrugged also includes various fictional technologies or fictional variants on real inventions fictional technology fictional inventions mentioned in the book include refractor rays gulch mirage rearden metal a sonic death ray project x voice activated door locks gulch power station motors powered by static electricity palm activated door locks galt s ny lab shale oil drilling and a nerve induction torture machine traffic signals early on the book mentions the screech of a traffic signal as it ch |
anges this implies the older technology of mechanical traffic signals the kind which displayed a pennant or flag indicating stop or go and the inverse indicator in the opposite direction traffic signals using lights have been around for over four zero years so anything of this type is very old compared to today project x project x is an invention of the scientists at the state science institute requiring tons of rearden metal basically it is a death ray and is capable of destroying anything the scientists claim that the project will be used to preserve peace and squash rebellion it is destroyed towards the end of the book and emits a pulse of radiation that destroys everything in the surrounding area including cuffy meigs and dr stadler as well as the taggart bridge rearden metal rearden metal is a fictitious metal alloy invented by hank rearden it is lighter than traditional steel but stronger and is to steel what steel was to iron it is described as greenish blue among its ingredients are iron and copper in |
itially no one is willing to use rearden metal because no one wants to stick his neck out and be the first to try it finally dagny taggart places an order for rearden metal when she needs rails to rebuild the dying rio norte line the first thing made from rearden metal is a bracelet rearden metal is mentioned in sections one one four one two one one three one one four eight and one six one galt s motor john galt invented a new type of electrical apparatus described in the book as a motor however it does not operate like a motor in the common use of the word today it is capable of harnessing transforming and applying energy in many ways other than mechanical galt s motor was capable of jamming all radio receivers on earth and completely destroying the contents of galt s booby trapped laboratory without causing collateral structural damage though rand describes it as turning static electricity into useful mechanical work its operation is more reminiscent of modern speculation about zero point energy dagny disco |
vers a discarded prototype of the motor and it is superficially described in section part one chapter nine galt shows dagny the motor and describes it in section part three chapter one atlas shrugged fictional technology companies in atlas shrugged the ayn rand novel generally are divided into two groups these that are operated by sympathetic characters are given the name of the owner while companies operated by evil or incompetent characters are given generic names in atlas shrugged men who give their names to their companies all become strikers in due time amalgamated switch and signal a company run by mr mowen and located in connecticut they have supplied taggart transcontinental for generations dagny taggart orders rearden metal switches from them amalgamated switch and signal appears in section one seven one associated steel associated steel is the company owned by orren boyle the company was started with just a few hundred thousand dollars of boyle s own money and hundreds of millions of dollars in gove |
rnment grants boyle used this money to buy out his competitors and now relies on influence peddling and political favors to run his business associated steel is mentioned in sections one one one one one four one three one and one seven one ayers music publishing company ayers music publishing company is the publisher of the music of richard halley dagny taggart contacts mr ayers to inquire as to the existence of halley s fifth concerto ayers music publishing company is mentioned in section one one four barton and jones the company located in denver that supplies food for the workers rebuilding the rio norte line they go bankrupt in the middle of the project barton and james is mentioned in section one seven one d anconia copper a copper and mining company founded by sebastian d anconia in argentina during the time of the inquisition each man who ran the company saw it grow by one zero in his lifetime so by the time francisco d anconia heads the company it is the largest in the world his dream from childhood i |
s to increase the size of the company by one zero zero d anconia copper is mentioned in sections one five two and one seven one hammond motors a car company in colorado they make the best cars on the market until the founder disappears hank rearden buys a hammond on his trip to colorado in section one seven one incorporated tool a company that is contracted to deliver drill heads to taggart transcontinental but who fail to do this it is mentioned in section one seven one phoenix durango the phoenix durango is an old small railroad located in the southwest run by dan conway that has been insignificant for most of its existence however the phoenix durango grows rapidly when ellis wyatt revives the economy of colorado and taggart transcontinental s rio norte line fails to service wyatt adequately later james taggart conspires to get the phoenix durango driven out of colorado with the anti dog eat dog rule the phoenix durango is mentioned in sections one one one one one four one three one alluded to one three two |
one four five one four six one four seven and one five two rearden coal a business founded by hank rearden prior to the founding of rearden steel it is mentioned in section one two one rearden limestone a business founded by hank rearden prior to the founding of rearden steel it is mentioned in section one two one rearden ore the first business founded by hank rearden it is mentioned in section one two one rearden steel a company founded by hank rearden about ten years prior to the start of the story in the novel rearden bought an abandoned steel mill in philadelphia at a time when all the experts thought that such a venture would be hopeless he turned it into the most reliable and profitable steel company in the country as dagny taggart struggles to save taggart transcontinental she becomes increasingly dependent on rearden steel rearden steel is mentioned in sections one one one one one four one two one one three one alluded to one six one and one six two summit casting a company in illinois under contract |
to deliver rail spikes to taggart transcontinental they go bankrupt before they can deliver prompting dagny taggart to fly to chicago and buy the company to get it started again summit casting is mentioned in section one seven one taggart transcontinental the fictional railroad run by dagny taggart her commitment to the railroad creates one of the book s major conflicts taggart transcontinental was founded by nathaniel taggart who lived three generations or so prior to dagny s generation it was built without any grants loans or favors from the government and was the last railroad that was still owned and controlled by its founder s descendants its motto is from ocean to ocean the flagship of taggart transcontinental is the taggart comet which runs from new york to san francisco and which has never been late united locomotive works an incompetent company that is supposed to deliver diesel engines to taggart transcontinental the order is delayed in perpetuity and the president of the company refuses to ever gi |
ve a straight answer as to why this is so the united locomotive works is mentioned in sections one three three and one four one wyatt oil the oil company run by ellis wyatt wyatt s father had squeezed a living out of the oil fields in colorado but when ellis wyatt took over the business took off he discovered a technique for extracting oil from wells that had been abandoned as dried up the success of wyatt oil that followed this discovery suddenly and unexpectedly turned colorado into the leading economy in the country wyatt oil traditionally relied on taggart transcontinental s rio norte line to ship its oil but when that company could not grow fast enough to keep up with the booming colorado economy wyatt started using the small but well managed phoenix durango instead this prompted james taggart to make deals with his friends to drive the phoenix durango out of colorado afterwards dagny taggart has to rebuild the rio norte line so it can supply transportation to wyatt oil if she fails the economy of colora |
do and of the whole country could collapse wyatt oil is mentioned in sections one one one one three two and one seven one atlas shrugged fictional companies some of the important concepts discussed in atlas shrugged include the sanction of the victim and the theory of sex sanction of the victim the sanction of the victim is defined as the willingness of the good to suffer at the hands of the evil to accept the role of sacrificial victim for the sin of creating values the entire story of atlas shrugged can be seen as an answer to the question what would happen if this sanction was revoked when atlas shrugs relieving himself of the burden of carrying the world he is revoking his sanction the concept is supposedly original in the thinking of ayn rand and is foundational to her moral theory she holds that evil is a parasite on the good and can only exist if the good tolerates it to quote from galt s speech evil is impotent and has no power but that which we let it extort from us and i saw that evil was impotent a |
nd the only weapon of its triumph was the willingness of the good to serve it morality requires that we do not sanction our own victimhood rand claims in adhering to this concept rand assigns virtue to the trait of selfishness throughout atlas shrugged numerous characters admit that there is something wrong with the world but they cannot put their finger on what it is the concept they cannot grasp is the sanction of the victim the first person to grasp the concept is john galt who vows to stop the motor of the world by getting the creators of the world to withhold their sanction we first glimpse the concept in section one two one when hank rearden feels he is duty bound to support his family despite their hostility towards him in section one four six the principle is stated explicitly by dan conway i suppose somebody s got to be sacrificed if it turned out to be me i have no right to complain theory of sex in rejecting the traditional christian altruist moral code rand also rejects the sexual code that in her |
view is a logical implication of altruism rand introduces a theory of sex in atlas shrugged which is purportedly implied by her broader ethical and psychological theories far from being a debasing animal instinct sex is the highest celebration of our greatest values sex is a physical response to intellectual and spiritual values a mechanism for giving concrete expression to values that could otherwise only be experienced in the abstract one is sexually attracted to those who embody one s values those who have base values will be attracted to baseness to those who also have ignoble values those who lack any clear purpose will find sex devoid of meaning people of high values will respond sexually to those who embody high values that our sexual desire is a response to the embodiment of our values in others is a radical and original theory however even those who are sympathetic to this theory have criticized it as being incomplete for instance since according to rand the economy is also such an expression of val |
ues and since it is always possible to encounter someone who embodies one s values more completely this would seem to make family undesirable indeed rand treats family as a sort of trap furthermore promiscuity prostitution and an endless round robin of values driven sexual relationships would become inevitable from this viewpoint one could say that aldous huxley portrayed the ideal sexual state brave new world features humans who are incapable of deviating from their caste oriented values which naturally include a code of sexual desirability her sexual theory is illustrated in the contrasting relationships of hank rearden with lillian rearden and dagny taggart and later with dagny taggart and john galt other important illustrations of this theory are found in section one five two recounts dagny s relationship with francisco d anconia section one six one recounts hank and lillian rearden s courtship and lillian s attitude towards sex atlas shrugged this is a list of general items in ayn rand s atlas shrugged a |
nti dog eat dog rule the anti dog eat dog rule is passed by the national alliance of railroads in section one four five allegedly to prevent destructive competition between railroads the rule gives the alliance the authority to forbid competition between railroads in certain parts of the country it was crafted by orren boyle as a favor for james taggart with the purpose of driving the phoenix durango out of colorado bracelet the very first thing made from rearden metal is a bracelet the bracelet is used to illustrate rand s theory of sex the bracelet symbolizes the value created by hank rearden s long struggle to invent rearden metal when he gives it to lillian rearden as a present in section one two one she says it s fully as valuable as a piece of railroad rails however lillian fully grasps the significance of the gift her snide remark is her way of denigrating her husband s ethos in section one six one lillian wears this bracelet at a party thrown on her anniversary she makes fun of it all night long and w |
hen dagny taggart hears lillian say she would gladly trade it for a common diamond bracelet dagny takes her up on it lillian later asks for it back upon realizing her power over her husband was slowly diminishing dagny denies the offer the bracelet appears in sections one two one and one six one cub club a night club in new york when francisco d anconia returns to new york in section one four one he explains he came because of a hat check girl at the cub club and the liverwurst at moe s delicatessen on third avenue equalization of opportunity bill a bill designed by the looters that proposes to limit the number of businesses any one person can own to one it is aimed primarily at hank rearden who uses rearden ore to guarantee rearden steel with a supply of iron ore by passing this bill the looters can seize rearden s other businesses for themselves and then deny him the iron he needs to run his steel mills the looters claim the bill is meant to give a chance to the little guy the equalization of opportunity bi |
ll is appears in section one six one galt s gulch a secluded refuge in a valley of colorado where the men of ability have retreated after relinquishing participation in american society nicknamed galt s gulch by its inhabitants it is in fact the property of midas mulligan one of the early strikers to follow john galt s call this call was to the great men of mind and action to abandon the increasingly slave state inclinations of a decaying united states to go on strike thereby withdrawing the only thing supporting the parasites and looters sarcastically nicknamed midas in the press because everything he seemed to touch turned to gold mulligan adopted the nickname during his explosive investment career before dropping out of sight he had purchased this land among his far ranging speculative endeavors and subsequently retreated to it upon his disappearance other strikers soon followed him there including john galt renting or buying land for summer retreats as a respite from continuing their search for fellow str |
ikers among the increasingly collapsing american society eventually a society develops in galt s gulch as more people live there year round as the outside world becomes virtually unsafe to visit we are introduced to galt s gulch in the final section of the novel in the first chapter entitled atlantis the people live with each other in completely free society and embody everything which is the thesis of the novel the appropriate values for a society of mankind philosophical moral economic legal aesthetic and sexual among others too numerous to mention we find industrious ambitious happy people continuing their chosen fields of endeavor without the yokes of any taxation or regulation conversely there is a reverence for private property everything transacted is paid for with the re invented currency of solid gold coin struck from the reserves of midas mulligan s bank which now resides in the valley the townspeople receive services from the various heroes we have met throughout the novel who all now reside and pr |
oduce in the valley they purchase power inexpensively from galt and his invention of the static electricity motor maintain their anonymity from the outside world via galt s invention of the air wave reflection device giving the view from above the camouflage of reflected images of other mountainsides nearby and some attend galt s lectures on physics where he explains his discoveries on new fundamental laws and applied mathematics the people purchase medical treatment from the care of dr hendricks who uses his invention of a portable x ray machine to initially diagnose dagny taggart upon her crash landing into the valley attend concerts of new musical compositions of richard halley who has continued to compose in the valley acquire raw materials from the efforts of francisco d anconia s excavations around the valley attend philosophy lectures from the now retired pirate ragnar danneskj ld receive loans from midas mulligan etc rand s description of galt s gulch was inspired by a visit she and her husband frank |
o connor took to ouray colorado while researching colorado for the novel halley s fifth concerto richard halley disappeared after he had written only four concertos in section one one two dagny taggart an enthusiastic fan of halley s music hears an unfamiliar theme being whistled by a brakeman on the taggart comet she asks him what it is he responds halley s fifth concerto when dagny says halley only wrote four concertos the brakeman says he made a mistake and denies knowing what the song was later dagny calls mr ayers to find out if halley wrote a fifth concerto ayers says halley did not halley s fifth concerto is mentioned in sections one one two one one four and one five two halley s fourth concerto the last thing richard halley wrote before he disappeared it is a song of rebellion and defiance that seemed to say agony and suffering were not necessary dagny taggart listened to this piece in section one four one it is mentioned in section one five two heaven s in your backyard a film mort liddy wrote the sc |
ore using a bastardized version of halley s fourth concerto it is mentioned in section one six one john galt legends since everyone across the country is asking who is john galt it is not surprising that some people have come up with answers a number of john galt legends are told each of which ironically turns out to be true at least symbolically legend one section one six one a spinster at lillian rearden s party tells dagny the story john galt was a man of inestimable wealth who found the sunken island of atlantis while fighting the worst storm ever wreaked upon the world the sight was so beautiful that having seen it he could never go back to the world so he sank his ship and took his fortune down with him the actual john galt was a man who created something of inestimable value a new motor and who discovered the secret to what was wrong with the world while fighting the most evil social philosophy ever put into practice the world he envisioned was so beautiful that he refused to live in the world that was |
and disappeared taking the secret of motor with him atlantis the isles of the blessed is a place where no one could enter except those who had the spirit of a hero described in these terms it is the same as galt s gulch moe s delicatessen a delicatessen in new york when francisco d anconia returns to new york in section one four one he explains he came because of a hat check girl at the cub club and the liverwurst at moe s delicatessen on third avenue national alliance of railroads an industry group formed to promote the welfare of the industry as a whole requiring members to sacrifice their individual interests for the common good orren boyle has friends on the national alliance of railroads and he gets them to support the anti dog eat dog rule which uses a string of pretenses to drive the phoenix durango out of colorado the national alliance of railroads is mentioned in sections one three one one four five and one four six national council of metal industries an industry group that uses political pull to g |
et its way james taggart has friends on the national council of metal industries and he gets them to support legislation that will hurt rearden steel and help associated steel the national council of metal industries is mentioned in section one three one patrick henry university the most prestigious university in the world it was attended by john galt francisco d anconia and ragnar danneskjold where they met and became friends hugh akston and robert stadler taught there it is located in cleveland rio norte line a branch of taggart transcontinental that runs from cheyenne wyoming to el paso texas it is mentioned in sections one one one one one four one three one alluded to one three two one three three one four one one four six one four seven and one four eight rockdale station a station on the taggart transcontinental line located five miles from the taggart estate and overlooking the hudson river it was the site of dagny taggart s first job with the railroad night operator at age one six it appears in sectio |
n one five two san sebastian a community built to house the workers of the san sebastian mines and their families as it turns out the houses roads and everything of practical value is built so poorly that the community can be expected to fall apart within a year or two only the church was built to last it is mentioned in section one five two san sebastian line a branch of taggart transcontinental that serves the san sebastian mines in mexico the mines were developed by francisco d anconia and attracted significant investments from james taggart and orren boyle who assumed francisco could be counted on to deliver a winner the san sebastian line is nationalized by the mexican government soon after completion when it is nationalized in section one four two it is referred to as the san sebastian railroad it is mentioned in sections one one four one three one one three two one three three one four two one four three and one five two san sebastian mines san sebastian mines is a copper mining project in mexico found |
ed by francisco d anconia and named after his ancestor sebastian d anconia francisco s reputation as a businessman is so great that investors flock to him begging to invest money in the enterprise investors include james taggart and orren boyle taggart goes so far as to build a new branch of taggart transcontinental the san sebastian line to serve the mines sinking three zero million into the project when the development of the mines appears complete the mexican government nationalizes them as well as the san sebastian line only to discover there is no copper and there never was when taggart tells francisco he considers the mines a rotten swindle section one six one francisco explains that taggart should be pleased with the way he ran the mines he says he put into practice those moral precepts that were accepted around the world the world says it is evil to pursue a profit he got no profit from the worthless mines the world says the purpose of an enterprise is not to produce but to give a livelihood to its em |
ployees it produced nothing but created jobs that would never have existed if one was only concerned with developing a real mine the world says the owner is an exploiter and the workers do all the real work he left the enterprise entirely in the hands of the workers and did not burden anyone with his presence the world says need is more important than ability he hired a mining specialist who needed a job very badly but had no ability in short the san sebastian mines were an illustration of what happens when this moral code is put into practice and a warning of what will soon happen to the world as a whole the san sebastian mines appear in sections one one one one three one one three two one four two one five one one five two and one six one taggart building a skyscraper in new york the headquarters of taggart transcontinental and the location of the taggart terminal taggart comet the taggart comet is taggart transcontinental s flagship train it runs from new york to san francisco and has never been late the t |
aggart comet appears in sections one one two one one three and one five two the future see bertram scudder the heart is a milkman the heart is a milkman is a novel being written by balph eubank it is about the central fact of human existence frustration eubank says he will dedicate it to lillian rearden it is mentioned in section one six one the octopus see bertram scudder the vulture is molting a best selling novel that captures the spirit of the times the vulture is molting is a penetrating study of a businessman s greed a fearless revelation of man s depravity the book is mentioned in section one four one as one of the artifacts of popular culture that depresses dagny taggart with its baseness wayne falkland hotel a luxurious hotel in new york it is considered the best hotel left in the world it is where francisco d anconia stays when he is in town it was also the scene of dagny taggart s debut ball when she was seventeen it may be based on the waldorf astoria hotel in new york city the wayne falkland hote |
l is mentioned in sections one four one one five one and one five two wyatt oil fields the wyatt oil fields are in colorado they are a bunch of old abandoned oil wells that were revived by a new technique invented by ellis wyatt this has almost single handedly revitalized the economy of colorado the wyatt oil fields appear in sections one one one and one six one atlas shrugged lists of fictional things atlas as told in atlas shrugged atlas carried the world on his shoulders but in the greek myths the titan atlas stands on the earth and holds up the sky in the statues that represent atlas the big round thing on his back represents the heavens which because of the apparent circular motion of the planets around the earth were conceived of as being round some tellings of the atlas myth have him carrying both the earth and the heavens on his back but this appears to be a modern retelling further research might confirm this character names some of the character names are or appear to be puns or have some other sign |
ificance see also characters in atlas shrugged when asked why so many of her names have syllables with many hard consonants like dag tag den stad rand said that she just liked those sounds ragnar danneskjold sounds like dane s gold a tribute paid by the medieval english to the vikings to bribe them into being peaceful however note skjold means shield not gold however the hero of victor hugo s first novel hans of iceland becomes the first of the counts of danneskj ld in the one nine seven zero s rand told marsha familaro enright that her use of this name was not plagiarism because there really were counts of danneskj ld robert stadler sounds like the german word for state staat dr stadler is a statist in that he believes it appropriate and necessary for the state to fund scientific research francisco d anconia rand s husband was frank o connor john galt the name of a one nine th century scottish novelist though this is apparently coincidental galt is close to geld and gold the name was probably used because it |
had to be such that it could become proverbial this would not be possible with a long awkward name wesley mouch mouch is exactly what his name sounds like a mooch he has no real virtue or skill but somehow becomes a powerful figure crime common street crime is conspicuously absent in atlas shrugged characters walk the streets with no thought of being mugged or attacked historical figures and events atlas shrugged takes place in a world with a different history from our own but there are some historical figures and events that are mentioned aristotle section one five two francisco d anconia wrote a thesis on the influence of aristotle s theory of the immovable mover dark ages section one six one ragnar danneskjold s piracy is likened to something out of the dark ages inquisition section one five two sebastian d anconia flees spain to escape persecution under the inquisition middle ages section one six one it is said that ragnar danneskjold hides in the norwegian fjords as the vikings did in the middle ages ne |
ro section one five two francisco d anconia compares himself to the emperor nero patrick henry section one five two the eponym of patrick henry university vikings section one six one it is said that ragnar danneskjold hides in the norwegian fjords as the vikings did in the middle ages humor in section one five two francisco cracks that the mexican government was promising a roast of pork every sunday for every man woman child and abortion in section one five two francisco lists the various buildings constructed for the workers of the san sebastian mines and notes how they are all poorly built and can be expected to collapse except for the church the church i think will stand they ll need it he quips since the other things are things of value houses roads etc it is ironic that only the church was built to last to rand and her heroes a church is of no real value almost every nation in the world except the united states is referred to as the people s state of and they are all apparently the recipients of relief |
supplies from the united states in conversation people casually refer to them as the people s state of rather than just say france or norway it is obvious that people would not refer to countries by their formal names in casual conversation we don t call canada the dominion of canada or germany the federal republic of germany so by having her characters do this rand is exercising her dry wit lying the sympathetic characters of atlas shrugged generally do not tell lies with the following exceptions even when they are clearly trying to conceal something they do not rely on overt falsehood even when it is obvious that they could do so without being found out in section one one two brakeman tells dagny taggart he does not recall the name of the song he was whistling or where he heard it in section one four one francisco d anconia tells the press he came to new york because of a hat check girl and the liverwurst at moe s delicatessen in section one five one we learn dagny taggart once lied to her mother about a cu |
t to her lip that francisco had given her this was the only lie she ever told in section one five two dagny taggart asks francisco if richard halley has written a fifth concerto he is evasive and tells her that halley has stopped writing is this a lie in section one six one hank rearden tells dagny that he was the one who invited bertram scudder to the rearden s anniversary party it was actually lillian who invited him and rearden had been furious about it in part two chapter nine eddie willers tells dagny taggart that his hesitation and uncertainty is caused by the illegality of her directions in fact eddie was shocked by the evidence and thus realization of her affair with hank rearden people s states almost every nation that is mentioned other than the united states is referred to as a people s state these include the people s state of england the people s state of france the people s state of india the people s state of mexico the people s state of norway the people s state of portugal the people s state |
of turkey the leaders of these countries are given the title the head of the people s state and called mr or senor the president of the united states is refered to as mr thompson and called the head of the state which seems to imply the us is on its way to becoming a people s state as well religion in section one five two francisco tells dagny he named the san sebastian mines after his ancestor sebastian d anconia a man they both honor deeply this to dagny is blasphemy the only kind of blasphemy she understands social classes rand is sometimes called an elitist this claim is probably accurate if we allow for the fact that rand had her own standard of eliteness throughout atlas shrugged virtue is equated with creative ability it is however worth noting that in atlas shrugged there are no characters with creative ability which do not function as author surrogate characters most notably dagny taggart conversely all of the characters which disagree with the author are unintelligent and creatively bankrupt and usu |
ally actively destructive compare to the real world where scientists inventors artists and industrialists often have wildly varying and strongly conflicting desires and opinions different social classes are represented among both the heroes and the villains of atlas shrugged among the heroes john galt and hank rearden are from working class backgrounds while dagny taggart and francisco d anconia are from wealthy families among the villains fred kinnan is from a working class background while james taggart and betty pope are from wealthy families atlas shrugged atlas shrugged cover by nick gaetano atlas shrugged is a novel by russian born writer and philosopher ayn rand first published in one nine five seven in the usa and rand s last work of fiction before concentrating her writings exclusively on philosophy most regard atlas shrugged as rand s most famous work her tour de force and most objectivists hold it to be objectively as in factually the greatest novel of all time its theme as stated by rand is the im |
portance of the individual s reasoning mind in human life it is a highly philosophical and allegorical story that deals with themes of rand s own objectivism though she was not yet known as a philosopher when it was written whether or not she had philosophical intentions and to what extent or sense the novel is an allegory are controversial subjects in fact the ideas behind the book and their extremism as well as its relative popularity have made it one of the most controversial novels of the two zero th century it is also one of the longest novels ever written totaling one thousand pages or more depending on the publication philosophy and writing the theme of atlas shrugged is that independent rational thought is the motor that powers the world in the book men of the mind go on strike allowing the collapse of what only they hold together a peaceful cohesiveness rand claims that humans particularly those whose productive work comes from mental effort may create wherever forceful human interference is absent g |
iven no alternative they remove themselves from the looters the title is an analogy the rational men like the greek god atlas hold the world on their shoulders in the form of a strike they have chosen to shrug the book is rooted in objectivism the philosophical system founded by rand rand suggests that society stagnates when independence and individual achievement are discouraged or demonized and that inversely a society will become more prosperous as it allows encourages and rewards independence and individual achievement rand believed that independence flourishes to the extent that people are free and that achievement is rewarded best when private property is respected strictly she advocated laissez faire capitalism as the political system that is most consistent with these beliefs these considerations make atlas shrugged a highly political book especially in its portrayal of fascism socialism and communism or indeed any form of state intervention in societal affairs as fatally flawed however rand claimed t |
hat it is not a fundamentally political book but that the politics portrayed in the novel are a result of her attempt to display her image of the ideal man and the position of the human mind in society rand argues that independence and individual achievement drive the world and should be embraced her worldview requires a rational moral code she disputes the notion that self sacrifice is a virtue and is similarly dismissive of human faith in a god or higher being the book positions itself against christianity specifically often directly within the characters dialogue setting exactly when atlas shrugged is meant to take place is kept deliberately vague in section one five two the population of new york city is given as seven million the historical new york city reached seven million people in the one nine three zero s which might place the novel sometime after that there are many early two zero th century technologies available but the political situation is clearly different from actual history one interpretat |
ion is that the novel takes place a hundred or perhaps hundreds of years in the future implying that since the world lapsed into its socialistic morass a global wide stagnation has occurred in technological growth population growth and indeed growth of any kind the wars economic depressions and other events of the two zero th century would be a distant memory to all but scholars and academicians this would be in line with rand s ideas and commentary on other novels depicting utopian and dystopian societies furthermore this is also in line with an excerpt from a one nine six four interview with playboy magazine in which rand states what we have today is not a capitalist society but a mixed economy that is a mixture of freedom and controls which by the presently dominant trend is moving toward dictatorship the action in atlas shrugged takes place at a time when society has reached the stage of dictatorship when and if this happens that will be the time to go on strike but not until then thus implying that her n |
ovel takes place at some point in the future the concept of societal stagnation in the wake of collectivist systems is central to the plot of another of rand s works anthem all countries outside the us have become or become during the novel people s states there are many examples of early two zero th century technology in atlas shrugged but no post war advances such as nuclear weapons helicopters or computers jet planes are mentioned briefly as being a relatively new technology television is a novelty that has yet to assume any cultural significance while radio broadcasts are prominent though rand does not use in the book many of the technological innovations available while she was writing she introduces some advanced fictional inventions e g sound based weapons of mass destruction torture devices as well as power plants most of the action in atlas shrugged occurs in the united states however there are important events around the world such as in the people s states of mexico chile and argentina and piracy a |
t sea plot a section by section analysis of atlas shrugged is available on wikibooks the novel s plot split into three sections though the story is coherent apart from these is extremely complex the first two sections and to some extent the last follow dagny taggart a no nonsense railroad executive and her attempt to keep the company alive despite the fact that society is falling towards collectivism altruism statism all throughout the novel people repeat a platitude dagny greatly resents who is john galt it is a reflection of their helplessness as the saying means don t ask important questions because they don t have answers the geniuses of the world seem to be disappearing and the apparent decline of civilization is making it more and more difficult for her to sustain her life long aspirations of running the trans continental railroad which has been in her family for several generations she deals with other characters such as hank rearden a self made businessman of great integrity whose career is hindered b |
y his false feelings of obligation towards his wife francisco d anconia dagny s childhood friend first love and king of the copper industry appears to have become a worthless playboy who is purposely destroying his business as the novel progresses the myths about the real john galt as well as francisco d anconia s actions become more and more a reflection of the state of the culture and seem to make more and more sense and hank and dagny begin to experience the futility of their attempts to survive in a society that hates them and those like them for their greatness during their plight dagny and hank find the remnants of a motor that turns atmospheric energy into kinetic energy an astounding feat they also find evidence that the minds the atlases of the world are disappearing because of one particular destroyer taking them away dagny and hank deal with the irrationalities and apparent contradictions of their atmosphere and search for the creator of the motor as well as the destroyer who is draining the world |
of its prime movers in an effort to secure their ability to live rational lives all of this leads to an elaborate action based explanation and eventual climax presenting an understanding of all of the issues explored and breaking everything down into one basic conflict the final parts of the novel involve a speech by the story s true protagonist and a resolution concerning the fate of society the question who is john galt is also answered characters minor characters companies concepts places technology things topics of note film adaptation rights to the novel atlas shrugged were purchased by the baldwin entertainment group in two zero zero three with the intent of producing a feature length film company leader howard baldwin was quoted in september two zero zero four as saying everything is on track and the movie hasn t been held up one bit i assure you that this will be a big movie and it will get made two works of rand s the fountainhead and we the living have been adapted into movies so far external links |
http www aynrand org http www atlassociety org news atlas movie updated zero five zero three zero four asp http www cordair com gaetano index htm references and further reading publications atlas shrugged ayn rand signet september one nine nine six isbn zero four five one one nine one one four five atlas shrugged cliffs notes andrew bernstein cliffs notes june five two zero zero zero isbn zero seven six four five eight five five six eight the world of atlas shrugged robert bidinotto the objectivist center highbridge company april one nine two zero zero one isbn one five six five one one four seven one x atlas shrugged manifesto of the mind twayne s masterwork studies no one seven four mimi reisel gladstein twayne pub june two zero zero zero isbn zero eight zero five seven one six three eight six the moral revolution in atlas shrugged nathaniel branden the objectivist center july one nine nine nine isbn one five seven seven two four zero three three two odysseus jesus and dagny susan mccloskey the objectivist |
center august one one nine nine eight isbn one five seven seven two four zero two five one foreign translations german wer ist john galt hamburg germany gewis verlag isbn three nine three two five six four zero three zero italian la rivolta di atlante two vol milano garzanti one nine five eight out of print translator laura grimaldi japanese isbn four eight two eight four one one four nine six translator norwegian de som beveger verden kagge forlag two zero zero zero isbn eight two four eight nine zero zero eight three five hardcover isbn eight two four eight nine zero one six nine six paperback translator john erik b e lindgren polish atlas zbuntowany zysk i s ka two zero zero four isbn eight three seven one five zero nine six nine three twarda translator iwona micha owska spanish la rebelion de atlas editorial grito sagrado isbn nine eight seven two zero nine five one zero eight hardcover isbn nine eight seven two zero nine five one one six paperback swedish och v rlden sk lvde timbro f rlag two zero zero f |
ive isbn nine one seven five six six five five six five translator maud freccero turkish atlas vazge ti plato yay nlar two zero zero three isbn nine seven five nine six seven seven two six one translator belk s orap reviews review from a self proclaimed non libertarian review from the weird bookshelf fine science fiction books slade robert m review from the internet review project one nine nine eight a review which while attempting to address the environmentalist issues claims that atlas shrugged is a sequel to the lord of the rings a review and in depth chapter by chapter motif by motif etc analysis satires and parodies telemachus sneezed within robert anton wilson s illuminatus trilogy search for taffy rhinestone in the former link to read the spoof the abridged atlas shrugged a thousand pages distilled into about a thousand words atlas shr a look at parallel universes wherein all of ayn rand s books are four hundred pages shorter elvis shrugged an early nine zero s comic book miniseries published by revolu |
tionary comics in which popular entertainers elvis presley a cyborg frank sinatra frank zappa madonna spike lee and others take the place of various atlas shrugged counterparts oscar shrugged a depiction of the first film festival held in galt s gulch atlas shrugged two one hour later starring bob the angry flower one nine five seven books atlas shrugged novels philosophical novels books critical of christianity books by ayn rand anthropology from the greek word human or person consists of the study of humanity see genus homo it is holistic in two senses it is concerned with all humans at all times and with all dimensions of humanity a primary trait that traditionally distinguished anthropology from other humanistic disciplines is an emphasis on cultural relativity indepth examination of context and cross cultural comparisons in north america anthropology is traditionally divided into four sub disciplines physical anthropology or biological anthropology which studies primate behavior human evolution osteology |
forensics and population genetics cultural anthropology called social anthropology in the united kingdom and now often known as socio cultural anthropology areas studied by cultural anthropologists include social networks diffusion social behavior kinship patterns law politics ideology religion beliefs patterns in production and consumption exchange socialization gender and other expressions of culture with strong emphasis on the importance of fieldwork or participant observation i e living among the social group being studied for an extended period of time linguistic anthropology which studies variation in language across time and space the social uses of language and the relationship between language and culture and archaeology that studies the material remains of human societies archaeology itself is normally treated as a separate but related field in the rest of the world although closely related to the anthropological field of material culture which deals with physical objects created or used within a l |
iving or past group as mediums of understanding its cultural values more recently some anthropology programs began dividing the field into two one emphasizing the humanities and critical theory the other emphasizing the natural sciences and empirical observation historical and institutional context main article history of anthropology the anthropologist t j brewer once characterized anthropology as the most scientific of the humanities and the most humanistic of the sciences understanding how anthropology developed contributes to understanding how it fits into other academic disciplines contemporary anthropologists claim a number of earlier thinkers as their forebearers and the discipline has several sources however anthropology can best be understood as an outgrowth of the age of enlightenment it was during this period that europeans attempted systematically to study human behavior traditions of jurisprudence history philology and sociology developed during this time and informed the development of the socia |
l sciences of which anthropology was a part at the same time the romantic reaction to the enlightenment produced thinkers such as herder and later wilhelm dilthey whose work formed the basis for the culture concept which is central to the discipline institutionally anthropology emerged from natural history expounded by authors such as buffon this was the study of human beings typically people living in european colonies thus studying the language culture physiology and artifacts of european colonies was more or less equivalent to studying the flora and fauna of those places it was for this reason for instance that lewis henry morgan could write monographs on both the league of the iroquois and the american beaver and his works this is also why the material culture of civilized nations such as china have historically been displayed in fine arts museums alongside european art while artifacts from africa or native north american cultures were displayed in natural history museums with dinosaur bones and nature di |