Ayn Rand's irresistible attraction to the dominance of the 'alpha male,' as embodied by Elon Musk
Since the time of President Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) and philosopher Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862), the cabin has symbolized, in the United States, a great man devoted to his mission. In the 20 th century, this iconic image evoked a secret city in the mountains of Colorado: a community of scientists and entrepreneurs living modestly, but freely, sheltered from a tyrannical federal government. This is the Atlantis imagined by novelist Ayn Rand (1905-1982) in one of her bestsellers.
Atlas Shrugged, published in 1957, serves as a marker of the cultural divide between France and the US. In France, the novel was only published in 2011 and was met with icy silence. This thousand-page-plus ode to the entrepreneurial spirit has sold more than 10 million copies in the US, where, according to a late 20 th -century readership survey, it is said to be the most influential book after the Bible. Described in Le Monde by essayist Guy Sorman as the Quran of the reactionary world, Rand's work has been cited as an influence by figures as diverse as actor Brad Pitt and whistleblower Edward Snowden.
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