PUBLISHED REVIEWS

BOB PAGLIA, CITIZENS TELEVISION, INC. (1995)

Review aired on "The Movie Man," Wednesday, July 5, 1995, Ch. 28; "Movie Messages," Friday, July 7, 1995, Ch. 29, CTV, Connecticut

Bob Paglia states that "for those academic and general readers who have wondered about the origins of philosopher- novelist Ayn Rand's ideas, Chris Matthew Sciabarra has written an extensive study titled AYN RAND: THE RUSSIAN RADICAL, published by Pennsylvania State University Press. In the ever-growing amount of formal, academic studies that are coming out about Ayn Rand, Sciabarra's book appears to be the most comprehensive yet. Sciabarra's thesis is that despite Rand's position as an `objectivist,' her thinking is essentially Russian. By this, Sciabarra does not mean that Rand's thinking can be reduced to mere provincialism or relativism, but rather that Rand unconsciously used the Russian inclination for dialectical thinking to establish her universal, objective ideas.

Sciabarra illustrates how Rand's dialectical frame of reference is at the basis for her rejection of all types of dualisms, and her vision of the interconnectedness of all intellectual, social and institutional phenomena. The book is a rich source of analysis and information, a generous compendium of new insights, punctuated with striking photographs of Rand and other key individuals associated with the inner circle of Objectivism and its scholarly observers. This book is an enormously valuable contribution to the ongoing study of Ayn Rand.  AYN RAND: THE RUSSIAN RADICAL is a powerful, perceptive presentation of the mighty mind of a formidable female philosopher."