Hardcover in dustjacket. 8vo. Publisher's green cloth with gilt, top edge stained navy.  Near fine, in its sensational original George Salter dust jacket, with correct original price of $6.95 and 10/57 date present, tiny tear along the upper front edge and wear to upper spine edges.

A beautiful example of this widely-read philosophical novel in which Rand expressly lays out (in the 50-page speech by John Galt) the tenets of Objectivism.   This not only is Rand's longest work, but also the last one published in her lifetime. In her author's note at the rear of the main text, she writes, "To all the readers who discovered The Fountainhead and asked me many questions about the wider application of its ideas, I want to say that I am answering these questions in the present novel and that The Fountainhead was only an overture to Atlas Shrugged." (This quote is repeated on the back of the dust jacket.) She expresses, too, her "philosophical debt" to Aristotle, and then adds, "My other acknowledgement is on the dedication page of this novel. I knew what values of character I wanted to find in a man. I met such a man and we have been married for 28 years. His name is Frank O'Connor." The novel formed the basis of Rand's philosophy of Objectivism, and later became a touchstone for modern conservative thinking on economics, individual rights, and the role of government in society.