Atlas Shrugged
Atlas Shrugged, novel by Russian-born American author Ayn Rand, published in 1957. Generally considered to be Rand’s masterpiece, the book depicts a future United States on the verge of economic collapse after years of collectivist misrule, under which productive and creative citizens (primarily industrialists, scientists, and artists) have been exploited to benefit an undeserving population.
(Read Britannica’s article “Massive Tomes: 10 of the World’s Longest Novels.”)
The book’s female protagonist, Dagny Taggart, struggles to manage a transcontinental railroad amid the pressures and restrictions of massive bureaucracy. Her antagonistic reaction to a libertarian group seeking an end to government regulation is later echoed and modified in her encounter with a utopian community, Galt’s Gulch, whose members regard self-determination rather than collective responsibility as the highest ideal. The novel contains the most complete presentation of Rand’s personal philosophy, known as objectivism, in fictional form.
For further discussion of the novel, see Ayn Rand: Atlas Shrugged.