A provocative examination of Ayn Rand's ideas and her enormous impact on American culture and politics—from Alan Greenspan to the Tea Party

Thirty years after her death, Ayn Rand's ideas have never been more important. Unfettered capitalism, unregulated business, bare-bones government providing no social services, glorification of selfishness, disdain for Judeo-Christian morality-these are the tenets of Rand's harsh philosophy.

Now with a new afterword on Rand, Paul Ryan, and the 2012 presidential election, Ayn Rand Nation explores the people and institutions that remain under the spell of the Russian-born novelist. Gary Weiss provides new insights into Rand's inner circle in the last years of her life, with revelations of never-before-publicized predictions by Rand that still resonate today. Lastly, Weiss provides a strategy for a renewed national dialogue, an embrace of the nation's core values that is needed to deal with Rand's pervasive grip on society.

From The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged to Rand's lesser-known and misunderstood nonfiction books, Gary Weiss examines the impact of Rand's thinking across our society.