Jennifer Burns

So she just tried to rationalize her way through it, and it came out in these very strange theories.

So she just tried to rationalize her way through it, and it came out in these very strange theories.

So she just tried to rationalize her way through it, and it came out in these very strange theories.

You know, a lot of people just deeply dislike Rand. They deeply dislike her ideas. They don't think they're profound because of their disconnection from other ideas and other understandings of human society. I think where you could look at them and say,

You know, a lot of people just deeply dislike Rand. They deeply dislike her ideas. They don't think they're profound because of their disconnection from other ideas and other understandings of human society. I think where you could look at them and say,

You know, a lot of people just deeply dislike Rand. They deeply dislike her ideas. They don't think they're profound because of their disconnection from other ideas and other understandings of human society. I think where you could look at them and say,

These ideas are very provocative and they're very deep because she's not taking anything for granted and she's flipping everything around and forcing you to really think. To a lot of other readers, to her critics, they just look absurd. Like, how could you even make these contentions? And I think that because she's not without precedents and she's not without followers, but she doesn't...

These ideas are very provocative and they're very deep because she's not taking anything for granted and she's flipping everything around and forcing you to really think. To a lot of other readers, to her critics, they just look absurd. Like, how could you even make these contentions? And I think that because she's not without precedents and she's not without followers, but she doesn't...

These ideas are very provocative and they're very deep because she's not taking anything for granted and she's flipping everything around and forcing you to really think. To a lot of other readers, to her critics, they just look absurd. Like, how could you even make these contentions? And I think that because she's not without precedents and she's not without followers, but she doesn't...

knit herself into an intellectual community the way that these other thinkers do very naturally, that you can see who they influence, you can see who they're in dialogue with. You know, I think my book was one of the first to really take Rand and say, she's a figure in American history. Here's who she's connected to. Here's who she's influenced. And I got a lot of pushback for that.

knit herself into an intellectual community the way that these other thinkers do very naturally, that you can see who they influence, you can see who they're in dialogue with. You know, I think my book was one of the first to really take Rand and say, she's a figure in American history. Here's who she's connected to. Here's who she's influenced. And I got a lot of pushback for that.

knit herself into an intellectual community the way that these other thinkers do very naturally, that you can see who they influence, you can see who they're in dialogue with. You know, I think my book was one of the first to really take Rand and say, she's a figure in American history. Here's who she's connected to. Here's who she's influenced. And I got a lot of pushback for that.

You know, I think now people are more open to it. But I think the people who compile these lists really dislike her work and they think it's shallow because... They find her fiction overdrawn. They find her work in the mythic register simple. And she's also a grand systematic thinker in an age that's over systems. She's almost creating an inverse Marxism, right? Marx was writing in 1848.

You know, I think now people are more open to it. But I think the people who compile these lists really dislike her work and they think it's shallow because... They find her fiction overdrawn. They find her work in the mythic register simple. And she's also a grand systematic thinker in an age that's over systems. She's almost creating an inverse Marxism, right? Marx was writing in 1848.

You know, I think now people are more open to it. But I think the people who compile these lists really dislike her work and they think it's shallow because... They find her fiction overdrawn. They find her work in the mythic register simple. And she's also a grand systematic thinker in an age that's over systems. She's almost creating an inverse Marxism, right? Marx was writing in 1848.

He's not a thinker of the mid-20th century. So I think that's part of it, the lack of a legacy and the dislike of what she had to say and the feeling that she's too detached from Her insights are not insights because they're too idealized rather than being rooted in a theory of human nature that people find plausible.

He's not a thinker of the mid-20th century. So I think that's part of it, the lack of a legacy and the dislike of what she had to say and the feeling that she's too detached from Her insights are not insights because they're too idealized rather than being rooted in a theory of human nature that people find plausible.

He's not a thinker of the mid-20th century. So I think that's part of it, the lack of a legacy and the dislike of what she had to say and the feeling that she's too detached from Her insights are not insights because they're too idealized rather than being rooted in a theory of human nature that people find plausible.

Yeah, I mean, there's a couple different ways I think it happens. I really am interested in the relationship between the thinker and then the reader and the interpreter of the ideas and then the conditions on the ground that make that idea resonate or not resonate. And so I think a lot, so as an intellectual historian, I'm studying ideas and I'm always putting them in their historical context.

Yeah, I mean, there's a couple different ways I think it happens. I really am interested in the relationship between the thinker and then the reader and the interpreter of the ideas and then the conditions on the ground that make that idea resonate or not resonate. And so I think a lot, so as an intellectual historian, I'm studying ideas and I'm always putting them in their historical context.