“Good Copy”: “Good Copy” appears in TEAR, p. 56.
“she began to shout in outrage”: TPOAR, p. 278.
295 “a philosophy for living on earth”: “Philosophy: Who Needs It,” The Ayn Rand Letter, January 14, 1974 (vol. 3, no. 8), p. 284.
while researching a New York newspaper interview: This was the NYP interview in which AR suggested that she was the world’s most creative philosopher. At that time, Wallace had not yet met or talked to her.
“spouting these strange ideas”: Author interview with Al Ramrus, March 1, 2007.
Two days later, along came: Author correspondence with Al Ramrus, March 19, 2007.
“was hugely impressed”: Author interview with Al Ramrus, March 1, 2007.
“was inspiring and, by example, empowering”: Author correspondence with Al Ramrus, March 14, 2007.
joined the circle surrounding Rand: Author interview with Al Ramrus, March 1, 2007.
obtained early copies of Atlas Shrugged: OHP interview with Robert Hessen, November 10, 2004.
“since [Ayn’s followers] all have”: Unpublished letter from MR to Richard Cornuelle, August 11, 1954, quoted in Radicals for Capitalism, p. 261.
“the greatest novel ever written”: Unpublished letter from MR to AR, October 3, 1957, copy courtesy of Justin Raimondo.
He also entered into a course of psychotherapy with Branden: “Ayn Rand and Her Movement,” pp. 3, 8.
On the basis of such assurances: Unpublished letter from MR to NB, July 15, 1958, courtesy of Justin Raimondo.
considered him to be an established genius: MYWAR, p. 97.
“Nathan was everybody’s therapist”: “Ayn Rand and Her Movement,” pp. 7, 8.
would get one in 1973: In 1973, NB received his Ph.D. in psychology from the unaccredited California Graduate Institute. In an interview, NB explained that, once settled in California, he opted to obtain a California license to practice marriage and family counseling rather than apply for the “super, super, super tough” license to practice psychotherapy. As a result, he said, he cannot refer to himself in print as a psychologist; “The Liberty Interview: Nathaniel Branden Speaks,” Liberty, September 1999 (vol. 13, no. 9), pp. 41–42.
He had applied for: Jeff Walker, The Ayn Rand Cult (Chicago: Open Court, 1999), p. 156.
obtain certification in New Jersey: Unpublished letter from MR to Kenneth Templeton, September 3, 1958, courtesy of Justin Raimondo; The Ayn Rand Cult, pp. 156–58; “The Liberty Interview: Nathaniel Branden Speaks,” p. 41.
pressure on Rothbard intensified: Murray Rothbard, “My Break with Nathaniel Branden and the Rand Cult,” Liberty, September 1989, p. 30; An Enemy of the State, pp. 125–26.
Educational events were augmented: “My Break with Nathaniel Branden and the Rand Cult,” p. 27; 100 Voices, Howard Odzer, p. 191.
“Why is it you don’t see us more often?”: “My Break with Nathaniel Branden and the Rand Cult,” p. 29.
“Those parties were very hierarchical”: Author interview with Ed Nash, January 6, 2005.
298 “They were absolutely a nightmare”: Author interview with BB, December 16, 2005.
Once, Rand bought a new dining room table: 100 Voices, Shelly Reuben, p. 373.
tragic, “malevolent” Beethoven: Author interview with JMB and Dr. Allan Blumenthal, March 23, 2004.
she described Brahms as “worthless”: Author correspondence with BB, June 26, 2008.
rushed to give away his collection: He gave them to EK (author interview with EK, July 21, 2006).
When not in his studio painting: 100 Voices, Al Ramrus, p. 163.
Rothbard gave Branden a copy: Unpublished letter from MR to Helmut Schoeck, August 30, 1958, courtesy of Justin Raimondo.
Helmut Schoeck, a well-known scholar: Schoeck is best remembered for his 1969 book Envy: A Theory of Social Behaviour. In it, he examined one of AR’s lifelong preoccupations, envy, and defined it as “a drive which lies at the core of man’s life as a social being.” AR made marginal notes in her copy of the book, to the effect that envy is the characteristic of a second-hander, not a universal force that governs the social order (Helmut Schoeck, Envy: A Theory of Social Behaviour [Indianapolis, Ind.: Liberty Fund, 1987]; Robert Mayhew, ed., Ayn Rand’s Marginalia [Irvine, Calif.: Second Renaissance, 1995]), p. 98.
one from Rand’s attorney Pincus Berner: Mentioned in an unpublished letter from Helmut Schoeck to James Wiggins, August 13, 1958, courtesy of Justin Raimondo.
The paper, titled: Rothbard, “The Mantle of Science,” unpublished paper prepared for the symposium Scientism and the Study of Man, 1958, courtesy of Justin Raimondo.
based on Rand’s fallacy of the stolen concept: An example of “the stolen concept” frequently cited by Rand is the attempt to negate reason by means of reason (Introduction to Objectivist Ethics [New York: New American Library, 1989], p. 81).
“Prior to our break with him”: MYWAR, p. 231.
Rand’s habit of self-promotion: Unpublished letter from Helmut Schoeck to James Wiggins, August 13, 1958; letter from LVM to MR, July 22, 1958. Both courtesy of Justin Raimondo.
discovered what it felt like to be someone: Unpublished letter from George Reisman to Ralph Raico, July 25, 1958, courtesy of Justin Raimondo.
He remained loyal to organized Objectivism: MR later wrote extensively about the rise and fall of the AR movement. A few years before he died, he published “My Break with Nathaniel Branden and the Rand Cult,” which gives a blow-by-blow account of his version of events. Earlier, in an essay called “The Sociology of the Ayn Rand Cult” (1972; reprinted by the Center for Libertarian Studies, 1990), he analyzed AR’s appeal.
later described his single therapeutic session: The Ayn Rand Cult, pp. 145–46; author interview with Robert Hessen, October 17, 2007.
watched Branden pace the room like a panther: “I’d rather have gone into therapy with Stalin,” Hessen told Duncan Scott of the OHP; author interview with Robert Hessen, November 2, 2007.
301 went to work as Rand’s part-time personal secretary: “The Genesis of a Great Gift,” Robert Hessen’s introduction to the auction catalog “The Papers of Ayn Rand,” Bonhams and Butterfield, November 18, 1998.
She purged him, too: OHP, Robert Hessen, November 10, 2004.
she established the atmosphere: Author interview with Shelly Reuben, November 19, 2007.
“She was very controversial”: OHP, Robert Hessen, November 10, 2004.
to declare their agreement: John Lobler, “The Curious Cult of Ayn Rand,” p. 101. A 1964 NBI brochure stated that the lectures are addressed exclusively to those who have read TF, AS, and FTNI, are in agreement with the essentials of the philosophy presented in these books, and seek an amplification (NBI brochure, 1964).