Return of the Primitive: The Anti-Industrial Revolution
Encyclopedia
The New Left: The Anti-Industrial Revolution is a collection of essays by Ayn Rand
. Most of the essays originally appeared in The Objectivist. It was first published in 1971. A revised edition, adding the essay "The Age of Envy," appeared in 1975. The essays argue that religion and similar forces harm the growth of humanity.
In 1999, an expanded edition titled Return of the Primitive: The Anti-Industrial Revolution, appeared. It was edited by Peter Schwartz
and adds a new introduction by Schwartz, as well as two essays by Rand ("Racism" was included in The Virtue of Selfishness
, and "Global Balkanization" was in The Voice of Reason
) and three by Schwartz ("Gender Tribalism", "The Philosophy of Privation", and "Multicultural Nihilism").
said the book's topics "seem dated", but "as Rand's predictions about the negative results of some of the practices she rails against come about, one begins to appreciate the perceptiveness of her logic."
Ayn Rand
Ayn Rand was a Russian-American novelist, philosopher, playwright, and screenwriter. She is known for her two best-selling novels The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged and for developing a philosophical system she called Objectivism....
. Most of the essays originally appeared in The Objectivist. It was first published in 1971. A revised edition, adding the essay "The Age of Envy," appeared in 1975. The essays argue that religion and similar forces harm the growth of humanity.
In 1999, an expanded edition titled Return of the Primitive: The Anti-Industrial Revolution, appeared. It was edited by Peter Schwartz
Peter Schwartz
Peter Schwartz may refer to:* Peter Schwartz , writer and journalist* Peter Schwartz , futurist and co-founder of GBN-See also:* Peter Schwarz, German football player...
and adds a new introduction by Schwartz, as well as two essays by Rand ("Racism" was included in The Virtue of Selfishness
The Virtue of Selfishness
The Virtue of Selfishness: A New Concept of Egoism is a 1964 collection of essays and papers by Ayn Rand and Nathaniel Branden. Most of the essays originally appeared in The Objectivist Newsletter, except for "The Objectivist Ethics", which was a paper Rand delivered at the University of Wisconsin...
, and "Global Balkanization" was in The Voice of Reason
The Voice of Reason
The Voice of Reason: Essays in Objectivist Thought is a collection of essays by Ayn Rand, Leonard Peikoff, and Peter Schwartz, and edited by Leonard Peikoff...
) and three by Schwartz ("Gender Tribalism", "The Philosophy of Privation", and "Multicultural Nihilism").
Reception
The book received little attention from reviewers when it was first released. In a survey of Rand's works, historian James T. Baker described the book's essays as "shrill proclamations" that are "more negative than positive more destructive than constructive." Rand bibliographer Mimi Reisel GladsteinMimi Reisel Gladstein
Mimi Reisel Gladstein is a professor of English and Theatre Arts at the University of Texas at El Paso. Her specialties include authors such as Ayn Rand and John Steinbeck, as well as women's studies, theatre arts and 18th-century British literature.-Life and scholarship:Gladstein was born in...
said the book's topics "seem dated", but "as Rand's predictions about the negative results of some of the practices she rails against come about, one begins to appreciate the perceptiveness of her logic."