Guardian Columnist George Montbiot on Ayn Rand Nation

George Montbiot, the noted British writer, has a column out today in The Guardian on Ayn Rand Nation, with the title "How Ayn Rand became the new right's version of Marx."

Montbiot make the following reference to one of the book's main characters, Alan Greenspan:

Despite the many years he spent at her side, despite his previous admission that it was Rand who persuaded him that "capitalism is not only efficient and practical but also moral", [Greenspan] mentioned [Rand] in his memoirs only to suggest that it was a youthful indiscretion – and this, it seems, is now the official version. Weiss presents powerful evidence that even today Greenspan remains her loyal disciple, having renounced his partial admission of failure to Congress.

In the book I call Greenspan the "Murray Hill Candidate," programmed at an early age to assassinate regulation. He was a loyal acolyte for 30 years, a subject he has sought to submerge through obfuscation and denial.

I hope that Ayn Rand Nation sets the record straight about Greenspan's role in making the nation as vulnerable as it was to out-of-control bankers and speculators.

© 2011 Gary Weiss. All rights reserved.
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AYN RAND NATION: The Hidden Struggle for America's Soul, was published by St. Martin's Press on Feb. 28, 2012. Click here to order the book from Amazon.com, and here to buy it from Barnes & Noble. Follow me on Twitter @gary_weiss.