-> ''"For twelve years, you have been asking: [[ArcWords Who is John Galt?]] [[DoNotAdjustYourSet This is John Galt speaking.]] I am the man who loves his life. I am the man who does not sacrifice his love or his values. I am the man who has deprived you of victims and thus has destroyed your world, and if you wish to know why you are perishing–you who dread knowledge–I am the man who will now tell you."''

It's TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture. The government is [[AmericanPoliticalSystem evil and stupid]], intent on [[TheTwoCertaintiesInBritain draining]] the decent, productive, people dry. The average Joe is clamped hard on the [[MarySuetopia government teat]], and [[VillainWithGoodPublicity happy about it]]. The people are LesCollaborateurs, busy [[CorruptCorporateExecutive gaming]] the system for every drop before it crashes, or [[UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans self-deluded]] fools certain they can fix everything with just a LITTLE more control. There is no [[LaResistance resistance]].

Worse, the [[ApatheticCitizens few people]] who are still productive are disappearing, one by one.

Welcome to the world of AynRand's ''AtlasShrugged''.

In case you don't get the title, in Greek mythology Atlas carried the celestial sphere on his back; as Hank and Francisco [[TitleDrop discuss during the book]], if he ever tired of carrying that weight on his shoulders, all he needed to do was shrug, and it would fall off. Of course, the myth actually describes Atlas as holding the ''sky'' on his back, and Zeus would probably [[DieHard stick a bolt of lightning up his ass]] for dropping either, but whatever.

It's [[{{Understatement}} controversial]]. It's hated universally by Socialists and the rest of the left wing. Even most of the right wing hate this book for its unrepentant atheism and refusal to be reverent towards tradition and authority. It's written as a fast-paced (insofar as much as this kind of novel can be fast-paced) action story so don't expect particularly complex characterization (characters are basically just avatars of ideas and little else). There's a good chance that you'll hate it purely for the Aesops it presents. [[LoveItOrHateIt If you don't end up hating it, it is quite possible the book will significantly alter your worldview in at least some areas]]. Many of Rand's readers have claimed the book 'changed their life.'

It's also a fertile source of both inspiration and mockery, and a prime target of literary "TakeThat" ever since its publication:
* The video game ''{{Bioshock}}'' riffs on the themes of Objectivism (although whether or not ''{{Bioshock}}'' is in fact a TakeThat is debated).
* The famous Dorothy Parker quote, "[[WallBanger This is not a novel to be tossed aside lightly. It should be thrown with great force]]," is in reference to ''Atlas Shrugged''. (Or to Benito Mussolini's ''The Cardinal's Mistress,'' nobody seems sure of that.)
* ''South Park'' "Yes, at first I was happy to be learning how to read. It seemed exciting and magical, but then I read this: Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand. I read every last word of this garbage, and because of this piece of shit, I am never reading again." However, this line is stated by a very stereotypical, ignorant redneck police officer, so [[YourMileageMayVary whether or not this is good or bad publicity is debateable]].
* TerryGoodkind incorporated many themes from it in his [[SwordOfTruth later work]].
* Anton [=LaVey=] cribbed snippets of it wholesale (whilst significantly altering the moral message of the book, as well as adding a whole bunch of Enochian mysticism) to write the Satanic Bible.
* A number of prominent Republicans (many of whom [[strike:are also]] claim to be Evangelical Christians), have begun to publicly embrace the values in this and other Ayn Rand books.
** As have a number of prominent Democrats, such as Camille Paglia. In the cases of both Democrats and Republicans that have voiced support for some ideas promoted in Atlas Shrugged, their agreement on these points should not be construed as agreement with the whole package of Objectivism.
* The list goes on.

The book is most widely known for its condemnation of altruism and support of free-market capitalism; however, there are less shocking but equally prominent, and often much more inspiring, messages that are often ignored. For example, Rand discards the idea that the natural state of mankind is suffering, and encourages a more optimistic view: Joy should not be a rare, ephemeral state, but the normal and constant one for every rational human being. Additionally, even the more shocking messages are regularly misrepresented; Rand used Auguste Comte's definition of "altruism," i.e. ''that man must live for others'', which is a much stronger statement than what most people are thinking of when they hear about altruism (the common definition of altruism is more akin to "benevolence," which Objectivist intellectuals such as Dr. David Kelley have defended as virtuous (see Kelley's ''Unrugged Individualism'' for more on this)). Additionally, when she says free-market capitalism, she means it in the same way that economists such as Hayek and Mises meant it; the government neither hinders ''nor helps'' any participant in the market, and exists only to prevent the initiation of force/violence, fraud/deception or threats thereof by any individual or party. She was by no means defending the CorruptCorporateExecutive that most people think of when they hear the word "capitalism."

For those that are interested in the technical details of Rand's ideas, [[UsefulNotesObjectivism there is a Useful Notes page on Objectivism]].

To be clear, this page is about describing AtlasShrugged. If you wish to evaluate it, please feel free to contribute to the review section. No [[ComplainingAboutShowsYouDontLike complaining about philosophies you disagree with]], please.

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!!Spoiler-font is ''off'' for this work. Five year rule.

!!This book provides examples of:

* AlternateHistory - A possible explanation that has been proposed for importance of radios, trains, and the lack of post-WWII technology is that the timeline splits around the '30s when FDR is elected, resulting in decades of stagnation, and major events such as World War II never happened in this universe.
* {{Anvilicious}} - Whether or not you agree with the anvils, it's clear that the book would be nowhere near as successful without them.
* AppliedPhlebotinum - John Galt is a GadgeteerGenius with cast-iron lungs; Galt's Motor, Galt's Gulch's InvisibilityCloak, Galt's CoolPlane... There's also [[strike:Rearden]] "Miracle" Metal, and Project Xylophone(which also contains [[MadeOfExplodium Explodium]]).
* ArcWords - "Who is John Galt?"; "How am I to know?", "Who are you to judge/think?", "He'll do ''something''!"
* {{Atlantis}} - John Galt's preferred nickname for [[strike:Galt's Gulch]] Mulligan's Valley.
* AuthorFilibuster - If not the TropeNamer, the TropeCodifier.
* AuthorTract - Ditto.
* BalanceBetweenGoodAndEvil - Actively subverted: Rand's view was that evil is a parasite on the good of the world, which cannot survive without ''willing'' virtues to loot.
* {{Beauty Equals Goodness}} - All of the protagonists and members of Galt's Gulch are described as being exceptionally attractive, while the villains are generally described as pudgy and watery eyed. To be fair, however, Rand might have been trying to say that being talented, hard working, and passionate ''makes'' you attractive, and not the other way around.
* BettyAndVeronica - Hank Rearden and Francisco D'Anconia, with John Galt as CherylBlossom.
** Rand also [[DeconstructedTrope deconstructs the trope]] with the actress who joined the strike because she was typecast as the Veronica -- she was tired of having to play characters who were more interesting than the Betties in formula films while always losing to them in the end.
* BrokenPedestal - Dr. Robert Stadler, brilliant and idealistic scientist who becomes just another part of the looters' machine.
* CainAndAbel - James and Dagny Taggart; Phillip and Hank Rearden.
* CharacterFilibuster - A ''three hour long'' speech appears verbatim, ''right before the climax''. After that, the rest look like zingers.
* [[ComplainingAboutShowsYouDontLike Complaining About Philosophies You Don't Like]] - What this page often ends up enduring.
* TheDarkSideWillMakeYouForget - Dr. Stadler
* {{Deconstruction}} - The chapter detailing the fate of the Twentieth Century Motor Company is a deconstruction of the Marxist slogan "From Each According to Ability, To Each According to Need." Ultimately, the plot of the novel is intended to be a deconstruction of traditional (i.e. altruistic) moral principles.
* DespairEventHorizon - Cheryl
* DoNotAdjustYourSet - Your radio set, anyway.
* DoorStopper - It's nearly as long as the Bible, and is one of the longest fiction novels in English.
** Add the various essays by associates and it beats the motel-room deskwarmer soundly.
* DrivingQuestion - The ArcWords.
* EditWar - What this page often ends up enduring.
* ElectricTorture - Project F. Subverted in that once the machine breaks, ''none of the torturers know how to fix it.'' Galt calmly explains how to repair it, and a EurekaMoment ensues; They can't even '''hurt''' Galt without his assistance, and the {{Ubermensch}} '''''does not want to play anymore!''''' Cue the VillainousBreakdown!
* [[FallenHero Fallen Mentor]] - Dr. Stadler was one of Galt, Danneskjold, and d'Anconia's mentors in college.
* FamilyUnfriendlyAesop - MoralGuardians from all over the political spectrum flew into utter outrage at the content of this book (note: this does not imply anything at all about whether or not the aesops presented in this book are true or false). Gore Vidal (leftist) said Rand's philosophy was "perfect in its immorality," and the National Review's Whittaker Chambers (former Communist who became a Christian conservative) said that from every page in this book he could hear a voice calling "to a [[GodwinsLaw gas chamber]], go!" Thus, regardless of whether or not one agrees or disagrees with the aesops presented in Atlas Shrugged, they clearly fall under the category of "family unfriendly." Ayn Rand was no ally of traditional moral beliefs, after all.
* FakeUltimateHero - James plays this to Cherryl after they meet.
* FalseFlagOperation - The siege of the Rearden Steel plant, which was planned to be passed off as a workers' riot to encourage Hank to accept the Steel Unification Plan.
* GoodPeopleHaveGoodSex - Dagny's affair with married man Hank Rearden is portrayed as an exalted, beautiful and fulfilling relationship, wheras Hank's wife (a villain) believes SexIsEvil and uses Hank's guilt over his fondness for sex to control and manipulate him.
* {{Gotterdammerung}} - Rand saw the "[[SelfMadeMan men of the mind]]" as Gods...
* HannibalLecture - John Galt, when he's held captive by the looters.
* HeelRealization - Taggart has one, then [[GoMadFromTheRevelation goes nuts]], after realizing that he wants to break Galt's spirit even if it kills both Galt and himself.
* HeroWithBadPublicity - Intentionally.
* HoldingOutForAHero - One of the central themes of the book, the looters can't get anything done on their own. At one point, the government asks John Galt for help. He says no.
* HonorBeforeReason - Eddie Willers' last-ditch expedition to re-establish transcontinental rail service. Dagny tries but fails to talk him out of it. See above under FamilyUnfriendlyAesop for the results.
* HiddenElfVillage - Galt's Gulch
* HoYay\{{Bromance}} -- Hank Rearden and Francisco d'Anconia. "Greatest conquest" indeed.
* InferredHolocaust - Actually ''stated.'' When the lights of New York go out, Galt's Gulch is the ''last'' industrial power on Earth.
* InsultBackfire - Midas Mulligan, banker and striker; he legally changed his name from "Michael" when his enemies gave him the nickname.
* ItsAllJunk - Hank Rearden, when he realizes and accepts that his company, Rearden Steel, is a lost cause.
* IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy - Deconstructed, but ''still'' played straight; Rand defined Romantic love as a capitalist exchange of values like any other; affection for affection, gratification for gratification. Under this definition, a {{Yandere}} would be just another Looter, gratifying themselves with their "beloved's" pain -- better to break it off cleanly. And one vertex of a love triangle breaking away before things are settled will only leave ''everyone'' bitter about what could have been.
* IWasJustPassingThrough - This trope is virtually a way of life for the strikers.
* JustBeforeTheEnd - The entire book is the fall of industrial society.
* JustLikeRobinHood - ''[[{{Inversion}} inverted]]'' with Ragnar Danneskjold.
* KarmaHoudini - A lot of minimally bad people die horribly, but quickly. Worse people take longer to die, but even ''more'' horribly.
* KickTheDog - Dr. Stadler admitting to Dagny that the State Science Institute is launching a smear campaign against Rearden Metal because it makes them look incompetent.
* KingIncognito - John Galt spent his time out of the Gulch as an unskilled laborer at Taggart Transcontinental -- the same one Eddie Willers exposited to regularly.
* LostWorld - Galt's Gulch, where industry produces miracles like it used to.
* LoveDodecahedron - Revolving around Dagny.
* LoveItOrHateIt - In a questionably representative 1991 survey, it was rated the second most influential book in America, closely following the Bible but with more or less the opposite message. Naturally, reactions tend to be... mixed.
* LoveRedeems - Subverted by James Taggart's courtship of Cherryl Brooks from the dime store.
* MarySue - Dagny Taggart. Or more specifically:
** PuritySue - ''Dagny Taggart'', who pretty much exists as the embodiment of everything Ayn Rand wants to be and has practically the whole world eating from her hands. It's actually rather scary how much ''more'' of a MarySue she is than a ton of characters from hastily typed up fanfiction.
** RelationshipSue - John Galt, who, along with being the perfect man for [[strike:Ayn Rand]] Dagny Taggart, also holds the dual purpose of being a plot enabler for her (since even Rand herself seemed to think that men were inherently more capable within society).
** SuetifulAllAlong - Dagny, again.
* MisaimedFandom
* MeaningfulName - In addition to the character last names being a sign of their personality, companies with the names of people strapped to them are usually good, while companies with names like National, United or Amalgamated are ObviouslyEvil[[TradeSnark ™]].
* MemeticMutation - "Who is John Galt?"
* NiceJobBreakingItHero - Dagny accidentally ''leads'' the Looters to Galt.
* NuclearWeaponsTaboo - Nukes may have not yet even been around when the idea behind Project Xylophone came together.
* {{Pirate}} - Ragnar Danneskjold, who is also an AlternateCharacterInterpretation of ''RobinHood'' that walks like a man.
* PropagandaMachine - The press, as seen starting with the campaign to slander Rearden Metal.
* ProtectionFromEditors - The reason for its length.
* RailroadBaron - Dagny and James Taggart.
* RedemptionEqualsDeath - Tony the "Wet Nurse"
* TheRedSonja - Dagny Taggart
* RichIdiotWithNoDayJob - This is Francisco d'Anconia's ObfuscatingStupidity.
* SadisticChoice - The Tunnel Disaster is a series of these for everyone involved who was paying attention.
* ScienceMarchesOn - Trains and radios being impressively important, a copper-iron alloy is set to replace steel, palm-activated locks are popular...
**Her idea of the copper-iron alloy is also a case of YouFailPhysicsForever.
* ScrewTheRulesIHaveConnections - The bonds of [[{{Blackmail}} "friendship"]] among the looters, a.k.a. the "Aristocracy of Pull".
* ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney - Hank Rearden resorts to this when he finally decides to divorce his wife Lillian.
* ScrewTheRulesIMakeThem - The looters frequently resort to "public-spirited" laws with [[LoopholeAbuse huge loopholes]] meant to hurt their enemies, like the "Anti Dog-Eat-Dog Rule" or Directive 10-289.
* SelfMadeMan - Hank Rearden, John Galt.
** Francisco d'Anconia abandons his wealth and secretly works at a copper mine for ten years, rising to run it, just so he can prove he could be one.
* SeriousBusiness - A whole philosophy and cult of personality sprang up around Ayn Rand and her literature.
* SmugSnake - If you're not a Striker or a {{Muggle}}, you're a Looter and smug about it. But ''especially'' Dr. Floyd "Why Do You Think You Think" Ferris.
* StrawmanPolitical - Pretty much all of them, including the good guys.
* TakeThat - Earns more than a few, and throws more than a few at FranklinDRoosevelt and similar politicians.
* TakingYouWithMe - Oil tycoon Ellis Wyatt sets his fields ablaze as a parting shot before disappearing.
* [[TalkingTheMonsterToDeath Talking The Reader To Death]]
* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech - John Galt's Speech, three whole hours of uninterrupted castigating that no one can escape from.
* TitleDrop - Unintentional, with the novel being renamed as publication neared.
* [[TooKinkyToTorture Too ]][[strike:Kinky]] ''[[TooKinkyToTorture Confident]]'' [[TooKinkyToTorture To Torture]]; He ''is'' John Galt.
* {{Ubermensch}} - John Galt.
* TheUnfettered - Galt
* UnluckyChildhoodFriend - Eddie Willers; Francisco d'Anconia.
* UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans - The government, the public, [[strike:arguably]] the heroes. Pretty much everybody. Done intentionally.
* TheVamp - Lillian Rearden, who we discover married Hank just to drive him to have an affair and break his spirit.
* VillainWithGoodPublicity - The looters in general.
* WallBanger - If you can get through the Tunnel Disaster ''and'' the 60-page, three-hour speech without knocking a hole in the wall, more power to you.
* WeCanRuleTogether - The looters try to make this offer to Galt at gunpoint after ''the speech''. By the end, they're torturing him to force him to become their leader.
* YeGoodeOldeDays - The Looters look at the collapse of industrial civilization with a degree of satisfaction as a return to these; Dagny is present as they comment on the stability of newformed Indian feudalism, and is horrified when none care about how many are suffering and dying for lack of modern [[strike:necessities]] luxuries such as ''drinkable water.''
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