I have read "We The Living" twice, a couple of years apart. I got more out of it the second time and will probably read it again in the next few months. I hope that my children will read it when they are older and that they will glean the lessons that Ayn Rand prepared.

I haven't read it, but I plan to. Your comment reminded me of a recent conversation I had with another parent who's also concerned about what we're seeing done though the schools here in California. I have watched many parents I know (mostly mothers) get out and speak at rallies, meet with politicians, write editorials - all to see their efforts ignored and wasted. One of them got me on the phone and said that we need to stay and fight. I'm trying to explain to some of them that going Galt would be a better alternative. I am concerned about that Danton statement. I have seen school districts take peoples' kids away just because the parent was an irritant to the school.

As I mentioned here a while back - this is one of the great gifts from Atlas Shrugged...going Galt.

I have read the book only twice, decades apart. It meant more to me the second time, of course. The first time, it was easy to follow the surface plot as Kira struggles against a society collapsing in on itself. Andrei's suicide echoed the words of French revolutionary George Danton that revolutions are Saturns that devour their own children.

The second time through, the story was deeper. Also, my third engagement was watching the movie version. There, too, the politics of the Bolshevik revolution became the background to a love story - a story about betrayal. Leo, for whom Kira sold herself, was not worthy of her sacrifice.

"Atlas Shrugged" was Ayn Rands master work with a way to defeat socialism. But "We the Living" needs to be read to show the truth about living in a Socialist society. Written by someone who did and escaped to tell about it. Especially in today's political atmosphere.