Spark This
  • Spark This
  • About This
  • Subscribe To This
  • Search This

The Passion of Barbara Branden

12/12/2013

1 Comment

 
Picture
Sad news this morning: Barbara Branden, author of The Passion of Ayn Rand, has died at the age of 84. A close friend of Rand's for many years, she was a talented writer and an impressive human being in her own right. My girlfriend and I were fortunate enough to sit at her table at the closing banquet of one of The Atlas Society's annual conferences several years back. We were a little star struck at first, but Barbara quickly made us feel at ease.

No, she never tired of receiving praise for her biography of Rand. Yes, she would be delighted to read some of my writing if I would send her some links. (I did, and she was gracious enough to respond and offer encouragement.) It was a real gift, talking at length with this remarkable woman about Rand's life and philosophy and many other things besides. She asked us about ourselves and how we'd met, and was just generally warm and kind and keenly intelligent, as we had imagined her from her writing.

We met Barbara again a couple of times over the years, including at the 50th anniversary celebration of the publication of Atlas Shrugged, where she gave a very moving talk. Her well-balanced, objective book has helped many tens of thousands of people learn to better appreciate Ayn Rand as a human being, learn to value the work and the ideas for what they are without having to idolize, and hence dehumanize, the person. For her words and her wisdom, for her generosity and her heart, we mourn Barbara Branden's passing today.

1 Comment
Larry Deck
12/12/2013 08:22:41 am

Branden is the one who, when asked "in a free society, who would help the poor?" answered, "in a free society, if you wanted to help them, you would not be stopped." One of those things I would never have thought of saying, and yet, what other answer is there?

Reply

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Who Writes This

    Bradley Doucet is a Montreal writer and the English Editor of Le Québécois Libre.

    More of This

    June 2016
    April 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    October 2015
    June 2015
    April 2015
    February 2015
    December 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013

    Even More of This

    The Limits of Power: A review of Malcolm Gladwell's David and Goliath

    Math Education Should Be Set Free

    Santa on Trial

    What Does Greenpeace Have Against Golden Rice?

    Dear Sugar Man: Does a Nation Really Need a Charter of Values?

    To Dream a Possible Dream: MLK’s Famous Speech, 50 Years Later

    The Cost of Regulation: Why It's Worth Thinking About

    Is Government a Necessary Evil? A Review of Michael Huemer's The Problem of Political Authority

    The Planned Chaos of New Orleans, LA

    The Unplanned Order of Houston, TX

    Dynamists vs. Stasists: Virginia Postrel's The Future and Its Enemies, 15 Years Later