A review by karenchase
The Age of Selfishness: Ayn Rand, Morality, and the Financial Crisis by Darryl Cunningham

5.0

This is an excellent graphic bio of Ayn Rand, about whom I had a general knowledge but nothing deeper than that, and the effect her philosophy has had on the world, particularly economic and political systems. The author/artist points out several times the paradoxes present in The worldview of Rand and her disciples, and the havoc they have wreaked, particularly the e sonic crisis of 2008. I’ve consumed a lot of media about that event and its aftermath and big chunks of it remain oblique to me, but everything I read makes it a little clearer. This book goes on to describe the current state of politics, particularly in the US and UK, and how screwed we are as the world moves ever right-ward. It analyzes the differences between the right and left, characterizing the left as curious, empathetic and flexible (and diminishing), and the right as, well, everything opposite of those things. Self-serving, accusatory and fearful of change (and growing). While books like this give me insight into the world I’m living in, they also make me angry and afraid, and hopeless. I take heart that such complex stories can be told simply in a graphic format.