I cannot recommend highly enough james stevens valliants the passion of ayn rands critics the case against the brandens this really is a must read for any serious student of objectivism and its history one weapon ms rands critics never find in short supply is their ability to take the personal aspects of her life and use them as a means to discredit the entirety of her philosophy this comes as no surprise considering their lack of honest intellectual integrity. Parc passion of ayn rands critics nathaniel branden used rand as his psychotherapist for months on end in 1968 feeding her a web of lies about his feelings toward her and a younger woman with whom he had been having an affair when rand discovered this web of lies from her putative intellectual heir pretending to be the epitome of objectivist virtue she flew into a rage and cast him out of the movement. James valliants the passion of ayn rands critics the case against the brandens is the first book length critique of the brandens allegations valliants book is divided into two parts the first an analysis of several dozen claims made by the brandens about rand the second a selection of journal entries from rand concerning psychological issues that nathaniel branden revealed to her during their romantic relationship rand was happily married but had an open affair with . The passion of ayn rands critics durban house publishing 2795 by james s valliant has been blasted by its own passionate critics in both formal reviews and online discussions the books provocative subtitle the case against the brandens nathaniel and barbara branden almost guarantees that admirers of those two popular writers will assume a defensive stance but the response has been more than defensive it has verged on questioning the valliant books right to . I cannot recommend highly enough james stevens valliants the passion of ayn rands critics the case against the brandens this really is a must read for any serious student of objectivism and its history one weapon ms rands critics never find in short supply is their ability to take the personal aspects of her life and use them as a