"Capitalism: The Unknown ideal" is a book that expands your mind and clarifies many common misunderstandings regarding capitalism. Ayn Rand speaks about the separation of state and economy and explains that man can survive only in an environment that protects knowledge and trade.

Ayn Rand #1 for me. I chose this book instead of Atlas Shrugged or The Fountainhead, because this is a subject that I'm vaguely aware of. Rand attacks every economic system other than capitalism. This is by no means an economics treatise. She acknowledges the need for a free-market(no intervention from Govt), why businessmen are the scapegoats for any market failure.

Capitalism is the only economic system which protects the individual rights. The period 1814-1914 is the only century marked in history to have no major wars, astonishing, curiously this is also the only complete capitalistic era. Capitalism is the only system in which the nation prospers through production. It creates competition in the market, which ensures best production techniques and prices. The American Dream was made possible and European Brain-Drain was due to capitalism.

This book is very much readable.
I vote for Laissez-Faire markets, in my country, India, which is a mixed economy.

Do I admire the philosophical works of Ayn Rand because I agree with her, or because they're precisely written? Both.

Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal is above book review. It demands a higher level of evaluations: a list of absolutes.

- Every sentence that contains the word welfare also contains the word Fascists - so true.

- She posits that the most oppressed people in the United States are not women, blacks, gays, but entrepreneurs. The sad truth lies in the fact, that US are but one example of such disastrous attitude. She understands that using word "men" is not gender oriented, but linguistic shorthand for "human". For human (individual) interest is dthe driver for both individual satisfaction and civilization's development.

- Saying the U. S. is already too Socialist is perhaps surprising for those that do not understand the prerequisites for freedom, but not for free man (and women, to be politically correct, sorry.

- That Alan Greenspan contributes an "essay" to this volume is ilustrous enough set-up; his theory that laws protecting the consumer (eg: Pure Food and Drug Act) decrease freedom delivers deep but simple nsights into laws gowerning exchange of goods.

- That the book reads like a dual advertisement for The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged. The ever charitable Ayn Rand Institute has kindly included a coupon one can send to Leonard Peikoff for a few dozen more copies of those august novels. All this proves that she was ahead of time regarding marketing.

- The essay stating that the "free" (read: liberal) market make a monopoly impossible. States, with their anti-trust laws, are the magical source of all monopolies with their mixes economy fallacy.

- That the cover art depicts a factory off of Captain Planet's most wanted list. Is this the ideal she speaks of?

- Her surreal, free-form attack on the Berkley anti-war movement; this passage must be read to be believed, although it can never be fully understood by those that tied to prejudices.

- Her precise, yet rich prose style. She wants to be Aristotle in objectivity, but overpasses him, who had no privilege to live in capitalism.

And remember: these are just some of the highlights of this masterpiece. Gentle reader, many more gems await.

One of the best books I've ever read on capitalism, period. Easy to read, powerfully written, and unexpectedly profound, Rand covers everything from the introduction of statism into the American economy to crony capitalism to common myths about free markets and the inevitable results of bad philosophy on daily life. Absolutely worth sharing -- will make you wary of commies and leftists in general.

Do I hate the "philosophical" works of Ayn Rand because I disagree with her, or because they're atrociously written? Both.

Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal is below book review. It demands a an even more vulgar form of critique: a list of failures.

- Every sentence that contains the word welfare also contains the word Fascist.

- She posits that the most oppressed people in the United States are not women, African-Americans, gays, but-wait for it-rich businessmen (emphasis on "men"). At last a voice for the underclass! As corporate Fascists buy public policy, I'm sure there are many may agree with Rand that we need an "ACLU for businessmen," but I remain unconvinced. At least "radical capitalist" (read: capitalist crazy) Murray Rothbard somewhat understood the evils of big business, and condemned Rand for her rabid worship of robber barons.

- Saying the U. S. is already too Socialist is like saying a fetus is too old.

- That Alan Greenspan contributes an "essay" to this volume is a humorous enough set-up; his theory that laws protecting the consumer (eg: Pure Food and Drug Act) decrease freedom delivers the comedic goods.

- That the book reads like a dual advertisement for The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged. The ever charitable Ayn Rand Institute has kindly included a coupon one can send to Leonard Peikoff for a few dozen more copies of those august novels.

- The essay stating that the "free" (read: social-Darwinist) market make a monopoly impossible. States, with their anti-trust laws, are the magical source of all monopolies.

- That the cover art depicts a factory off of Captain Planet's most wanted list. Is this the "ideal" she speaks of?

- Her surreal, free-form attack on the Berkley anti-war movement; this passage must be read to be believed, although it can never be fully understood.

- Her ghastly prose style.

And remember: these are just some of the highlights of this masterpiece. Gentle reader, many more gems await.

Ayn Rand was once asked if she could present the essence of her philosophy while standing on one foot. She answered: Metaphysics: Objective Reality; Epistemology: Reason; Ethics: Self-interest; Politics: Capitalism. I first encountered Ayn Rand through her works of fiction as a young woman barely out of my teens. Back then I was already an atheist, one with a great belief in science and reason. There was nothing in her "metaphysics" or "epistemology" that I found the least bit surprising or controversial--indeed in essentials I already agreed with her. Her ethics and her politics were a different story. I remember reading Atlas Shrugged and thinking "you crazy bitch." But she did touch off a revolution in my thinking, changing me from a liberal to a libertarian.

Do I agree with everything within these pages? Well, let's say there is still much of it where I have doubts, and where I feel uneasy about her prescriptions. Her views are radical--and she knew it and was unapologetic about it. But at least at the time I picked this book up, I had literally never encountered her arguments. When I read it was (barely) pre-blogosphere, before the rise of talk radio or FOX News. What I knew of history and public policy from my New York City public education made Franklin Roosevelt, Jack Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson the heroes of our times. I had never heard a dissenting voice from that. I don't know that I--or readers new to this book--would find this such a fresh perspective now. But I did--and it really made me think and go read more.

I finally finished CAPITALISM: THE UNKNOWN IDEAL by Ayn Rand. I'd been struggling with it, because she writes with a precision and intensity on which my lazy reading style has difficulty focusing. Regardless, she nails it. I'll have to write a book about it sometime. I recommend it.

The first 3 chapters are particularly cogent on individual rights and economic freedom. From Chp. 1:

"Is man a sovereign individual who owns his person, his mind, his life, his work and its products—or is he the property of the tribe (the state, the society, the collective) that may dispose of him in any way it pleases, that may dictate his convictions, prescribe the course of his life, control his work and expropriate his products? Does man have the right to exist for his own sake—or is he born in bondage, as an indentured servant who must keep buying his life by serving the tribe but can never acquire it free and clear?"

THAT is the question, isn't it? And her answer:

"Capitalism is a social system based on the recognition of individual rights, including property rights, in which all property is privately owned."

CUI - 22. The Cashing-In: The Student "Rebellion", about the 1960's student occupation of Berkeley and the Free Speech Movement is compelling in its applicability to the current occupation of the Wisconsin State House by protesting public workers.

Says Ayn:

"But there is no justification, in a civilized society, for the kind of mass civil disobedience that involves the violation of the rights of others—regardless of whether the demonstrators' goal is good or evil. The end does not justify the means. No one's rights can be secured by the violation of the rights of others. Mass disobedience is an assault on the concept of rights: it is a mob's defiance of legality as such.

The forcible occupation of another man's property or the obstruction of a public thoroughfare is so blatant a violation of rights that an attempt to justify it becomes an abrogation of morality. An individual has no right to do a "sit-in" in the home or office of a person he disagrees with—and he does not acquire such a right by joining a gang. Rights are not a matter of numbers—and there can be no such thing, in law or in morality, as actions forbidden to an individual, but permitted to a mob."

My copy of this book is so highlighted and written in that it is almost an entirely different book! One of the great defenses of TRUE capitalism, not the watered down version we have today, which politicians would like us to THINK is a free market.

Read it and you will see what I am talking about. Even if you HATE capitalism and think that the world is being run by giant, evil corporations and the only way to keep them in line is to have the government pull the reigns in, you should STILL read this book.

This book is a series of essays by Ayn Rand and others, including former Chairman of the Federal Reserve Alan Greenspan. They were written mostly from 1962 to 1967.

Reading these in 2017 is interesting in that it illustrates that the arguments and issues (and even the names!) have not changed in the intervening 50 years. You will read about students at the University of California Berkeley using violence in the name of free speech to suppress speech with which they disagree and California Governor Brown's response to that violence. Elsewhere in the book you can examine wealth redistribution, socialism, the welfare state and what Governor Romney has to say about it. This could have been written today and, indeed, the issues are as important as they were then.

Ayn Rand makes the moral case for capitalism versus "statism" or "collectivism" which inlcudes communism and socialism. Her discussions about the role and nature of government is what stands out the most to me because it gets to the very fundamental philosophy of the U.S. constitution and why it is structured the way it is. There are some points with which I disagree but on the whole I come down strongly on the side of capitalism and individual freedom.

If this is the only book that you were to read on capitalism it might not be that persuasive so I would strongly recommend supplementing this with other books such as Milton and Rose Friedman's "Free to Choose," Thomas Sowell's "A Conflict of Visions" and "Basic Economics," Friedrich Hayek's "The Road to Serfdom," "The Federalist Papers" and at least a good summary of Adam Smith's "The Wealth of Nations."

The problem of alienation and the problem of personal identity are inseparable. The man who lacks a firm sense of personal identity feels alienated; the man who feels alienated lacks a firm sense of personal identity.

Read it! Read it! Read it! If you want to know why capitalism works read this book! This should be a must read for any public official or anybody who intends to venture into an intellectual debate about the virtues of the various economic systems. This book was the first purely economic book I ever read and started my leg-tingling love affair with studying the free market.

I finished this book, but I'm not finished with this topic or this author. Ayn Rand's philosophy resonates with me and is relevant today. It took me two readings to start to understand it, so be patient and stick with it.