The Fountainhead has become an enduring piece of literature, more popular now than when published in 1943. On the surface, it is a story of one man, Howard Roark, and his struggles as an architect in the face of a successful rival, Peter Keating, and a newspaper columnist, Ellsworth Toohey. But the book addresses a number of universal themes: the strength of the individual, the tug between good and evil, the threat of fascism. The confrontation of those themes, along with the amazing stroke of Rand's writing, combine to give this book its enduring influence.


The New York Times Book Review, Lorine Pruette
Ayn Rand is a writer of great power. She has a subtle and ingenious mind and the capacity of writing brilliantly, beautifully, bitterly.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

The novel that made Ayn Rand famous, The Fountainhead is perceived as a modern classic. Taking place in New York City in the 1920s and 1930s, it chronicles the efforts of architect Howard Roark to achieve success on his own terms. It is Rand's first book to carry forth her anti-communist ideals, that individuals should think and believe independently and not allow their lives or careers to be dominated in any way by the beliefs of others. And as Roark's designs create a rub against the acceptable styles of the day, he continually is faced with selling out to the masses. But continually he refuses, and his career becomes one marked by his capacity to hold fast to his own intellectual and artistic innovation.