Atlas Shrugged

Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand

When Atlas Shrugged was published in 1957, critics dismissed it as melodramatic, overwrought, and didactic. The dialogue, they said, was incredibly boring, repetitive, and long-winded. Characters launched into philosophical diatribes that had little to do with the action or scene

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The Orchardist

The Orchardist, Amanda Coplin

They were two girls dressed in raggedy clothes, standing beneath the awning of the hardware store. Their faces were dirty, their hair tangled, their bodies distended. They were pregnant. Both of them. And hungry. William Talmadge had driven his wagon filled with apples and apricots to town that Sunday morning. He set up his fruit […]

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Restaurant Bar

The Republican Response

On January 20, 2009, the day Obama was inaugurated, twelve Republican lawmakers gathered in a private dining room of an exclusive Washington restaurant. The meeting lasted for four hours. Before they parted, each of the Senators and Representatives

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Divorce Court

A Separation, Best Foreign Film in 2012

A Separation, the movie that won the Oscar for Best Foreign Picture, begins in an Iranian court of law.  Simin (played by Leila Hatami) and Nadar (Peyman Moaadi), an upper-middle class couple, are seeking a divorce.  They sit before a judge and argue their case:  Simin wants to take their eleven-year-old daughter out of the […]

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