“Atlas Shrugged” is the central work of the Russian writer abroad, Ayn Rand, translated into many languages and having a huge impact on the minds of several generations of readers. Originally combining fantasy and realism, utopia and dystopia, romantic heroics and sizzling grotesque, the author poses in a very new way the eternal “damned questions” not only in Russian literature and offers his own options for answers - sharp, paradoxical, and largely controversial. Translation from English D . V. Kostygina...."What nonsense?! - the reader will be indignant. - Some kind of Galt, Atlas... And this Rand - where did it come from?" When I first heard this name three years ago, I thought the same thing. Moreover, I heard it in an incredible context: the US Library of Congress conducted an extensive sociological survey, trying to determine which book has the most profound influence on Americans. First place, of course, was taken by the Bible, but second place... Atlas Shrugged! I couldn’t believe my eyes. What is this being done?! It seems that he is a certified philologist, but what is there - a candidate of sciences, and a suitable specialization - modern novel poetics, but in forty years of his life he had never heard of any Ayn Rand. What kind of obsession?...Who is John Galt? Sergei Golubitsky. Published in the magazine "Business Magazine" No. 16 dated August 17, 2004. http://offline.business-magazine.ru/2004/52/111381/