It Usually Begins With Ayn Rand, Revised & Updated

by Jerome Tuccille

This edition of It Usually Begins With Ayn Rand contains much of the text that appeared in the original edition revised and edited to conform to modern style plus new chapters dealing with events that took place after the book was first published. Some of the new material deals with my campaign for Governor of New York as the Free Libertarian Party candidate, a discussion of events that transpired on the American political scene after that benighted campaign, plus thoughts on my current political and spiritual leanings. The perennial success of It Usually Begins With Ayn Rand has startled no one more than me. Sales started slowly, then began to pick up over the years, until the book became an underground classic that has gained readership over the decades. It should be read as political memoir, a first-hand account of a political movement, mostly fact, but with fictional elements and hyperbole added for effect. A reviewer once said that most memoirs are neither fact nor fiction; they are the truth as the author remembers it.

So it is with It Usually Begins With Ayn Rand.

Genres: Nonfiction, Politics, Economics, Biography

267 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1972

About the author

Jerome Tuccille (c. 1937 – February 2017) was an American writer and activist usually associated with the libertarian movement of American politics.

Reviews

[Rebecca · Rating 2 out of 5]

It took me a long time to finish this book because it is pretty bad, despite being funny and illuminating about libertarianism from the inside. The first bit, about the 1960s and 1970s is better than the second part, when the author loses most of the sense of humor that kept the first part of the book readable and just genuflects to Reagan, while blaming everything that didn't work out in his admin on his advisors. His representations of the New Left and even liberalism are also laughably off-base, mostly adhering to libertarian talking points. Still, it's shorter than the terrible book by Brian Doherty, so that is a point in its favor.

[Harry Rutherford · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tuccille's memoir of a life as a Libertarian activist. I saw it recommended somewhere as an entertaining read even if you're not a Libertarian, and I agree that it is, with a couple of caveats.

This is the 'revised and updated' version — the original was published in 1971 — and the stuff he added to bring it up to date is the book's major problem. The early stuff, about the cult surrounding Ayn Rand, about going to Libertarian conferences and the colourful and downright peculiar characters who turned up at the them, running as the Libertarian candidate for Mayor of New York, and about the endless schisming and infighting in search of ideological purity: all that is lively, entertaining and has a sense of humour about itself.

The later bits, the chapters about the administrations of Reagan , the Bushes and Clinton, don't have nearly as much detailed colour and just lack any kind of zing. The particular libertarian angle doesn't do enough to distinguish it from any other post-mortem of recent history. And the book ends with an interview he gave to a libertarian publication which is a bit dull and just tends to repeat his earlier views.

Also a warning about the Kindle edition: they man-aged to cock up the hyphenation in con-verting it for the Kindle, so there are lots of words which have hyphens in the midd-le of them. Which is REALLY QUITE ANNOYING. Although on the upside, the Kindle edition was only £2.12, which is why I took a punt on it in the first place.

So, although I did genuinely enjoy the earlier bits, if you are going to read it I'd suggest picking up a cheap second-hand copy of the paper edition and skipping the last few chapters.

[Steven H · Rating 5 out of 5]

AN AMUSING AND ENGAGING JOURNEY THROUGH THE LIBERTARIAN MOVEMENT

Jerome Tuccille is an American libertarian writer and activist, who was the Free Libertarian Party of New York's 1974 gubernatorial candidate. He is also the author of a sequel to this book, 'The Gospel According to Ayn Rand, It Still Begins With Ayn Rand.'

This book was written in 1971. He wrote in the first chapter, "It usually begins with Ayn Rand. The young crusader in search of a cause enters the world of 'The Fountainhead' or 'Atlas Shrugged' ... The quest is over. Here is all the truth you've been looking for contained in the tightly packed pages of two gargantuan novels... It is all quite heady, this stuff, when fed in massive doses to the impressionable young mind all at once. It is especially appealing to those in the process of escaping a regimented, religious background... ripe for conversion to some form of religion-substitute to fill the vacuum... You realize you can't go home again, but where do you go? And then you discover Galt's Gulch... and you know everything is going to be all right forevermore... You've become a devout Objectivist."

Although formerly a "convert," Tuccille ultimately could not accept the idea that "altruism was responsible for all the ills afflicting the world." Then, he rejected Rand's theory of literature, as "it was a bit difficult to accept the theory that naturalism and comedy were immoral and anti-life, or that Mickey Spillane and Ian Fleming were the greatest living practitioners of the romanticism of Victor Hugo." (Pg. 13-14)

He notes that Libertarian Murray Rothbard (a former "insider" of Rand) was denounced at a meeting for not smoking cigarettes. (Pg. 24) After Rothbard had long since broken with Rand, Tuccille reports a disagreement between Rothbard and Walter Block, where Block argued that the movement was too small to start worrying about "deviationists," whereas Rothbard countered, "We aim for quality, not quantity." (Pg. 105)

Tuccille was dismayed when the New York Times ran a favorable article on the Libertarian movement: "once the Times starts in, you might as well put a lock on the door and close up shop. You'll never build a sane movement and keep out the crazies once you're discovered by the New York Times." (Pg. 147-148) He soon observed that the basic tenets of libertarianism didn't frighten liberals so much anymore. "How could libertarian principles be totally 'reactionary' when some of the leading intellectuals of the radical Left were espousing them?" (Pg. 151)

This book and its sequel are of considerable import for those interested in libertarianism, Objectivism, anarchism, or related social movements.

[Jon]

Tuccille combined political analysis with autobiography in this tale of how he moved from being an Ayn Rand fanatic to trying to create--if only for himself--a libertarian synthesis of left- and right-wing ideas. As someone who's never read a word of Rand and who came to libertarianism from the opposite route Tuccille took, I found this little-known polemic to be fascinating reading. (Tuccille saw the humor of his own obscurity, stating at one point that his previous book RADICAL LIBERTARIANISM sold "six or seven copies.") Interestingly, Tuccille disputes the common view that the NY "hardhat riots" of 1969 were staged by Chuck Colson and other Nixon flunkeys, and claims to have heard some construction workers bragging about beating up hippies the next day. (I suspect that was fantasy on their part and that in this case, Nixon really was the one.) This is a look at 60s politics and culture from an unusual perspective, from someone who was there. A later edition apparently includes additional material about Tuccille's run for Governor of NY State on the Libertarian ticket, but I haven't seen that version.

[Wesley Kushner · Rating 3 out of 5]

Starts out interesting enough, as a historical romp through the libertarian movement in America. Tuccille gives an over the top account of big name players that's insightful and hilarious. However, much like the American libertarian movement, it gets repetitive and obnoxious as the same arguments happen over and over again.

[Gordana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quite amusing

[BradMD · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting. About the libertarian movement.

[Gerardo Herrera · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not a very well written book. Many editing errors. The narrative is unorganized. It is entertaining at times, however.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

That was a trip.

[Steven H · Rating 5 out of 5]

THE SEQUEL TO TUCCILLE'S POPULAR 1971 BOOK

Jerome Tuccille is an American libertarian writer and activist, who was the Free Libertarian Party of New York's 1974 gubernatorial candidate. He is also the author of the forerunner to this 1999 book, the 1971 'It Usually Begins With Ayn Rand,' as well as other books.

The first part of the book describes his experiences running for Governor. "It didn't take me long to realize that the candidate was the least powerful person in a campaign... I was a libertarian wind-up doll. 'Speak, candidate, speak! Give them speech number seven tonight.'" (Pg. 27) Furthermore, Percy Greaves' (whose "anti-Semitism was incorrigible") challenge of the FLP's petition signatures would make them "the first political party in American history whose right to be on the ballot was questioned by one of its own candidates." (Pg. 44-45) He noted of one crowd that they were a one-issue crowd: "All they cared about was getting stoned. And all they had to do to get stoned with impunity was vote the Free Libertarian ticket." (Pg. 57) Still, he admitted that the message he was delivering to such "brain-dead zombies" didn't go over too well in suburbia. (Pg. 68)

In time, the FLP began to change its image in order to get more media attention: "we had become what the media wanted us to be." (Pg. 63) But ultimately, not only did the FLP fail to garner their hoped-for 50,000 votes, NONE of the minor-party candidates had, either. "At one o'clock in the morning we conceded defeat and went home." (Pg. 77)

Still, the movement went on: Ronald Reagan was "the greatest hope for a libertarian revolution since the Tuccille for Governor campaign of 1974." (Pg. 99) Yet in the end, Reagan "blew a once-in-a-century opportunity to reverse the statist path that nation had taken for more than 50 years." (Pg. 117)

He concludes by suggesting "Objectivism with a Divine Face," or "Deistic Randianism"; where Rand would have tempered her creed of selfishness with a measure of spirituality. "Rand's fatal flaw was her arrogance in setting herself up as a High Priestess of an atheistic cult when, in the end, she was just as human as anyone else." (Pg. 159) He suggests that many of the tactics advocated in her novels will have to be adopted by those who are determined to live life on their own terms. "Nothing else is going to work." (Pg. 175)

Tuccille's book and its predecessor will be of great interest to Objectivists, libertarians, and other free spirits.