Barbara Branden
(1929-2013)
“When I read The Fountainhead at the age of fifteen, I would not have believed that the day could come when I would be forced to choose between Howard Roark and Ayn Rand — to choose between loyalty to the values of justice, of self-esteem, of speaking and acting according to one’s honest judgment, which the character of Howard Roark represented to me, and the woman who taught me the importance of those concepts and whom, for most of my life, I have loved, admired and honored more than any other human being.”
This Canadian writer, editor and lecturer was known best for her marriage to Nathaniel Branden and her friendship and dramatic estrangement from Ayn Rand. Barbara Branden’s book, The Passion of Ayn Rand, was a controversial but humanizing look at a woman many have trouble understanding. She also contributed the lead essay “Ayn Rand: The Reluctant Feminist” to the anthology Feminist Interpretations of Ayn Rand. She was eloquent and nuanced, as evident by the quote above.
These four women were trailblazers in setting out to bring feminism and libertarianism together, addressing the concerns of the growing feminist movement with libertarian ideas, instead of authoritarian ones. Their tradition continues, in a future list.
