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Ayn Rand's seminal novels Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead, as well as eighteen other Rand works, are being made available as eBooks for the first time, it was announced this week when the titles went on-sale. The publication marks the first time readers will have access to these classic novels in digital formats, and comes as Rand and her work, especially the 1957 novel Atlas Shrugged, are enjoying increased sales. In the first half of 2009, Penguin Group (USA) shipped more than 300,000 copies of Atlas Shrugged-25 percent more than shipped in all of 2008.

Some journalists and television pundits have drawn parallels between the government takeover of industry detailed in Atlas Shrugged and recent federal legislation, leading to robust conversations on Rand and her Objectivist philosophy. This year, several national media outlets-including The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, BusinessWeek, FOX News Channel, and CNN-have highlighted Ayn Rand and noted the surging interest in Atlas Shrugged.

Penguin Group (USA) currently publishes Rand's fiction and nonfiction in a variety of printed formats that includes trade and mass market paperbacks, hardcovers, and box sets. The Ayn Rand eBooks are all available wherever eBooks are sold in many formats, including those compatible with the Sony Reader, Amazon Kindle, and iPhone, among others.