Peter Lawler at No Left Turns notes that Mother Teresa is considered the greatest woman of the 20th century and invites us to ponder this question: Who was the greatest female artist, novelist, poet, or philosopher of the 20th century?
Well, my vote for novelist and philosopher goes to the same woman: Ayn Rand - not because I'm particularly fond of either her main ideas or her books, but because no woman that I can think of has been more successful as a writer or more influential as a thinker. Atlas Shrugged, I read somewhere, has sold more copies in the U.S. than any book other than the Bible, and Randian devotees can be found everywhere in government and business.
I don't know that this is a good thing, but there you have it. Anybody have any other nominations?
RLC
