Why Ayn Rand's Dystopian Sci-Fi Story was Rejected by Two Television Networks

For those of you who were assigned to read Ayn Rand's 1957 novel "Atlas Shrugged" in high school, you have my deepest sympathies. Running over 1,100 pages, the book is a massively pedantic, defensive, argumentative tome that is more interested in philosophy and making strawman arguments than telling a story or getting involved in a fascinating drama. And, to make matters worse, its central ideas are of dubious value at best. You may be familiar with the following joke: There are two works of literature one can read in high school that will ruin their life, namely "Atlas Shrugged" and...