Try free for 30 days

  • The Fountainhead

  • By: Ayn Rand
  • Narrated by: Edward Herrmann
  • Length: 8 hrs and 27 mins
  • 4.8 out of 5 stars (54 ratings)

A 30-day trial plus your first audiobook free.
1 credit/month after trial—to buy any title you like, yours to keep.
Listen all you want to a selection of thousands of Audible Originals, audiobooks and podcasts.
$16.45 a month after 30 day trial. Cancel anytime.
The Fountainhead cover art

The Fountainhead

By: Ayn Rand
Narrated by: Edward Herrmann
Free with 30-day trial

$16.45/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for $26.99

Buy Now for $26.99

Pay using voucher balance (if applicable) then card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions Of Use and Privacy Notice and authorise Audible to charge your designated credit card or another available credit card on file.

Publisher's Summary

The Fountainhead studies the conflict between artistic genius and social convention, a theme Ayn Rand later developed into the idealistic philosophy knows as Objectivism. Rand's hero is Howard Roark, a brilliant young architect who won't compromise his integrity, especially in the unconventional buildings he designs. Roark is engaged in ideological warfare with a society that despises him, an architectural community that doesn't understand him, and a woman who loves him but wants to destroy him. His struggle raises questions about society's attitude toward revolutionaries. Since this book's publication in 1943, Rand's controversial ideas have made her one of the best-selling authors of all time.
©1943 The Bobbs-Merrill Company, renewed 1971 Ayn Rand (P)1994 Penguin-HighBridge Audio

Critic Reviews

"Ayn Rand is a writer of great power. She has a subtle and ingenious mind and the capacity of writing brilliantly, beautifully, bitterly." (The New York Times)

What listeners say about The Fountainhead

Average Customer Ratings
Overall
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    46
  • 4 Stars
    7
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    1
Performance
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    35
  • 4 Stars
    5
  • 3 Stars
    2
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Story
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    36
  • 4 Stars
    4
  • 3 Stars
    2
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Fictional story with Rand’s philosophy of altruism tied in marvellously.

Cute story. Narrated well. Fictional story with Rand’s philosophy of altruism tied in marvellously. Love

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Perfectly suited narrator to a great classic story.

A sublime story, with characters of depth and greatly nuanced. Sadly we have far too many Tooheys running and teaching in today’s world and far too few Roarks. A book with relationships written with such depth that, unsurprisingly, feminists over the last decades have been unable to either grasp the complexities or understand the depth of the relationships between any of the major characters and instead have maligned and slandered the story and the writer, a strong intelligent and empowered woman. I imagine she neither wanted nor needed their brand of acceptance.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

The subtle art of not giving a Fxck- one!

Good book in general. Excellent writing and easy reading but... The author took a single concept of not giving a fxck, milking it dry. 3 characters so different but so the same...above the weak proletariat. Huxley would have cherished the masses control with the main aim of happiness or power and control. If you like reading you might be able to pallet this novel with a strong slant towards promiscuity. Long love the strong in the name of freedom...I personally value the idea of individuality.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.