Includes bibliographical references (p. 337-338) and index.

Part 1. The history of The fountainhead -- The fountainhead from notebook to novel: the composition of Ayn Rand's first ideal man / Shoshana Milgram -- Howard Roark and Frank Lloyd Wright / Michael S. Berliner -- Publishing The fountainhead / Richard E. Ralston -- The fountainhead reviews / Michael S. Berliner -- Adapting The fountainhead to film / Jeff Britting -- Part 2. The fountainhead as literature and as philosophy -- The fountainhead as a romantic novel / Tore Boeckmann -- What might be and ought to be: Aristotle's Poetics and The fountainhead / Tore Boeckmann -- Three inspirations for the ideal man: Cyrus Paltons, Enjolras, and Cyrano de Bergerac / Shoshana Milgram -- Understanding the "rape" scene in The fountainhead / Andrew Bernstein -- Humor in The fountainhead / Robert Mayhew -- The fountainhead and the spirit of youth / B. John Bayer -- The basic motivation of the creators and the masses in The fountainhead / Onkar Ghate -- Unborrowed vision: independence and egoism in The fountainhead / Tara Smith -- Roark's integrity / Dina Schein -- A moral dynamiting / Amy Peikoff -- Epilogue. An interview with Leonard Peikoff.