Until now, Ayn Rand's novels have been almost exclusively discussed in terms of Rand's philosophy, Objectivism. Either Freedom or Slavery: Individual Liberty and the Novels of Ayn Rand, approaches the novels as literature, in particular, as novels firmly entrenched in traditional American literary history. These six essays address topics as diverse as modern feminism and male-female interactions; George Orwell and the dystopic mis-use of science and technology; C.S. Lewis and Christianity; and Booker T. Washington, Frederick Douglass, and slavery, all the while addressing the foundational theme of the book, Rand's application of traditional American rugged individualism to contemporary story telling.