It's not clear to me from either of the comments here that either of you has read the book

I'll say this:

I was mentioning that it is linked to Rand to get that out of the way, since it would inevitably come up, but notwithstanding the points both of you have offered about Rand, I haven't had time in life to do much reading in this area, and there are probably a couple of others that come to mind that also have helped me see things a bit more clearly, but in my limited readings, this was the book that did the best job (IMO) of digging much deeper as to the causes of both personal and group human behavior and trying to ask what would cause such a total chasm and lead to "man's inhumanity to man" that happened to such an extreme degree in WWII. The author does a good enough job (in my view) of separating out his hypothesis question from Rand's-philosophy-as-answer that it is possible (in my view) to take away from the book a useful lens through which to view present fascism-trending events without necessarily having to buy into the exact answers that the author offers..

Normally it might or might not be useful to discuss this book and others, on this topic of deeper causes, but there is a much more immediate and obvious reason I raise it at this time which is that some folks (including myself) believe that there are clear signs that the US is standing at the precipice (or has already gone over the edge) of not only a terrible mass personal intellectual bankruptcy, but that this could manifest in the sort of disaster that befell the world only 80 years ago. In such a situation it seems appropriate, if belated, to mention if there is a lens that has given me some perspective on this over the years, so I'm mentioning, if reluctantly.

I must say, It has always seemed kind of obvious or basic to me that it is one thing to realize there is no real evidence of supernatural forces at work in our lives (a good step that in some cases more or less lands many here at atheist-related websites), but it is another thing altogether to do the personal work to assess and build good reality-oriented ideas and concepts and thinking. Not that I claim to have done this, but at least I have named that there is a next step, which I do not see a lot of others debating or doing.

Objectivism is shortsighted selfishness. Trump is exactly that except he uses the religious right even though he doesn't believe in God himself. Of that I'm sure. Ayn Rand was a fascist and so is Pelkoff. I never bought into any of this quasi libertarian conservatism.

I abandoned Ayn Rand after doing an independent study of her in college philosophy.and my second undergraduate degree. I was pretty dedicated to Objectivist thinking prior to this. But as the secretary of the college Objectivist club I got an inside look at the types drawn to her philodophy.

The majority of those who claim their fidelity to her completely miss the point of her premises. They completely misconstrued her definition of "selfishness". Most are prople who are nsrcisstoc and srlf-centered and looking for an excuse to justify why they do not have to be accountable for their actions. Like little boys on the playground who do not want to be told what they can or cannot do.

I havent read this book.