Ayn Rand had a competitor for status as the most dizzyingly incoherent and morally questionable writer of the 20th century: her stalker. FBI files released to Emma Best show that the unnamed man sent Rand dozens of mommy issue-riddled letters over the course of the late ’60s, some making threats on her life.

When novelist Ayn Rand found out that Federal Bureau of Investigation director J. Edgar Hoover was an adherent of her Objectivist philosophy, she was thrilled, and immediately tried to set up a personal meeting. There was just one problem: Hoover had no idea what she was talking about.