text: Rand's works, most commonly Anthem or The Fountainhead, are sometimes assigned as secondary school reading.Since 2002, the Ayn Rand Institute has provided free copies of Rand's novels to teachers who promise to include the books in their curriculum.The Institute had distributed 4.5 million copies in the U.S.and Canada by the end of 2020.In 2017, Rand was added to the required reading list for the A Level Politics exam in the United Kingdom.Political influence Although she rejected the labels "conservative" and "libertarian", Rand has had a continuing influence on right-wing politics and libertarianism.Rand is often considered one of the three most important women (along with Rose Wilder Lane and Isabel Paterson) in the early development of modern American libertarianism.David Nolan, one founder of the Libertarian Party, said that "without Ayn Rand, the libertarian movement would not exist".In his history of that movement, journalist Brian Doherty described her as "the most influential libertarian of the twentieth century to the public at large".Political scientist Andrew Koppelman called her "the most widely read libertarian".Historian Jennifer Burns referred to her as "the ultimate gateway drug to life on the right".The political figures who cite Rand as an influence are usually conservatives (often members of the Republican Party), despite Rand taking some atypical positions for a conservative, like being pro-choice and an atheist.She faced intense opposition from William F.Buckley Jr.and other contributors to the conservative National Review magazine, which published numerous criticisms of her writings and ideas.Nevertheless, a 1987 article in The New York Times called her the Reagan administration's "novelist laureate".Republican congressmen and conservative pundits have acknowledged her influence on their lives and have recommended her novels.She has influenced some conservative politicians outside the U.S.