Even before it hit the bookstores, James S. Valliant's book on author and philosopher Ayn Rand created an Internet buzz. A peek at chatrooms and blogs over the last month reveals that some Rand readers had already dismissed Valliant's book on principle. Others lauded it.

And this before they'd read all of it.

Valliant's book, "The Passion of Ayn Rand's Critics: The Case Against the Brandens" (Durban House Publishing, $27.95), cross-examines two harsh biographies written on Rand, accounts penned by Rand's former lover and his ex-wife, Nathaniel and Barbara Branden.

In his book, Valliant uses passages from both of their biographies —— and Rand's private journals —— to support his contention that the two former Rand followers "perverted the truth" about the woman.

Born in Russia in 1905 and immigrating to America in her early 20s, Rand rose to become a famed author, writing such classics as "The Fountainhead" and "Atlas Shrugged." She was also the mother of a philosophical movement dubbed objectivism —— part of the framework of what would become libertarianism.

Valliant, 41, of Vista, says he first picked up a Rand novel as a teen, one he found on his father's shelf.

He quickly embraced Rand's literary and philosophical constructions—— although there are parts of her philosophy that he doesn't agree with. Valliant argues that he is not a Rand fanatic, and his book is not a blind attempt to rescue the "honor" of a woman who died in 1982.

Rather, he writes in his foreward, the Brandens' biographies are "largely arbitrary and demonstrably false." As such, he adds, "the necessary dirty work of exposing them remains, since they are published as historical records by primary sources."

"Passion" is his effort to counter the image of Rand painted in the Brandens' biographies.

The Brandens were close friends and confidants of Rand's, who had been having a years-long affair with Nathaniel, 25 years younger than she. Both of their spouses knew about the affair and gave it their blessing beforehand.

But in 1968, Rand ended her friendship with the Brandens. She had discovered that Nathaniel Branden was cheating on her, and that Barbara Branden knew but didn't tell her about the new woman. After the bitter break, both Brandens published harsh accounts of Rand.

It is those portrayals that Valliant —— who never met Rand —— attempts to undercut.

By day a deputy district attorney working at the Vista courthouse, Valliant used his skills as a prosecutor to examine the works of those two Rand critics, shining a harsh light on their contradictions. For example, in Barbara Branden's book, Rand is portrayed as an ice queen who shunned human touch; in the same book, Barbara describes Rand's quickness to comfort her with a touch of a hand.

The first half of the book is an extension of an essay Valliant wrote about Rand a few years ago after reading the Branden books and finding such contradictions in them. He wanted to dispel the Brandens' take on Rand, and posted that work on the Internet.

"The response from around the world was stunning," Valliant said, and it became the basis of his book.

The essay also prompted the keeper of Ayn Rand's estate in 2003 to let Valliant read —— and then publish —- Rand's private diaries, written in the months leading up to her break with the Brandens.

Much of the second half of Valliant's book is taken from Rand herself, from those never-before-published, private journals. She never intended them to be public, writing only for herself, as a means to clarify her feelings, Valliant said.

He contends that the journals offer Rand's "only means of posthumous response to the Brandens' allegations, the only window to her perspective on the issue."

Barbara Branden's biography of Rand, titled "The Passion of Ayn Rand," was published in 1986, four years after Rand's death. Nathaniel Branden's "My Years with Ayn Rand" came out in 1989.

Valliant said it turns out that Rand's personal journals supported the hypothesis of his original Internet essay, written before he had even read them.

But, Valliant notes, he isn't completely shredding the Brandens' accounts. "I'm not saying everything they said was false. No, indeed."

His book, he said, offers a balance to their portrayal of Rand. "Their biographies have been accepted as standard. I found them to utterly contradict themselves and each other."

The Brandens' biographies of Rand, he said, have "distracted from Ayn Rand's message."

"It would be a shame," he said, "if one of the most important writers of the 20th century went down with the portrayal by these two."

This won't be the last difficult subject he plans to tackle. An atheist, Valliant's next book will be about the origins and nature of the New Testament.

Contact staff writer Teri Figueroa at (760) 740-3517 or tfigueroa@nctimes.com.