by Thomas Frank
I'd give it 3.5 stars if I could, but I'll round down. The author makes some very interesting points about how poor conservatives who traditionally would have been democrats have taken up the battle cry of the republicans to the tune of an anti-abortion culture war despite the fact that their econo...
Books of political outrage have a short shelf life because whatever outrage the author is enraged about is quickly eclipsed by the next outrage. Thomas Frank was outraged by the re-election of George W. Bush in 2004. What saves this book from being another here-and-gone current events polemic is t...
I know, this was published in 2004, so why am I only getting to it now? Well...I am getting to it...The basic question behind What’s the Matter with Kansas, that frames the introduction, is this liberal astonishment: how can anyone who’s ever worked for someone else vote Republican? But the proble...
Frank looks at Kansas as a prime example of how the Republican Party has convinced working people to vote against their own economic self-interest by using so-called wedge issues. It is compelling analysis.
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