What's the Matter with Kansas? How Conservatives Won the Heart of America
by:
Thomas Frank (author)
With a New Afterword by the AuthorThe New York Times bestseller, praised as "hilariously funny . . . the only way to understand why so many Americans have decided to vote against their own economic and political interests" (Molly Ivins)Hailed as "dazzlingly insightful and wonderfully...
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With a New Afterword by the AuthorThe New York Times bestseller, praised as "hilariously funny . . . the only way to understand why so many Americans have decided to vote against their own economic and political interests" (Molly Ivins)Hailed as "dazzlingly insightful and wonderfully sardonic" (Chicago Tribune), "very funny and very painful" (San Francisco Chronicle), and "in a different league from most political books" (The New York Observer), What's the Matter with Kansas? unravels the great political mystery of our day: Why do so many Americans vote against their economic and social interests? With his acclaimed wit and acuity, Thomas Frank answers the riddle by examining his home state, Kansas-a place once famous for its radicalism that now ranks among the nation's most eager participants in the culture wars. Charting what he calls the "thirty-year backlash"-the popular revolt against a supposedly liberal establishment-Frank reveals how conservatism, once a marker of class privilege, became the creed of millions of ordinary Americans.A brilliant analysis-and funny to boot-What's the Matter with Kansas? is a vivid portrait of an upside-down world where blue-collar patriots recite the Pledge while they strangle their life chances; where small farmers cast their votes for a Wall Street order that will eventually push them off their land; and where a group of frat boys, lawyers, and CEOs has managed to convince the country that it speaks on behalf of the People.
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Format: paperback
ISBN:
9780805077742 (080507774X)
ASIN: 080507774X
Publish date: May 1st 2005
Publisher: Holt Paperbacks
Pages no: 332
Edition language: English
Category:
Non Fiction,
History,
Literature,
American,
Economics,
Religion,
Politics,
American History,
Sociology,
Political Science,
Government
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.