Pity the Billionaire: The Hard-Times Swindle and the Unlikely Comeback of the Right
Jan 2012 · Macmillan + ORM
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New York Times Bestseller: A "witty and highly readable" account of the wildly unexpected cultural and political reactions to the Great Recession ( Financial Times).
From the author of What's the Matter with Kansas?, this is an updated and expanded edition of "a brilliant expose of the most breathtaking ruse in American political history: how the Right turned the biggest capitalist breakdown since 1929 into an opportunity for themselves" (Barbara Ehrenreich, author of Nickel and Dimed).
Economic catastrophe usually brings social protest and demands for change—or at least it's supposed to. But when Thomas Frank set out in 2009 to look for expressions of American discontent, all he could find were loud demands that the economic system be made even harsher on the recession's victims and that society's traditional winners receive even grander prizes.
The American Right, which had seemed moribund after the 2008 election, was strangely reinvigorated by the arrival of hard times. The Tea Party movement insisted not that we question the failed system but that we reaffirm our commitment to it. Republicans in Congress embarked on a bold strategy of total opposition to the liberal state. And TV phenom Glenn Beck demonstrated the commercial potential of heroic paranoia and the purest libertarian economics.
In Pity the Billionaire, Frank examines the peculiar mechanism by which dire economic circumstances delivered unexpected political results. Using firsthand reporting, he gives us the first full diagnosis of the cultural malady that has transformed collapse into profit, reconceived the Founding Fathers as heroes from an Ayn Rand novel, and enlisted the powerless in a fan club for the prosperous.
"Tom Frank, as ever, makes some wickedly clever observations and produces some surprising answers." — Vanity Fair
"This is the kind of analysis—historically astute, irreverent and droll—that makes Frank such an invaluable voice." — San Francisco Chronicle
"His eye for detail and his ability to capture a scene reminded me of reading zoologist Dian Fossey on a group of strange political primates." — The Washington Post
From the author of What's the Matter with Kansas?, this is an updated and expanded edition of "a brilliant expose of the most breathtaking ruse in American political history: how the Right turned the biggest capitalist breakdown since 1929 into an opportunity for themselves" (Barbara Ehrenreich, author of Nickel and Dimed).
Economic catastrophe usually brings social protest and demands for change—or at least it's supposed to. But when Thomas Frank set out in 2009 to look for expressions of American discontent, all he could find were loud demands that the economic system be made even harsher on the recession's victims and that society's traditional winners receive even grander prizes.
The American Right, which had seemed moribund after the 2008 election, was strangely reinvigorated by the arrival of hard times. The Tea Party movement insisted not that we question the failed system but that we reaffirm our commitment to it. Republicans in Congress embarked on a bold strategy of total opposition to the liberal state. And TV phenom Glenn Beck demonstrated the commercial potential of heroic paranoia and the purest libertarian economics.
In Pity the Billionaire, Frank examines the peculiar mechanism by which dire economic circumstances delivered unexpected political results. Using firsthand reporting, he gives us the first full diagnosis of the cultural malady that has transformed collapse into profit, reconceived the Founding Fathers as heroes from an Ayn Rand novel, and enlisted the powerless in a fan club for the prosperous.
"Tom Frank, as ever, makes some wickedly clever observations and produces some surprising answers." — Vanity Fair
"This is the kind of analysis—historically astute, irreverent and droll—that makes Frank such an invaluable voice." — San Francisco Chronicle
"His eye for detail and his ability to capture a scene reminded me of reading zoologist Dian Fossey on a group of strange political primates." — The Washington Post
New York Times Bestseller: A "witty and highly readable" account of the wildly unexpected cultural and political reactions to the Great Recession ( Financial Times).
From the author of What's the Matter with Kansas?, this is an updated and expanded edition of "a brilliant expose of the most brea...
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4 reviews
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March 22, 2012
Thomas Frank's latest book "Pity the Billionaire" is so good I can't stand it! His prose is so florid and enthralling, his wit so sharply and precisely cutting, his meditation so deliciously scrumptious that I actually wanted to lick my fingers clean when I had finished. While the content itself is actually somewhat depressing (an insightful analysis of how the Right co-opted the populist outrage following the crash and bank bailouts and redirected it towards its own agenda of _even more_ unregulated free markets, and how the Left blew it by failing to offer an alternate narrative), it's just such a joy to listen to Frank tell it (I listened to him narrate his audio book, which is a mercifully short 5+ hours) that by the time I finished, I wanted to start over and ride the roller-coaster again immediately. A must read for anyone who actually wants to understand why our politics today seems so confused and divorced from reality.
About the author
Thomas Frank is the author of Pity the Billionaire, The Wrecking Crew, What's the Matter with Kansas?, and One Market Under God. A former opinion columnist for The Wall Street Journal, Frank is the founding editor of The Baffler and a monthly columnist for Harper's. He lives outside Washington, D.C.
Thomas Frank is the author of Pity the Billionaire, The Wrecking Crew, What's the Matter with Kansas?, and One Market Under God. A former opinion columnist for The Wall Street Journal, Frank is the founding editor of The Baffler and a monthly columnist for Harper's. He lives outside Washington, D...
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