What's the Matter with Kansas?: How Conservatives Won the Heart of America
Apr 2007 · Sold by Metropolitan Books
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About this ebook
The New York Times bestseller
Winner of the Eugene V. Debs Award
Named the Best Political Book of the Year by The New York Times
With a New Afterword by the Author
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.
Winner of the Eugene V. Debs Award
Named the Best Political Book of the Year by The New York Times
With a New Afterword by the Author
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.
The New York Times bestseller
Winner of the Eugene V. Debs Award
Named the Best Political Book of the Year by The New York Times
With a New Afterword by the Author
Hailed as "dazzlingly insightful and wonderfully sardonic" (Chicago Tribune), "very funny and very painful" (San Francisco Chronicl...
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Ratings and reviews
34 reviews
Jim Robillard
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October 12, 2013
An insightful description of how the right has enlisted the poor in their fight to limit government and further enrich themselves.
4 people found this review helpful
Ariel Annon
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January 13, 2016
The perfect elaboration of corporate's death grip on political propaganda.
2 people found this review helpful
A Google user
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October 4, 2012
Liberal blah...
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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