What's The Matter With Kansas?: How Conservatives Won The Heart Of America
| Author: | Thomas Frank |
| Format: | Hardcover |
| Publish Date: | June 1, 2004 |
| ISBN-10: | 0805073396 |
| ISBN-13: | 9780805073393 |
| List Price: | $24.00 |
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About This Book:
Title: What's The Matter With Kansas?: How Conservatives Won The Heart Of America
Synopsis
Liberal journalist Thomas Frank turns his witty and insightful pen on this nation's gradual drift to the right over the last 30 years of the 20th century, asking "Why?" The conservative movement, once the bastion of Bill Buckley, Barry Goldwater, and protected interests, now appears to be the people's party, the party of populism, and Frank wants to know how this could have happened. His answer is that conservatives have beaten the drum on issues like abortion, the flag, and religion--"values" that resonate deeply in the heartland. In addition, they have marketed their message, along with a growing rhetoric of rage, through the "pop conservatism" of talk radio. Finally, they have erected a liberal "straw man" against whom they can direct (or in Frank's view misdirect) their unhappiness. He takes a close look at the rise of conservatism in his home state of Kansas, and at the plight of its inhabitants, comparing it with that state's legacy of progressivism and populism. Frank goes on to argue that blue-collar allegiance to conservatism flies in the face of the facts: those who have probably suffered most when conservatives are in power have been those very mainstream Americans who align themselves with the right. This insider's view of the George W. Bush administration draws heavily (but not solely) on former Secretary of the Treasury Paul O'Neill as a source. O'Neill, who was asked to step down by Bush in 2002, offers several damning allegations that made headlines upon this book's publication--including charges that Bush was not intellectually engaged at cabinet meetings and that the Bush team had actually made regime change in Iraq one of the first items on its agenda upon assuming office in 2001. A New York Times Notable Book for 2004.
Publisher Notes
The author on One Market Under God reveals how conservatism became the preferred national political ideology, exploring the origins of this philosophy in the upper classes and tracing its recent popularity within the middle class. 50,000 first printing.
Industry Reviews
"[W]ill stand as the political book of 2004. Up-to-date yet historical, theorized, and researched and reported and reminisced, it's pungent, mordant, and gratifyingly concrete."
(12/08/2004)
"[F]un to read and...enormously important. Progressives have dithered too long."
(September/October 2005)
"[A] brilliant book, one of the best so far this decade on American politics."
(06/14/2004)
"[L]ively, heartfelt....Frank is an unreconstructed Kansas progressive, the defender of a bygone America who has written this passionate book as a memorial to what we have lost and an apt warning in this electoral season of what we're becoming."
(10/07/2004)
"[T]he best political book of the year...."
(11/03/2004)
"[A] scathing and high-spirited polemic...."
(07/05/2004)
Click on this books subject categories to see related titles:
Political science > Political ideologies / conservatism & liberalism
Other Available Formats:
Paperback, 2005
Book Details Summary: The title of this book is What's The Matter With Kansas?: How Conservatives Won The Heart Of America and it was written by Thomas Frank. This edition of What's The Matter With Kansas?: How Conservatives Won The Heart Of America is in a Hardcover format. This books publish date is June 1, 2004 and it has a suggested retail price of $24.00. It was published by Metropolitan Books and has 288 pages in the book. The 10 digit ISBN is 0805073396 and the 13 digit ISBN is 9780805073393. For the most current lowest price, Click Here.
Liberal journalist Thomas Frank turns his witty and insightful pen on this nation's gradual drift to the right over the last 30 years of the 20th century, asking "Why?" The conservative movement, once the bastion of Bill Buckley, Barry Goldwater, and protected interests, now appears to be the people's party, the party of populism, and Frank wants to know how this could have happened. His answer is that conservatives have beaten the drum on issues like abortion, the flag, and religion--"values" that resonate deeply in the heartland. In addition, they have marketed their message, along with a growing rhetoric of rage, through the "pop conservatism" of talk radio. Finally, they have erected a liberal "straw man" against whom they can direct (or in Frank's view misdirect) their unhappiness. He takes a close look at the rise of conservatism in his home state of Kansas, and at the plight of its inhabitants, comparing it with that state's legacy of progressivism and populism. Frank goes on to argue that blue-collar allegiance to conservatism flies in the face of the facts: those who have probably suffered most when conservatives are in power have been those very mainstream Americans who align themselves with the right. This insider's view of the George W. Bush administration draws heavily (but not solely) on former Secretary of the Treasury Paul O'Neill as a source. O'Neill, who was asked to step down by Bush in 2002, offers several damning allegations that made headlines upon this book's publication--including charges that Bush was not intellectually engaged at cabinet meetings and that the Bush team had actually made regime change in Iraq one of the first items on its agenda upon assuming office in 2001. A New York Times Notable Book for 2004.
Publisher Notes
The author on One Market Under God reveals how conservatism became the preferred national political ideology, exploring the origins of this philosophy in the upper classes and tracing its recent popularity within the middle class. 50,000 first printing.
Industry Reviews
"[W]ill stand as the political book of 2004. Up-to-date yet historical, theorized, and researched and reported and reminisced, it's pungent, mordant, and gratifyingly concrete."
(12/08/2004)
"[F]un to read and...enormously important. Progressives have dithered too long."
(September/October 2005)
"[A] brilliant book, one of the best so far this decade on American politics."
(06/14/2004)
"[L]ively, heartfelt....Frank is an unreconstructed Kansas progressive, the defender of a bygone America who has written this passionate book as a memorial to what we have lost and an apt warning in this electoral season of what we're becoming."
(10/07/2004)
"[T]he best political book of the year...."
(11/03/2004)
"[A] scathing and high-spirited polemic...."
(07/05/2004)
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Click on this books subject categories to see related titles:
Political science > Political ideologies / conservatism & liberalism
Other Available Formats:
Paperback, 2005
Book Details Summary: The title of this book is What's The Matter With Kansas?: How Conservatives Won The Heart Of America and it was written by Thomas Frank. This edition of What's The Matter With Kansas?: How Conservatives Won The Heart Of America is in a Hardcover format. This books publish date is June 1, 2004 and it has a suggested retail price of $24.00. It was published by Metropolitan Books and has 288 pages in the book. The 10 digit ISBN is 0805073396 and the 13 digit ISBN is 9780805073393. For the most current lowest price, Click Here.
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