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Thomas Frank

What's the Matter with Kansas? How Conservatives Won the Heart of America Hardcover – June 1, 2004

by Thomas Frank (Author)

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One of “our most insightful social observers”* cracks the great political mystery of our time: how conservatism, once a marker of class privilege, became the creed of millions of ordinary Americans

With his acclaimed wit and acuity, Thomas Frank turns his eye on what he calls the “thirty-year backlash”—the populist revolt against a supposedly liberal establishment. The high point of that backlash is the Republican Party’s success in building the most unnatural of alliances: between blue-collar Midwesterners and Wall Street business interests, workers and bosses, populists and right-wingers.

In asking “what ’s the matter with Kansas?”—how a place famous for its radicalism became one of the most conservative states in the union—Frank, a native Kansan and onetime Republican, seeks to answer some broader American riddles: Why do so many of us vote against our economic interests? Where’s the outrage at corporate manipulators? And whatever happened to middle-American progressivism? The questions are urgent as well as provocative. Frank answers them by examining pop conservatism—the bestsellers, the radio talk shows, the vicious political combat—and showing how our long culture wars have left us with an electorate far more concerned with their leaders’ “values” and down-home qualities than with their stands on hard questions of policy.

A brilliant analysis—and funny to boot—What’s the Matter with Kansas? presents a critical assessment of who we are, while telling a remarkable story of how a group of frat boys, lawyers, and CEOs came to convince a nation that they spoke on behalf of the People.

*Los Angeles Times

Print length

320 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Metropolitan Books
Publication date

June 1, 2004
Dimensions

5.1 x 1.16 x 9.1 inches
ISBN-10

0805073396
ISBN-13

978-0805073393
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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

The largely blue collar citizens of Kansas can be counted upon to be a "red" state in any election, voting solidly Republican and possessing a deep animosity toward the left. This, according to author Thomas Frank, is a pretty self-defeating phenomenon, given that the policies of the Republican Party benefit the wealthy and powerful at the great expense of the average worker. According to Frank, the conservative establishment has tricked Kansans, playing up the emotional touchstones of conservatism and perpetuating a sense of a vast liberal empire out to crush traditional values while barely ever discussing the Republicans' actual economic policies and what they mean to the working class. Thus the pro-life Kansas factory worker who listens to Rush Limbaugh will repeatedly vote for the party that is less likely to protect his safety, less likely to protect his job, and less likely to benefit him economically. To much of America, Kansas is an abstract, "where Dorothy wants to return. Where Superman grew up." But Frank, a native Kansan, separates reality from myth in What's the Matter with Kansas and tells the state's socio-political history from its early days as a hotbed of leftist activism to a state so entrenched in conservatism that the only political division remaining is between the moderate and more-extreme right wings of the same party. Frank, the founding editor of The Baffler and a contributor to Harper's and The Nation, knows the state and its people. He even includes his own history as a young conservative idealist turned disenchanted college Republican, and his first-hand experience, combined with a sharp wit and thorough reasoning, makes his book more credible than the elites of either the left and right who claim to understand Kansas. --John Moe

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"Drunk on tax cuts, favors for corporations and above all else, their undying lust for the culture wars most of us lost interest in years ago, conservatives have driven Middle America into a ditch, Mr. Frank argues in this brilliant book. His examination of how the right has prolonged the battles over pop culture, abortion and religion (and meanwhile accrued great power and financial gain) will not single-handedly eject President Bush from the White House—but it does contain the kind of nuanced ideas that should be talking points for the Kerry campaign . . . Mr. Frank's willingness to scold his own side; his irreverence and his facility with language; his ability to make the connections that other writers fail to make—all of this puts What's the Matter with Kansas? in a different league from most of the political books that have come out in recent years. Even better, its understanding of the methodology that has given Republicans the Presidency and control of both houses of Congress makes it a road map for upending the G.O.P. Here's hoping somebody slips a copy to John Kerry."—Kevin Canfield, The New York Observer

"When I read Thomas Frank, I hear a faint bugle in the background. It's the cavalry-to-the-rescue call: There you are, surrounded by Republicans—outmanned, outgunned, and damn near out of both ammunition and humor—when up shows Thomas Frank. A heartland populist, Frank is hilariously funny on what makes us red-staters different from blue-staters (not), and he actually knows evangelical Christians, antiabortion activists, gun-nuts, and Bubbas. I promise y'all, this is the only way to understand why so many Americans have decided to vote against their own economic and political interests. And Frank explores the subject with scholarship, understanding, passion, and—thank you, Mark Twain—such tart humor."—Molly Ivins

"This is the true story of how conservatives punk'd a nation. Tom Frank has stripped the right-wing hustle to its core: It is bread and circuses—only without bread. Written like poem, every line in its perfect place, What's the Matter with Kansas? is the best new book I've read in years, on any subject."—Rick Perlstein, author of Before the Storm: Barry Goldwater and the Unmaking of American Consensus

"A wise reporter and a splendid wit; Tom Frank understands the grassroots Right as well as anyone in America. He is the second coming of H. L. Mencken—but with much better politics."—Michael Kazin, author of The Populist Persuasion: An American History

"What's the Matter with Kansas? is the most insightful analysis of American right-wing pseudopopulism to come along in the last decade. As for Kansas: However far it's drifted into delusion, you've got to love a state that could produce someone as wickedly funny, compassionate, and non-stop brilliant as Tom Frank."—Barbara Enhrenreich, author of Nickel and Dimed

"Frank combines top-flight journalism with first-person reflections to dig deep into the Kansas psyche. Both exhilarating and a little scary, What's the Matter with Kansas? should help flat-landers and coastal types alike understand how traditional Republicanism gave way to the politics of the Christian Right in the heart of the heart of the country."—Burdett Loomis, professor and chair, Department of Political Science at the University of Kansas

"A fire-and-brimstone essay on false consciousness on the Great Plains. 'The poorest county in America . . . is on the Great Plains, a region of struggling ranchers and dying farm towns,' writes native Kansan and Baffler founding editor Frank, 'and in the election of 2000 the Republican candidate for president, George W. Bush, carried it by a majority greater than 80 percent.' How, Frank wonders, can it be that such a polity—honest toilers descended from free-soil, abolitionist progressives and prairie socialists—could back such a man who showed little concern then and has showed little concern since for the plight of the working class? And how can it be that such a place would forget its origins as a hotbed of what the historian Walter Prescott Webb called 'persistent radicalism,' as the seedbed of Social Security and of agrarian reform, to side with the bosses, to back an ideology that promises the destruction of the liberal state's social-welfare safety net? Whatever the root causes, many of which seem to have something to do with fear and loathing of big-city types and ethnic minorities, Kansas voters—and even the Vietnam vets among them—seem to have picked up on the mantra that the 'snobs on the coasts' are the enemy, and that Bush ('a man so ham-handed in his invocations of the Lord that he occasionally slips into blasphemy') and company are friends and deliverers . . . Even so, he sees the tiniest ray of hope for modern progressives: after all, he notes, the one Kansas county that sports a NASCAR track went for Al Gore in 2000. A bracing, unabashedly partisan, and very smart work of red-state trendspotting."—Kirkus Reviews

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Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Metropolitan Books; 1st edition (June 1, 2004)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 320 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0805073396
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0805073393
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 3 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.1 x 1.16 x 9.1 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #603,212 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #1,683 in Political Conservatism & Liberalism
- #12,423 in U.S. State & Local History

Customer Reviews:
783 ratings

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Thomas Frank

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Questions frequently asked Thomas Frank.

- Kansas, really?

- Aren’t you one of these liberals that you’re always scolding?

- Is it true that President Trump uses “The Wrecking Crew” as a field manual?

- “The Baffler” – what’s that all about?

- You don’t look particularly cool. Why do you write about coolness?

- Why aren’t you, like, a college professor or something?

- Why all these books about politics? I mean, that’s hardly the right subject for a culture critic or whatever it is you call yourself.

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Lee KirbyTop Contributor: Batman

Frank answers his question by describing a blend of "us vs. them" and "bait-and-switch"

Reviewed in the United States on March 8, 2018

Verified Purchase

In "What's the Matter with Kansas?," journalist and historian Thomas Frank uses the example of his native state to ponder both how and why working-class and poor white Americans in the heartland vote for a party that advances policies benefiting wealthy individuals and corporations. In brief: Why do these people stand with Republicans when Republicans do not stand with them?

The answer, which Frank provides with the blend of extensive reporting and satiric wit that's become his trademark: Because of a 'divide and conquer' strategy in which Republican politicians and commentators use not only hot-button social issues such as abortion, gun control and gay marriage, but also trivial matters such as where one shops and dines, and what make of automobile one drives, to enrage these people and direct their rage toward snobbish "liberal elites" that supposedly control America-and hate conservative, poor whites. (Those elites, for example, don't shop at Walmart, don't eat at McDonald's, drive Volvos instead of American vehicles and sip lattes-or worse, tea-instead of drinking coffee.)

Absent from the above strategy, Frank notes, is any mention of issues tied to their dire economic circumstances.

However, once elected, Republican politicians avoid the explosive social issues they exploited to inflame the working-class and poor white into voting for them-and instead turn their attention to those economic issues, such as cutting taxes for the wealthy, undoing business regulations and undermining the social safety net. If questioned about why they haven't made progress on those hot-button social issues, they blame-you guessed it-those "liberal elites." In brief, the GOP operates-and thrives-by blending "us vs. them" and "bait-and-switch."

Frank adds that Democrats aren't free of blame in the situation, either. He accuses the party of deliberately turning its back on those working-class and poor white Americans whose causes they once championed-and dropping the class language it once spoke to distinguish themselves from Republicans-in order to remake themselves as a party just as pro-business as Republicans. He also accuses Democratic leaders of assuming the working class and the poor will vote for their party because there's nowhere else for them to turn. (Frank expands upon these charges in his later book "Listen, Liberal," which I've reviewed elsewhere on Amazon.)

As a subtle rebuke to this sort of thinking, Frank notes the example of Democrat Kathleen Sebelius, who won the governorship by focusing on economic issues and avoiding social issues.

The lone shortcoming of Frank's book is that it largely avoids the white-identity politics, the race-based sense of economic entitlement, and the anxiety and resentment that have played important roles in campaigns since this book's initial hardcover publication in 2004.

That aside, it will still give readers much to think about-especially regarding the current state of the nation.

52 people found this helpful

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CTshopper

Some great points but the tone is off-putting

Reviewed in the United States on January 10, 2018

Verified Purchase

I keep picking this book up and putting it down again. I probably share many of the author's political leanings and I think he has some great points, but the book is written in a very off-putting tone. It reads overly stereotypical and the arguments seem overly simplistic, as if only written to give the author a chance to brag about how much smarter he is than those he grew up around. I can't imagine this changing anyone's mind if they already equated Dems with the liberal elite, because this comes off very elitist - and I AM a liberal. Maybe it gets better, but it's a tough read in the early chapters.

28 people found this helpful

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SC

On the mark, but a condescending read...

Reviewed in the United States on October 21, 2020

Verified Purchase

The author is funny. But humor almost always has a victim, and the victim is his neighbor state (Frank was born in Kansas City, MO, apparently). Acerbic wit will make your friends laugh, but it will further alienate your non-friends.

While I see (and agree with) the majority of his points, what the author misses is an explanation of "why" are Kansans so evidently "irrational" in their choice of party to support, despite the evidence that they should do the contrary. Thus, the book seems to me more of a complaint about the direction of Kansas' (and American) political evolution, as opposed to any real understanding of root cause, and possible solution.

Parts of the book are condescending enough that I found it hard to read, overall.

10 people found this helpful

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Imperial Topaz

Provocative and Interesting Read that Is Hard to Put Down!

Reviewed in the United States on April 12, 2016

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As an American who lives outside of my home country, I am regularly called upon to explain to my European friends how so many in America can be against health care, how so many "common" people are voting for the Republican Party, what has happened to pro-labor policies; and how so many poor seem to be aligned, rather than opposed to, the voting policies of the rich.

This book really answers those questions well. Furthermore, the writing style is fantastic. Every time one picks it up, it's nearly impossible to put down. I read the entire thing in just five days.

The quick answer here is that Democrats used to have the votes of the common man, and of blue-collar labor, because they concentrated on economic issues. Around 1990 the Democrats stopped talking about economic issues because they needed to RAISE MORE MONEY FROM BIG DONORS. They stopped talking about minimum wage issues and business practices that hurt small workers. Those small workers only gave small amounts of political contributions anyway; therefore no one was really interested in them as a constituency. As a result, the issues the Democrats are left talking about are things like legalizing gay marriage and keeping abortion legal.

According to this book, starting around 1990, the "new" Republican wing started talking about moral issues such as not dismembering babies, not teaching children about gay sex, in addition to capturing the whole part of the country which is "anti-intellectual" above all else. They captured the sentiment of "America has changed, and it's not the America I grew up with," angry white voters, who now define all problems in America as coming from "liberals who hate America and want to destroy it." Liberals are now defined as "educated 'experts' (scientists and professionals) who try to tell us what to think (on issues such as climate change and gay marriage), who drink wine, drive Volvos, and who are NOT LIKE US, THE COMMON PEOPLE." All these people who used to be the Democratic base are now voting Republican because the Democrats have forgotten them by taking economics out of what they talk about.

The book is a provocative and interesting excellent read.

71 people found this helpful

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jvm

The Intentional Wrecking of a State.

Reviewed in the United States on September 22, 2020

Verified Purchase

A Conservative writer outlines the train wreck that is the now Republican controlled state of Kansas. A warning unheeded. Take note that this travesty has been replicated nationally in other GOP legislatively controlled states.

3 people found this helpful

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Leo Fabbri

While certainly a easy and good read

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 13, 2016

Verified Purchase

While certainly a easy and good read, this book is far too partisan. I'm a liberal, so I can tolerate it; but to a Republican this must read like an Ann Coulter book does to me! It's also interesting, reading this book now, as Frank's tone is symbolic of the liberal holier-than-thou language that has been such a focus of the latest campaign, perhaps even a deciding factor in the election of that bigoted, half-melted gummy bear. While Frank illustrates the political history of Kansas and the United States well, his text always smacks of condescension: a style entirely unhelpful to the fruition of fair liberal politics. We need to really understand one another in order to engage in meaningful political conversations. This book only studies Middle America as an 18th century anthropologist would a pygmy tribe in Papua New Guinea.

3 people found this helpful

bbookham

Five Stars

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 1, 2018

Verified Purchase

superb.

Mijmo

Five Stars

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 28, 2015

Verified Purchase

brilliant classic which is also instructive to how Cameron's Tories try to manipulate the public in the uk.

One person found this helpful

Amazon Customer

Two Stars

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 20, 2017

Verified Purchase

dull

SR Gor

Spannend

Reviewed in Germany on May 2, 2016

Verified Purchase

...nicht nur für den an amerikanischer Politik interessierten.
Ist das Buch zwangsläufig auch an speziellen amerikanischen Gegebenheiten orientiert, dem lahmarschigen Zwei-Parteien-System, so ist es doch interessant, die Parallelen zu der bei uns gerade entstehenden Tea-Party und ihrer vermuteten Wählerschaft
herauszusuchen.
Drüben die Koch Brüder, hier "elitäre" vom Steuerzahler durchgefütterte Professoren und Industrielle.
Hüben wie drüben entfesselte Wutbürger, vom Leben betrogen und stets auf Konfrontation bedacht gegen alles was anders ist - in den Staaten
die Feindbilder "Progressives", "Liberals", hierzulande die "68er" und "Gutmenschen".
Hoffentlich gibt es baldigst ein deutsches Pendant, welches mit vergleichbarer Tiefe auslotet, was die Deutschen verleitet konstant gegen ihre Interessen zu wählen (falls es das schon geben sollte, wäre ich dankbar für einen Link per Kommentar).

One person found this helpful

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