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What's the Matter with Kansas?: How Conservatives Won the Heart of America Paperback – April 14, 2005

by Thomas Frank (Author)

525 customer reviews

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With a New Afterword by the Author

The 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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Editorial Reviews

From The New Yorker

Kansas, once home to farmers who marched against "money power," is now solidly Republican. In Frank's scathing and high-spirited polemic, this fact is not just "the mystery of Kansas" but "the mystery of America." Dismissing much of the received punditry about the red-blue divide, Frank argues that the problem is the "systematic erasure of the economic" from discussions of class and its replacement with a notion of "authenticity," whereby "there is no bad economic turn a conservative cannot do unto his buddy in the working class, as long as cultural solidarity has been cemented over a beer." The leaders of this backlash, by focussing on cultural issues in which victory is probably impossible (abortion, "filth" on TV), feed their base's sense of grievance, abetted, Frank believes, by a "criminally stupid" Democratic strategy of triangulation. Liberals do not need to know more about nascar; they need to talk more about money and class.
Copyright © 2005 The New Yorker

Review

“The best political book of the year.” ―Nicholas Kristof, The New York Times

“Frank is a formidable controversialist-imagine Michael Moore with a trained brain and an intellectual conscience.” ―George F. Will, The Washington Post

“Brilliant.” ―Barbara Ehrenreich, The New York Times

“Mr. Frank re-injects economic-class issues into the debate with sardonic vehemence.” ―Jerome Weeks, The Dallas Morning News

“A searing piece of work . . . one of the most important political writings in years.” ―The Boston Globe

“Dazzlingly insightful and wonderfully sardonic . . . Frank has made much sense of the world in this book.” ―Chicago Tribune

“Impassioned, compelling . . . Frank's books mark him as one of the most insightful thinkers of the twenty-first century, four years into it.” ―Houston Chronicle

“Very funny and very painful . . . Add another literary gold star after Thomas Frank's name.” ―San Francisco Chronicle

See all Editorial Reviews

Product details

Paperback: 322 pages
Publisher: Holt Paperbacks; First edition (May 1, 2005)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 9780805077742
ISBN-13: 978-0805077742
ASIN: 080507774X
Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 0.9 x 8.2 inches
Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 525 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #52,815 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #345 in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Politics & Government > Ideologies & Doctrines > Conservatism & Liberalism
- #499 in Books > History > Historical Study & Educational Resources
- #631 in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Politics & Government > United States

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Provocative and Interesting Read that Is Hard to Put Down!

April 12, 2016

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

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.

51 people found this helpful52 people found this helpful

Lee KirbyTop Contributor: Batman

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

March 8, 2018

Format: PaperbackVerified 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.

7 people found this helpful8 people found this helpful

Some great points but the tone is off-putting

January 10, 2018

Format: PaperbackVerified 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.

5 people found this helpful6 people found this helpful

Great Look at Midwestern Politics.

December 3, 2015

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

As someone that grew up in the Midwest, I watched the political pendulum in this section of the country swing from politically moderate, religiously conservative area with strong populist roots to an area that is full of people willing to cut their own throats by electing officials who are able to tap into the underlying conscience driven voter. Thomas Frank did a masterful job articulating how the religious right and the conservative wing of the Republican party hijacked the moderate part of the GOP.

10 people found this helpful11 people found this helpful

elaine k bohner

Trump -- how did that happen?

January 19, 2017

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How did we end up with Donald Trump as our president? This book goes a long way to explain a few reasons why, although Trump is not mentioned (written before the election). It is not a left-wing screed, but more of a dissection of both the Republican and Democratic parties.

9 people found this helpful10 people found this helpful

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