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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
Book Description
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.
Customer Reviews:
don't have to read the book.......2007-10-09
I don't care what state you live in, a democratic agenda (modern) is the most economically disadvantaged direction you can choose anywhere in the USA. Therefore I do not need to read the book to know that even with the sad state of the republican party today, it is preferable to the democratic party. However i plan on reading this book to understand what can possibly make the author write such a book directed at a state. (know your enemy)
don't waste your money.......2007-09-20
Do not buy this book. I came prepared to love it, I was really looking forward to an insightful, informed, inside view of this remarkable political 180 of our times. That is simply not this book. It may be well researched, but it is so poorly written that it is nearly impossible to find out. Negative, back-biting, harsh, judgemental, bad-mouthing, blame-the-other-guy psuedo "politics" IF you can call it "policits". Politically themed finger pointing is more like it.
The Land of Oz.......2007-09-15
The author writes a somewhat satirical look at middle America 's political affliations. He has two major thesis. The first being that by the Democrats trying to copy Republicans-and money interests have turned their backs on blue collar workers. These workers have only the social issues to make their political choices. The second part of the thesis ,is that the money interests of the backlash movement (as he calls conservative Republicans) have just payed lip service to ending abortion and gay marriage etc.
So the effect of this is to have a reverse French Revolution in which the common man votes Republican and against his/her economic interests. So farming communities shrivel up,unions die,people go without health care.
Frank a native Kansan explores with humor and interviews peeople of the backlash movement.He bemoans the fact that populism -a left wing philospohy born in the mid west is dead. William Jennings Bryan a fundamentalist Christion was a liberal Democratic Senator from Nebraska.He explores this transformation and his diagnosis would make Clinton supportors and free market libertarians both angry. Since he offend both ends of the sprecta his observations should be taken seriously.
Certainly their are flaws in his thesis. if the Republican party is only paying lip service to social issues ,why are Democrats so afraid of their Supreme Court picks. If Clinton was in the pay of moneyied interests why was the right so moblized against Hillary's health care plan ?
This is a provacative book that explains Red and White state differences and the psycholgy of political self delusion (Blue collar people voting for big moneu interests)
thought-provoking, albeit hackneyed, look at America's Third Estate.......2007-08-02
Looking at Kansas today, it seems hard to believe that the archetypal American Heartland was once a hotbed of left-wing populism. "What's the Matter With Kansas?" shows us a bizarre socio-political landscape where a rural-suburban proletariat ardently defends corporate privilege in hopes that there will be an abortion ban or flag-burning amendment in it for them somewhere down the line.
Given Thomas Frank is a native Kansan, the detached tone he takes in his survey is disappointing. At many points, he comes across as preachy and high-minded to the point that you almost understand why the people of Kansas are so wary of "liberal elites". Rather than focusing on the lack of corporate accountability and excess that bring about the layoffs and cutbacks that hurt working class Americans, Frank takes swings at NAFTA and the many other trade policies that helped make the economic salad years of the 1990s possible.
While it becomes clear that in many cases the white Protestant gun-owning Average Joe is making a mistake when he votes Republican, Frank makes a grave mistake when he turns his nose up at the social and religious values this stratum of society holds so dear. He overlooks the fact that liberals are guilty of this same indulgence of principles. If it's so irrational for a churchgoing factory worker in Kansas to vote for a Republican corporate shill in order to protect his Second Amendment rights, why does it make any more sense for a Harvard-educated six-figure-earning professional to vote Democratic and have his taxes hiked up for the sake of protecting the Roe v. Wade decision?
Frank also overlooks the fact that Kansas was reliably Republican for years before the conservative backlash of the 1980s. Kansas was a Red State back when the GOP was still the party of Dwight Eisenhower, Nelson Rockefeller and Gerald Ford (and the people who would eventually make up the neo-conservative Republican coalition were still Conservative Democrats).
As a moderate Republican who happens to support affordable higher education, I was particularly offended by Frank's portrayal of Kansas' "Mod Squad" as arrogant corporatists. All in all, Thomas Frank has raised a lot of important questions, but his survey of the state he grew up in seems sadly detached and out-of-touch.
Well-written, entertaining but fails to live up to the title.......2007-07-08
Thomas Frank stated purpose is to tell how Conservative won the hearts of the working class, the middle class and the rich all at the same time. His answer is that rich, Republican elites throw up red herring issues (abortion and gay marriage are two that he mentions frequently) that bamboozle the working poor and the middle class into supporting them and their greater cause of Free Market Capitalism and International Free Trade even though Capitalism and treaties such as NAFTA inevitably beat the little guy into a pulp (his thought, not mine).
Yep. That's about it, although Mr. Frank says it much better than I just did. He also never goes into detail about why Capitalism and Free Trade are both evil (he just assumes you agree, I suppose), although he is very critical of Bill Clinton for supporting NAFTA throughout the book. Big business, especially Wal-Mart, are also to blame for de-populating the Kansas countryside. Apparantly, Wal-Mart has some larger agenda in which they plan to drive their customers away from the stores they build in the country...
Seriously, the book would have been helped by further explanation as to why Mr. Frank is such an opponent of Capitalism. He has another book on just that subject, according to a tiny bit of research on my part. It might be a help if readers read that book first, especially in light of Mr. Frank's view that all politics is based in economics: "Most of us think of politics as a Machiavellian drama in which actors make alliances and take practical steps to advance their material interests." (p. 121)
Mr. Frank's fails to properly tell us "How conservatives wone the heart of America" because he does not really believe, deep down, that people will vote in ways that he sees that are economically disadvantageous (Free Trade, etc.) unless they are tricked into doing so. People really believing in other issues and voting for them are foreign to his way of thinking.
This teacher gives it a C-. Thomas Frank really fails to adaquately address the thesis of the book, as expressed by the title. Interesting readiing, nonetheless.
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Title: American Christianity and the re-election of George W. Bush.(What's the Matter with Kansas: How Conservatives Won the Heart of America)(Don't Think of an Elephant: Know Your Values and Frame the Debate)(Book Review)
Author: Marian Ronan
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Cross Currents (Newsletter)
Date: June 22, 2005
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Volume: 55
Issue: 2
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Title: Culture is politics: two views of America.(Of Several Minds)(two books What's the Matter with Kansas? and On Paradise Drive explore American's political activity)(Book Review)
Author: John Garvey
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Commonweal (Magazine/Journal)
Date: October 22, 2004
Publisher: Commonweal Foundation
Volume: 131
Issue: 18
Page: 7(2)
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The fever swamps of Kansas: a leftist tries to make sense of grassroots conservatism.(What's the Matter with Kansas?: How Conservatives Won the Heart of America)(Book Review): An article from: Reason
Jesse Walker
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Title: The fever swamps of Kansas: a leftist tries to make sense of grassroots conservatism.(What's the Matter with Kansas?: How Conservatives Won the Heart of America)(Book Review)
Author: Jesse Walker
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Reason (Magazine/Journal)
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A son of Kansas calls home state politically misguided.(Books)(What's the Matter with Kansas? How Conservatives Won the Heart of America)(Book Review): An article from: Campaigns & Elections
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Title: A son of Kansas calls home state politically misguided.(Books)(What's the Matter with Kansas? How Conservatives Won the Heart of America)(Book Review)
Author: David Mark
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Title: What's right with Kansas.(What's the Matter with Kansas? How Conservatives Won the Heart of America)(Book Review)
Author: James Nuechterlein
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Title: What's the Matter with Kansas? How Conservatives Won the Heart of America.(Book Review)
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Where the Right Went Wrong: How Neoconservatives Subverted the Reagan Revolution and Hijacked the Bush Presidency.(Book Review) : An article from: The Cato Journal
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Title: Where the Right Went Wrong: How Neoconservatives Subverted the Reagan Revolution and Hijacked the Bush Presidency.(Book Review)
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Australian owls, frogmouths & nightjars
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