by Thomas Frank
First published 2012
Thomas Frank investigates a puzzle that emerged after the 2008 financial crisis. When he began searching for signs of American anger in 2009, he expected to find demands for economic reform and protests against the system that had failed. Instead, he discovered something unexpected. The Tea Party movement was calling for harsher treatment of recession victims and bigger rewards for society's winners. The American Right, which appeared finished after Obama's election, had found new energy in hard times. Republicans in Congress worked to tear down remaining liberal programs while Glenn Beck turned national anxiety into profit. Both promoted the same libertarian economics that Alan Greenspan, a devoted follower of Ayn Rand, had already acknowledged produced results opposite to what was promised. Frank uses direct reporting and his understanding of conservative America to explain how economic disaster created these political outcomes. He shows how collapse became profitable for some, how the Founding Fathers got recast as Ayn Rand heroes, and how ordinary people became cheerleaders for the wealthy.
Genres: american, political-science, economics, non-fiction, 21st-century, american-history
Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: investigative-journalism, social-commentary
Setting: America
Period: 2008, 2009, Obama Administration
225 pages · Hardcover · Metropolitan Books