by Thomas Frank
First published 2020
Thomas Frank challenges the modern view of populism as a dangerous force. He traces populism from the 1890s Populist Party through Franklin Roosevelt and Harry Truman's reforms. Frank argues that populism represents enlightenment and liberation, not racism or extremism. The movement fought Gilded Age plutocrats and expanded democracy's promise of decent lives for all Americans. Frank shows how elites have consistently attacked populist movements and working-class concerns. Washington centrists today continue this pattern of anti-populist attacks. Frank revisits the movement's politics and presents populism as optimistic and promising. He contends that true populism offers solutions to current problems rather than creating them. The book affirms populism as central to American democratic progress.
Genres: history, american, political-science, non-fiction, 21st-century, american-history
Vibes: thought-provoking
Tropes: optimistic, revisionist-history
Setting: America, United States, Washington
Period: 1890s, 20th-century
224 pages · Kindle Edition · Metropolitan Books