What's the Matter with Kansas?

How Conservatives Won the Heart of America

By: Thomas Frank

Narrated by: Thomas Frank

Length: 8 hrs and 57 mins

Publisher's summary

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).

**Unabridged for the first time with a new introduction**

This program is read by the author.

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.

A Macmillan Audio production from Metropolitan Books

©2004 Thomas Frank (P)2021 Macmillan Audio

Critic reviews

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

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

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

From a Kansan Transplant

I grew up in Denver and started High School in California. In the summers growing up I would often travel with my dad to Southwest Kansas to visit his sisters farm. I ended up finishing High School in that part of Kansas and have lived there ever since. I was always amazed how Kansans voted. It seems you could never find anyone who would admit to voting for one particular senator, but he always got reelected. The book helped me understand this phenomenon.

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REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS IN AMERICA
Voters in Kansas decide to keep abortion legal in the state, rejecting an amendment
Updated August 3, 20222:18 AM ET
DYLAN LYSEN
LAURA ZIEGLER
BLAISE MESA
FROM
KCUR 89.3

Kansas state Rep. Stephanie Clayton, an abortion rights supporter who was a Republican and is now a Democrat, reacts as a referendum to strip abortion rights out of the state constitution fails.
Danielle Kurtzleben/NPR
LAWRENCE, Kan. — Voters in Kansas rejected a proposed state constitutional amendment Tuesday that would have said there was no right to an abortion in the state, according to The Associated Press.


Kansas was the first state to vote on abortion rights since the U.S. Supreme Court handed down its ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson's Women's Health Organization.

President Joe Biden hailed Tuesday's vote and called on Congress to pass a law to restore nationwide abortion rights that were provided by Roe.

"This vote makes clear what we know: the majority of Americans agree that women should have access to abortion and should have the right to make their own health care decisions," Biden said in a statement.

Kansas For Constitutional Freedom, the main abortion rights group opposing the amendment, called the victory "huge and decisive."

"The people of Kansas have spoken," said Rachel Sweet, campaign manager for the group. "They think that abortion should be safe, legal and accessible in the state of Kansas."

This year, a record number of abortion questions will be on state ballots, and many are asking Kansas' decision Tuesday will be an indicator of what is to come.

In the lead-up to the vote, supporters of the amendment argued that it was necessary to correct what they say was the Kansas Supreme Court's overreach in striking down some of the state's previous abortion restrictions in 2019.

Opponents argued that the amendment would set state lawmakers up to pursue a total abortion ban.

An overwhelming victory
Struggling to speak after the race was called, 23-year-old Jae Moyer said the decisive victory in the red state was surprising.

"It's never looked like this in Kansas," Moyer said. "It's so amazing. I'm so proud of my state right now."

Planned Parenthood donated millions of dollars to the opposition effort.

"Anti-abortion politicians put this amendment on the primary ballot with the goal of low voter turnout," said Emily Wales of Planned Parenthood Great Plains Votes, "but they discounted Kansans, who said loud and clear they believe and trust patients to make their own medical decisions."

Access to abortion in Kansas remains limited. The state has only four clinics where abortions remain available, all in the Wichita and Kansas City areas.

A bit of a rant, but interesting none the less.

Overall this is worth a listen. It leans a bit to hard on the term "latte" and the person of David Brooks, but despite those issues it is inciteful in the victimization culture of right wing America. It is a good companion to "Strangers in their own land" by Arlie Russell Hochschild.

Written by a historian there could have been a better timeline of the Kansas statehood narrative. There certainly was a cross-border aspect to the free soil and proslavery fight, but Kansas settlers engaged in plenty of internecine warfare. As Shelby Foote said in Ken Burns classic "The Civil War" you cannot fully understand the history of the United States if you do not have a working knowledge of that tragedy.

I am not sure the Nebraska Kansas Act of 1954 is mentioned. If it is it is brief. It is this act that made the Missouri Compromise largely mute and gave the settlers the opportunity to vote on the slavery issue. The process of voting is mentioned and it was a slow rolling disaster. It wasn't until the secession of several Southern States that Kansas came into statehood on the Northern side. This timeline matters and should have received some mention.

David Brooks, like the author, has a tendency to lean on Democrats and Liberals as the key source of the derangement in a portion of American Christian faith. The lunacy that they lament of those that stormed the bastille on January 6th is, and should be, laid on the shoulders of criminals that defaced the seat of American government and to some degree the church leaders that inspired them. The most remarkable feat of the "Backlash" Christian is their unending capacity to absolve themselves responsibility for their actions. This is where the power of "Victimization" is seemingly a bottomless well.

Amazing how things have gotten so much worse since this book was written

This book was written quite some time before Trump became president and his lost to Biden things have gotten so much worse Mr. Frank needs to write a more up-to-date book and I’m sure it’ll be very much gloom and doom overall a truly awesome book by Mr. Frank

Ahead of its time

Thomas Frank wrote this book a while ago but, a lot of what he claimed has evolved and increased. Our political discourse has lead us to a polarizing world due to a few aspects explained on this book. This is not a cringe or sensationalist piece. This is an educated opinion that although I may not agree on full, deserves a read.

Well worth the wait

Frank was ahead of the curve in predicting the return of economic in political discourse. It’s funny that this book, the key to all of what he’s written since, was the last to come out in audio format, as it becomes a conclusion as well as a thesis. This work is just as relevant 20 years on, especially as the trends it describes have all progressed (so to speak).

Valuable insights, poorly structured, bad narrator

The contents are good and I don't disagree with the arguments. But what seems to be the central thesis—politics devoid of economics—is relegated to a single chapter and a few paragraphs in the epilogue. There are so many long-winded meandering musings that this comes off as an extended WaPo opinion piece. For example, what should have been a few paragraphs while discussing Kansas's unique culture is instead an entire chapter focused on off-catholic cults with membership in the dozens. This book should have been entirely restructured and the discussion of politics and economics expanded. Oh, and It would be nice to have a narrator who knows how to pronounce elite (it's not "ay-leet") and doesn't pause after every hard consonant... drove me crazy!

As is in 2004 so it is in 2024

This book is still important today, heck it could have been written today. Frank’s predictions of Kansas being a vanguard of the future of the right wing backlash seems all but validated.

Eureka

This book created a Eureka moment indeed. On a whim I looked up Eureka and there's one in Kansas. Fortunately, it's not one of the many alleged Sundown Towns in Kansas.

As a flyover state, Kansas is one of those states you have to look up to be sure of its exact place, so it's humbling to think it is leading the divisive social revolution with the Koch Bros funding it and getting a return on their investment. Fortunately, women's liberty appears saved by the state Constitution, with an insurance policy called a clear majority.

Though an older book, it still seems as much if not more relevant today. There are moments of enormous clarity. And this clarity and perhaps the national movement much of Kansas aspires to, will keep this book relevant well into tomorrow and in the other states.

As an aside...With Roe having sadly fallen and the looming potential for a convention of the states, the author's candor would do prophetic justice tackling such a likelihood, given such Confederate romance would seemingly clash with the author's premise of the working class's rainbow like aspiration for social righteousness while giving both ends filled with pots of gold to the wealthy. Just what would come of such a convention?

A must read. Thanks for sharing.

A great listen. Well done.

An examination of “backlash” hypocrisy versus the culture crushing impact of unfettered capitalism. The conservatives sell rage while high minded liberals quit fighting for the working person long ago. The bottom is yet to come.

Such a disappointment …

Was so looking forward to reading this book - recommended by Matt Taibbi in “Hate inc” (a fantastic book BTW) - only to find a third rate writer insulting everything and everyone conservative without substantiating claims. No problem that he is a hard core Democrat, but to insult and denigrate those that don’t think like Mr. Frank is pure ideology. Very disappointing book.