• Pity the Billionaire

  • The Unexpected Resurgence of the American Right
  • By: Thomas Frank
  • Narrated by: Thomas Frank
  • Length: 5 hrs and 47 mins
  • 4.4 out of 5 stars (199 ratings)

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Pity the Billionaire  By  cover art

Pity the Billionaire

By: Thomas Frank
Narrated by: Thomas Frank
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Publisher's summary

From the best-selling author of What's the Matter with Kansas?, a wonderfully insightful and sardonic look at how the worst economy since the 1930s has brought about the revival of conservatism.

Economic catastrophe usually brings social protest and demands for change - or at least it's supposed to. But when Thomas Frank set out in 2009 to look for expressions of American discontent, all he could find were loud demands that the economic system be made even harsher on the recession's victims and that society's traditional winners receive even grander prizes. The American right, which had seemed moribund after the election of 2008, was strangely reinvigorated by the arrival of hard times. The Tea Party movement demanded not that we question the failed system but that we reaffirm our commitment to it. Republicans in Congress embarked on a bold strategy of total opposition to the liberal state. And TV phenom Glenn Beck demonstrated the commercial potential of heroic paranoia and the purest libertarian economics.

In Pity the Billionaire, Frank, the great chronicler of American paradox, examines the peculiar mechanism by which dire economic circumstances have delivered wildly unexpected political results. Using firsthand reporting, a deep knowledge of the American right, and a wicked sense of humor, he gives us the first full diagnosis of the cultural malady that has transformed collapse into profit, reconceived the Founding Fathers as heroes from an Ayn Rand novel, and enlisted the powerless in a fan club for the prosperous. What it portends is ominous for both our economic health and our democracy.

©2012 Thomas Frank (P)2012 Macmillan Audio

Critic reviews

"No one fools Thomas Frank, who is the sharpest, funniest, most intellectually voracious political commentator on the scene. In Pity the Billionaire he has written a brilliant expose of the most breath-taking ruse in American political history: how the right turned the biggest capitalist breakdown since 1929 into an opportunity for themselves." (Barbara Ehrenreich)
“Thomas Frank is the thinking person’s Michael Moore. If Moore, the left-wing filmmaker, had Frank’s Ph.D. (in history from the University of Chicago), he might produce books like this one.” (Michael Kinsley, The New York Times Book Review)
“A feisty and galvanizing book… This is the kind of analysis - historically astute, irreverent and droll - that makes Frank such an invaluable voice. As he's done in a series of perceptive books, Frank cuts through the partisan blather and explains how money and cynical ideas shape a certain kind of contemporary politics. Pity the Billionaire is further evidence that he's as good at this as any writer working today.” ( San Francisco Chronicle)

What listeners say about Pity the Billionaire

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Wow

Very Informative, and well thought out. Thomas Frank is, by far, the clearest writer on the subject matter of understanding the appeal of the conservative mind.

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2 people found this helpful

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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Frank gets righteously angry

And so he should, given the scale of the fraud perpetrated on the 99% by the criminal propertied classes and their lackeys in government. If you like Chris Hedges, read Salon and don't pronounce the word as 'gubmint', then this could be the book for you.

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1 person found this helpful

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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Under the Banner of the ???Don???t Tread on Me??? Flag

I enjoy Thomas Frank???s mixture of contemporary politics linked to deeper history and his terrific wit. ???Pity the Billionaire??? follows on ???What???s the Matter with Kansas????and ???The Wrecking Crew,??? and continues his excellent streak. This is a short book on the Tea Party and its harnessing of the populist anger in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis for the good of free market economics. I laughed out loud at passages like: ???And harmless snakes have learned over the millennia to frighten predators by shaking their tails in the dead leaves. They are mimic rattlesnakes--not the real deal. Don???t be afraid. Go ahead and tread on them.??? He cracks that joke and then embarks on a razor-sharp depiction of how and why the conservative moment mimics other movements it disparages. Frank narrates quickly and with an occasional chuckle in his voice. His voice is different from the professionals, yet surely listenable since I have listened to parts of the book twice now. Recommended.

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1 person found this helpful

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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Insightful, but don't expect balance

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

This book provides interesting historical insights into the way the current political stalemate developed. It attacks both major parties (on different grounds). The opinions Mr. Frank provides are backed up well enough by hard facts to make Republicans cringe over the documented failures of laissez-faire, market-driven economics and Democrats ashamed for insensitivity to the shift in American values. Mr. Frank's reading was both more inflammatory and more entertaining than the printed book, not surprisingly. I found his criticism of Ayn Rand's

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Enjoyalbe

Would you listen to Pity the Billionaire again? Why?

This was a good book on the current political culture. Frank always does a good job of analyizing the current political and cultural norms.

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1 person found this helpful

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  • H
  • 01-30-12

Clear story of financial mess we are in.

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

This should be required reading for anyone who wants to understand the financial mess we are in and the incomprehensible response by the tea party. It is written in clear easy to understand English and explains how the monied interests of the far right coopted the rage of people and created a ridiculous call for deregulation in response to a mess created by lack of regulation over the greed of Wall Street.

The author does not let the democrats off the hook either as he explains their lack of courage and inability to create a narrative that grabbed the attention of the common man.

What was the most compelling aspect of this narrative?

Followed the mess from start to current in a well constructed, researched, and factual rendition.

What does Thomas Frank bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

His enthusiasm comes across throughout the book. His way of questioning the response by the public comes across in his tone.


If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

Pity the Billionaire or How I Learned to Hate the Liberals who did not create this mess in the first place.

Any additional comments?

Wish the crowd that lives in the Fox News Bubble would take a break from that far right propaganda and read some fact based insight into the mess we are in.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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Fascinating

This is a must read for anyone interested in how the GOP managed to convince Americans to vote against their own socio-economic interests

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    1 out of 5 stars
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Don't expect knowledge. Expect character attacks

What disappointed you about Pity the Billionaire?

Pity the billionaire doesn't seem to be intended to convince anyone of anything. Rather than produce facts and figures, or explain the intricacies of a system, the author instead spends his energy making character attacks and using sensationalist terminology. I came expecting a well reasoned explanation of a different viewpoint, and instead received hate-filled drivel designed to whip the already-believing into a frenzy.

Has Pity the Billionaire turned you off from other books in this genre?

Very much so. It's hard to understand and improve my knowledge when there's so much hate and ignorance being flung (especially when that hate and ignorance is levied at and about hate and ignorance)

How could the performance have been better?

The author read the book himself, and his tonality and energy adds even more venom to the already caustic words. Listening to his message would have been easier had someone else read the book. Heck, a text-to-speech engine would have resulted in an easier-to-digest presentation.

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

I wish there were redeeming qualities, but I haven't found any.

Any additional comments?

It's not audible's fault that the content was lacking.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

A decent book although somewhat predictable

Would you try another book from Thomas Frank and/or Thomas Frank?

Probably not. Thomas Frank is a decent writer with a wonderful vocabulary and solid research. Unfortunately he's too one-sided and pretentious for my taste. He seems to be interested in talking down to everyone and comes off as quite pompous at times.

Did the narration match the pace of the story?

This is a situation again where an author really should hire a profession voice over artist. He's clearly passionate about his material but at so many points he seemed like he was too eccentric, too sarcastic. He seemed like the dictionary definition of a "whiny liberal". So many time when talking to conservatives they go on about the "liberal elite" and how so many liberals think they're better than everyone else and smarter. This reading pretty much summed that up. Unless you desperately hate republicans and the business class, I think that you might find this a bit distasteful.

Any additional comments?

A decent book. I agree with the premise and found some of the points very interesting. It was just a little to "over-the-top" for me.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Perspective interesting but delivery too shrill

Although I mostly enjoyed the overall thesis of this book, the delivery was that of a sports' announcer hyping everything at the top of his voice. I am suspicious of anyone/anything that requires shouting to make a point. By trying to ignore that part of the presentation, it was mostly interesting.

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