What's the Matter with Kansas? A Lecture

By: Thomas Frank

Narrated by: Thomas Frank

Length: 44 mins

Publisher's summary

In this lecture, Thomas Frank distills the central argument from his New York Times best seller, What's the Matter With Kansas?, which unravels the great political mystery of our day: why do so many Americans vote against their economic and social interests? In this special recorded lecture, 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 audiences for a backlash that he calls a "derangement", the popular revolt against a supposedly liberal establishment.

In his concise, reasoned approach, Frank charts how the "great backlash mobilizes votes with explosive social issues", marshalling cultural anger to achieve economic ends. As a result, conservatism, once a marker of class privilege and now the creed of millions of ordinary Americans, has become a "working class movement that has done incalculable harm to the middle class".

©2004 Thomas Frank

Ear-opening!

Thomas Frank delivers his essay with a light, conversational tone that underscores the plain-spoken sanity of his ideas. I’ve listened to it three times already, just to really absorb his point of view. While Frank dates himself slightly with some of his examples, the core premise is timeless. Everyone who is sad, mad, or scared about the decline of democracy in the United States should give this a listen.

He nailed it!

This is a truly definitive piece that explains how and why theAmerican mainstream regularly votes against its own interests and those of he vast majority of people around the world.

Excellent Lecture

Audible. Please allow us to download the entire book, and not just a lecture/sample!

Explains Right Wing Idiocy

I always wondered why some Americans are on the verge of voting themselves into becoming third world serfs. It explains why poor, middle and lower middle class people Ameicans are willing to play the fool for politicians who tell them what they want to hear about social issues yet the very first legislative bill they sign deals with bankrptcy, tort reform and kickbacks to energy companies. A fool and his money will surely part.

The Matter With Kansas

This Lecture shows allot about what's going on with the Right and shows another example of how The Tinkerbelle Effect has made many Americans believe in the lies of the Existence of a Liberal Bias. The greatest tragety is that a Generation of Americans continue to vote the same republicans and expect different results. An equal question could be asked on both sides whom shift between Moderate and Conservative. A must read for all in the effort to restore America.

Wish it was an unabridged copy of the book

This lecture was a good summary/teaser of the book itself, but I wish Audible had an unabridged copy of the book available for purchase.

A preview of the Culture War we live in today

For being a lecturer from the Bush era. I feel that this speech rings truer today in the post Trump era than it did at the time it was written.

Excellent Book

I read the book and listened to the lecture and found both to be very informative. It was baffling how people in middle American could seemingly vote against their own self interests and this book explains it. It will definitely give you a perspective on how this can take place. The only factory closes in town with now hope of jobs anywhere without moving and other family losing their farms to a conglomerate and yet they still vote for the people that put them in that situation. Incredible. Completely opened my eyes and made me realize the gulf between Moderate Republicans and Radical Conservative ones. Highly recommended reading!

Great Explanation, Not a Lot of Solutions

"Kansas" is well worth the money. Franks does a great job of explaining how the latest Republican Revolution came to be. He tells how it works. He doesn't, however, have a lot of ideas for how to counter it. For that I would suggest George Lakoff's "Don't think of an Elephant!" and "Moral Politics."

An eye-opener

I enjoyed this brief social commentary and feel it has much to tell us about America as Election Day looms. I just wish the complete book was available in audio format.