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

Whats the matter with communism?

Wow, how out of touch can one man be? I am so glad the author is also the narrator so that you can hear his anger as he reads. If you like someone telling you that you are an idiot and a fool who is simply participating in a "backlash" if you do not support liberalism, then this book is for you! The author further explains how we are ignorantly naive to think that free markets and deregulation are a good thing. Who new socialism was so cool?
Barring political views; the main problem is that it is painful to listen to someone speak with so much anger, and while opinion has its place, every now and then you have to come down off the soap box and back up what you say with facts and references which the author fails to do (and if he did it would probably be from the same source who gave Dan Rather those bogus documents), instead he attempts to make you a believer simply by speaking as if from authority.

Angry?

I suspect that Steve is projecting his own anger onto Mr. Frank because he disagrees with what Mr. Frank says.

When Will the Book be Available

Great lecture! I'd like to hear the entire book.

So out of touch

This shows us how out of touch the elite media is with most Americans. Very hard to listen to.

A Lecture is right!

But I don't want to be lectured! I want to experience a wide range of thoughts. The backlash will continue as long as liberals continue to to accuse those of us of the conservative persuation that we are uninformed dupes. These reviews are really something. Steve writes a review that is informative and well thought out. But because his thinking is right, he must be wrong.

What?s wrong with the whole USA?

?I don?t think we?re in Kansas any more,? Dorothy said to her little dog Toto, after they had been transported to the Land of Oz.

She was wrong. We are still in Kansas, that forgotten land where no one ever goes, the poorest section of the US. But our hearts and minds are still there?the reddest state in the Union. The area that was once the heartland of progressivism now votes for George W. Bush?overwhelmingly. What has gone wrong?

Or, depending on your point of view, what has gone Right? The answer is clear: the whole US has gone Right. And the important question is not why, but how? How did the Right take over the whole US?

Thomas Frank is one of the few people who has a good handle on this. He wrote the book What?s wrong with Kansas? and he has been refining his views since then. In this lecture, he sums it all up. It?s an easy listen.

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.

Brainwashed voters will never learn

The very definition of brainwashing is that the subject rejects reason in favor of the party line. This book is well written, thought provoking and a good listen for any thinking conservative or liberal. For those reviewers who cannot but wish to silence this book, consider why they are so angry. The fact that this book provokes so much emotion in sheep is testament to its truth. Listen to this book. I think you will find it well worth the price of the download. (Is it wrong of me to want to download this book directly into the hearts and minds of the sheep?) (or would that make me like them?) (hmmmm).

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!

What a waste

I downloaded this lecture based on the media hype. I can't tell if the author is being totally serious, is some kind of satirist, or what, but I couldn't manage to listen to the whole 44 minutes (the portion I heard was interminable). Okay, so I'm only slightly left of center politically- I still like a dash of logic and analysis mixed in with my vitriol.