One of "our most insightful social observers" (Los Angeles Times) cracks the great political mystery of our time: how conservatism, once a marker of class privilege, became the creed of millions of ordinary Americans

With his acclaimed wit and acuity, Thomas Frank turns his eye on what he calls the "thirty-year backlash" — the populist revolt against a supposedly liberal establishment. The high point of that backlash is the Republican Party's success in building the most unnatural of alliances: between blue-collar Midwesterners and Wall Street business interests, workers and bosses, populists and right-wingers.

In asking "what's the matter with Kansas?" — how a place famous for its radicalism became one of the most conservative states in the union — Frank, a native Kansan and onetime Republican, seeks to answer some broader American riddles: Why do so many of us vote against our economic interests? Where's the outrage at corporate manipulators? And whatever happened to middle-American progressivism? The questions are urgent as well as provocative. Frank answers them by examining pop conservatism — the bestsellers, the radio talk shows, the vicious political combat — and showing how our long culture wars have left us with an electorate far more concerned with their leaders' "values" and down-home qualities than with their stands on hard questions of policy.

A brilliant analysis — and funny to boot — What’s the Matter with Kansas? presents a critical assessment of who we are, while telling a remarkable story of how a group of frat boys, lawyers, and CEOs came to convince a nation that they spoke on behalf of the People.

"A fire-and-brimstone essay on false consciousness on the Great Plains....A bracing, unabashedly partisan, and very smart work of red-state trendspotting." Kirkus Reviews

"Clued-in and critical, Kansas native Tom Frank offers a clear-eyed perspective on the rise of social conservatives within the Republican Party, and the sometimes upside-down world of right-wing populism. Bringing together solid reportorial skills and sharp memories of his Kansas youth, Frank combines top-flight journalism with first-person reflections to dig deep into the Kansas psyche. Both exhilarating and a little scary, What's the Matter with Kansas? should help flat-landers and coastal types alike understand how traditional Republicanism gave way to the politics of the Christian Right in the heart of the heart of the country." Burdett Loomis, Professor and Chair, Department of Political Science at the University of Kansas

"Mr. Frank's willingness to scold his own side; his irreverence and his facility with language; his ability to make the connections that other writers fail to make — all of this puts What's the Matter with Kansas? in a different league from most of the political books that have come out in recent years." Kevin Canfield, The New York Observer

"A heartland populist, Frank is hilariously funny on what makes us red-staters different from blue-staters (not), and he actually knows evangelical Christians, antiabortion activists, gun-nuts, and Bubbas. I promise y'all, this is the only way to understand why so many Americans have decided to vote against their own economic and political interests. And Frank explores the subject with scholarship, understanding, passion, and — thank you, Mark Twain — such tart humor." Molly Ivins

"This is the true story of how conservatives punk'd a nation. Tom Frank has stripped the right-wing hustle to its core: It is bread and circuses — only without bread. Written like poem, every line in its perfect place, What's the Matter with Kansas? is the best new book I've read in years, on any subject." Rick Perlstein, author of Before the Storm: Barry Goldwater and the Unmaking of American Consensus

"A wise reporter and a splendid wit; Tom Frank understands the grassroots Right as well as anyone in America. He is the second coming of H. L. Mencken — but with much better politics." Michael Kazin, author of The Populist Persuasion: An American History

"What's the Matter with Kansas? is the most insightful analysis of American right-wing pseudopopulism to come along in the last decade. As for Kansas: However far it's drifted into delusion, you've got to love a state that could produce someone as wickedly funny, compassionate, and non-stop brilliant as Tom Frank." Barbara Enhrenreich, author of Nickel and Dimed

"Frank combines top-flight journalism with first-person reflections to dig deep into the Kansas psyche. Both exhilarating and a little scary, What's the Matter with Kansas? should help flat-landers and coastal types alike understand how traditional Republicanism gave way to the politics of the Christian Right in the heart of the heart of the country." Burdett Loomis, professor and chair, Department of Political Science at the University of Kansas

"[A] scathing and high-spirited polemic...." New Yorker

"[A] brilliant book, one of the best so far this decade on American politics." George Scialabba, Nation

Founding editor of The Baffler, Thomas Frank is the author of One Market Under God and The Conquest of Cool. A contributor to Harper’s, The Nation, and The New York Times op-ed page, he lives in Chicago.