What's the Matter with Kansas?
How Conservatives Won the Heart of America
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Narrated by:
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Thomas Frank
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By:
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Thomas Frank
About this listen
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 AudioListeners also enjoyed...
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Loved this book!
- By ccarp on 06-04-14
By: Erica Grieder
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After America
- Get Ready for Armageddon
- By: Mark Steyn
- Narrated by: Mark Steyn
- Length: 13 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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In his giant New York Times best seller, America Alone: The End of the World as We Know It, Mark Steyn predicted collapse for the rest of the Western World. Now, he adds, America has caught up with Europe on the great rush to self-destruction. What will a world without American leadership look like? It won’t be pretty—not for you and not for your children. America’s decline won’t be gradual, like an aging Europe sipping espresso at a café until extinction. No, America’s decline will be a wrenching affair marked by violence and possibly secession.
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Facts
- By Peter on 11-11-11
By: Mark Steyn
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The Big Sort
- Why the Clustering of Like-Minded America Is Tearing Us Apart
- By: Bill Bishop, Robert G. Cushing
- Narrated by: Paul Brion
- Length: 12 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
In 2004, journalist Bill Bishop coined the term "the big sort". Armed with startling new demographic data, he made national news in a series of articles showing how Americans have been sorting themselves into alarmingly homogeneous communities - not by region or by state but by city and even neighborhood. Over the past three decades, we have been choosing the neighborhoods (and churches and news shows) compatible with our lifestyles and beliefs.
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Build the Wall?
- By Amazon Customer on 01-23-19
By: Bill Bishop, and others
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Liberal Fascism
- The Secret History of the American Left
- By: Jonah Goldberg
- Narrated by: Johnny Heller
- Length: 15 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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Performance
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Story
"Fascists", "Brownshirts", "jackbooted stormtroopers" - such are the insults typically hurled at conservatives by their liberal opponents. Calling someone a fascist is the fastest way to shut them up, defining their views as beyond the political pale. But who are the real fascists in our midst?
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Great book
- By Mark on 05-10-08
By: Jonah Goldberg
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Idiot America
- How Stupidity Became a Virtue in the Land of the Free
- By: Charles P. Pierce
- Narrated by: Bronson Pinchot
- Length: 9 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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The culture wars are over and the idiots have won. This is a veteran journalist’s caustically funny, righteously angry lament about the glorification of ignorance in the United States. The three Great Premises of Idiot America: · Any theory is valid if it sells books, soaks up ratings, or otherwise moves units; anything can be true if someone says it loudly enough; "fact" is that which enough people believe. And "truth" is determined by how fervently they believe it.
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You Get What You Paid For
- By Vargas on 09-19-11
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Beyond the Messy Truth
- How We Came Apart, How We Come Together
- By: Van Jones
- Narrated by: Prentice Onayemi
- Length: 7 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
In Beyond the Messy Truth, Jones offers a blueprint for transforming our collective anxiety into meaningful change. Tough on Donald Trump but showing respect and empathy for his supporters, Jones takes aim at the failures of both parties before and after Trump's victory. He urges both sides to abandon the politics of accusation and focus on real solutions. Calling us to a deeper patriotism, he shows us how to get down to the vital business of solving, together, some of our toughest problems.
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-
I never hated anyone before
- By Joanna Bugajska on 11-17-17
By: Van Jones
-
The Great Revolt
- Inside the Populist Coalition Reshaping American Politics
- By: Salena Zito, Brad Todd
- Narrated by: Bob Hess
- Length: 11 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Standout syndicated columnist and CNN contributor Salena Zito, with veteran Republican strategist Brad Todd, reports across five swing states and over 27,000 miles to answer the pressing question: Was Donald Trump's election a fluke or did it represent a fundamental shift in the electorate that will have repercussions - for Republicans and Democrats - for years to come.
-
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Explaining Trump's 2016 presidential victory
- By Wayne on 05-10-18
By: Salena Zito, and others
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Bullies
- How the Left's Culture of Fear and Intimidation Silences Americans
- By: Ben Shapiro
- Narrated by: Charles Constant
- Length: 9 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Ben Shapiro uncovers the simple strategy used by liberals and their friends in the media: bully the living hell out of conservatives. Play the race card, the class card, the sexism card. Use any and every means at your disposal to demonize your opposition - to shut them up. Then pretend that such bullying is justified because, after all, conservatives are the true bullies and need to be taught a lesson for their intolerance.
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i wish shapiro narrated it
- By michelle on 03-25-17
By: Ben Shapiro
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The Corrosion of Conservatism
- Why I Left the Right
- By: Max Boot
- Narrated by: Max Boot
- Length: 7 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Warning that the Trump presidency presages America’s decline, Max Boot, the political commentator, recounts his extraordinary journey from lifelong Republican to vehement Trump opponent. As nativism, xenophobia, vile racism, and assaults on the rule of law threaten the very fabric of our nation, The Corrosion of Conservatism presents an urgent defense of American democracy.
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Not an intellectual tour de force!
- By Wayne on 07-14-19
By: Max Boot
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Stayin' Alive
- The 1970s and the Last Days of the Working Class
- By: Jefferson R. Cowie
- Narrated by: Tom Perkins
- Length: 17 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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A wide-ranging cultural and political history that will forever redefine a misunderstood decade, Stayin' Alive is prize-winning historian Jefferson Cowie's remarkable account of how working-class America hit the rocks in the political and economic upheavals of the 1970s. In this edgy and incisive book, Cowie, with "an ear for the power and poetry of vernacular speech" (Cleveland Plain Dealer), reveals America's fascinating path from rising incomes and optimism of the New Deal to the widening economic inequalities and dampened expectations of the present.
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Couldn’t get past “rank and file”
- By A. Arena on 10-13-21
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Disintegration
- The Splintering of Black America
- By: Eugene Robinson
- Narrated by: Alan Bomar Jones
- Length: 7 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
The African American population in the United States has always been seen as a single entity: a "Black America" with unified interests and needs. In his groundbreaking book Disintegration, longtime Washington Post journalist Eugene Robinson argues that, through decades of desegregation, affirmative action, and immigration, the concept of Black America has shattered.
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Written for Popular Consumption
- By Catherine S. Read on 06-03-11
By: Eugene Robinson
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The Audacity of Hope
- Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream
- By: Barack Obama
- Narrated by: Barack Obama
- Length: 6 hrs and 10 mins
- Abridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
In July 2004, Barack Obama electrified the Democratic National Convention with an address that spoke to Americans across the political spectrum. Now, in The Audacity of Hope, Senator Obama calls for a different brand of politics: a politics for those weary of bitter partisanship and alienated by the "endless clash of armies" we see in Congress and on the campaign trail; a politics rooted in the faith, inclusiveness, and nobility of spirit at the heart of "our improbable experiment in democracy".
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My Fellow Conservatives, Give This A Listen
- By Dallas D.L. on 02-12-15
By: Barack Obama
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Cowards
- What Politicians, Radicals, and the Media Refuse to Say
- By: Glenn Beck
- Narrated by: Ron McLarty
- Length: 10 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
As we approach the most important presidential election in America’s history, something has been lost among all of the debates, attack ads, and super- PACs - something that Americans used to hold in very high regard: THE TRUTH. The truth can no longer be something we hope for; it must be something we live. When courage prevails, cowards do not - and this book was written to ensure that’s exactly what happens.
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Guess what... Its by Glenn Beck!!
- By Joseph on 07-17-12
By: Glenn Beck
People who viewed this also viewed...
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Listen, Liberal
- Or, What Ever Happened to the Party of the People?
- By: Thomas Frank
- Narrated by: Thomas Frank
- Length: 8 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It is a widespread belief among liberals that if only Democrats can continue to dominate national elections, if only those awful Republicans are beaten into submission, the country will be on the right course. But this is to fundamentally misunderstand the modern Democratic Party. Drawing on years of research and first-hand reporting, Frank points out that the Democrats have done little to advance traditional liberal goals: expanding opportunity, fighting for social justice, and ensuring that workers get a fair deal.
-
-
Wow! Such an eye opener!
- By William R. Brown on 03-24-16
By: Thomas Frank
-
The People, No
- A Brief History of Anti-Populism
- By: Thomas Frank
- Narrated by: Thomas Frank
- Length: 8 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Rarely does a work of history contain startling implications for the present, but in The People, No, Thomas Frank pulls off that explosive effect by showing us that everything we think we know about populism is wrong. Today "populism" is seen as a frightening thing, a term pundits use to describe the racist philosophy of Donald Trump and European extremists. But this is a mistake. The real story of populism is an account of enlightenment and liberation; it is the story of American democracy itself, of its ever-widening promise of a decent life for all.
-
-
I need something more reasoned
- By Nana Landgraf on 08-05-20
By: Thomas Frank
-
Pity the Billionaire
- The Unexpected Resurgence of the American Right
- By: Thomas Frank
- Narrated by: Thomas Frank
- Length: 5 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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....
-
-
Intelligent analysis of a stupid phenomenon
- By Velma Schnoll on 08-17-12
By: Thomas Frank
-
The Wrecking Crew
- How Conservatives Rule
- By: Thomas Frank
- Narrated by: Oliver Wyman
- Length: 10 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In his previous book, Thomas Frank explained why working America votes for politicians who reserve their favors for the rich. Now, in The Wrecking Crew, Frank examines the Washington those politicians have given us, showing why, no matter what happens in November 2008, we're stuck with it for the foreseeable future.
-
-
Looking for the political good
- By Saundra on 08-13-08
By: Thomas Frank
-
Rendezvous with Oblivion
- Reports from a Sinking Society
- By: Thomas Frank
- Narrated by: Thomas Frank
- Length: 6 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
What does a middle-class democracy look like when it comes apart? When, after 40 years of economic triumph, America’s winners persuade themselves that they owe nothing to the rest of the country? Rendezvous with Oblivion is a collection of interlocking essays examining how inequality has manifested itself in our cities, in our jobs, in the way we travel - and of course in our politics, where in 2016, millions of anxious ordinary people rallied to the presidential campaign of a billionaire who meant them no good.
-
-
The Message Was Good, but Disingenuous
- By SuZieCoyote on 08-10-18
By: Thomas Frank
-
Russian Roulette
- By: David Corn, Michael Isikoff
- Narrated by: Peter Ganim
- Length: 12 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The incredible, harrowing account of how American democracy was hacked by Moscow as part of a covert operation to influence the US election and help Donald Trump gain the presidency.
-
-
Great Book Yet Total Political Incompetence
- By @CyberSpaceSA on 03-22-18
By: David Corn, and others
-
Listen, Liberal
- Or, What Ever Happened to the Party of the People?
- By: Thomas Frank
- Narrated by: Thomas Frank
- Length: 8 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It is a widespread belief among liberals that if only Democrats can continue to dominate national elections, if only those awful Republicans are beaten into submission, the country will be on the right course. But this is to fundamentally misunderstand the modern Democratic Party. Drawing on years of research and first-hand reporting, Frank points out that the Democrats have done little to advance traditional liberal goals: expanding opportunity, fighting for social justice, and ensuring that workers get a fair deal.
-
-
Wow! Such an eye opener!
- By William R. Brown on 03-24-16
By: Thomas Frank
-
The People, No
- A Brief History of Anti-Populism
- By: Thomas Frank
- Narrated by: Thomas Frank
- Length: 8 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Rarely does a work of history contain startling implications for the present, but in The People, No, Thomas Frank pulls off that explosive effect by showing us that everything we think we know about populism is wrong. Today "populism" is seen as a frightening thing, a term pundits use to describe the racist philosophy of Donald Trump and European extremists. But this is a mistake. The real story of populism is an account of enlightenment and liberation; it is the story of American democracy itself, of its ever-widening promise of a decent life for all.
-
-
I need something more reasoned
- By Nana Landgraf on 08-05-20
By: Thomas Frank
-
Pity the Billionaire
- The Unexpected Resurgence of the American Right
- By: Thomas Frank
- Narrated by: Thomas Frank
- Length: 5 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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....
-
-
Intelligent analysis of a stupid phenomenon
- By Velma Schnoll on 08-17-12
By: Thomas Frank
-
The Wrecking Crew
- How Conservatives Rule
- By: Thomas Frank
- Narrated by: Oliver Wyman
- Length: 10 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In his previous book, Thomas Frank explained why working America votes for politicians who reserve their favors for the rich. Now, in The Wrecking Crew, Frank examines the Washington those politicians have given us, showing why, no matter what happens in November 2008, we're stuck with it for the foreseeable future.
-
-
Looking for the political good
- By Saundra on 08-13-08
By: Thomas Frank
-
Rendezvous with Oblivion
- Reports from a Sinking Society
- By: Thomas Frank
- Narrated by: Thomas Frank
- Length: 6 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
What does a middle-class democracy look like when it comes apart? When, after 40 years of economic triumph, America’s winners persuade themselves that they owe nothing to the rest of the country? Rendezvous with Oblivion is a collection of interlocking essays examining how inequality has manifested itself in our cities, in our jobs, in the way we travel - and of course in our politics, where in 2016, millions of anxious ordinary people rallied to the presidential campaign of a billionaire who meant them no good.
-
-
The Message Was Good, but Disingenuous
- By SuZieCoyote on 08-10-18
By: Thomas Frank
-
Russian Roulette
- By: David Corn, Michael Isikoff
- Narrated by: Peter Ganim
- Length: 12 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The incredible, harrowing account of how American democracy was hacked by Moscow as part of a covert operation to influence the US election and help Donald Trump gain the presidency.
-
-
Great Book Yet Total Political Incompetence
- By @CyberSpaceSA on 03-22-18
By: David Corn, and others
-
The Men Who Killed the News
- The Inside Story of How Media Moguls Abused Their Power, Manipulated the Truth and Distorted Democracy
- By: Eric Beecher
- Narrated by: Eric Beecher
- Length: 13 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
What’s gone wrong with our media? The answer: its owners. From William Randolph Hearst to Elon Musk, from the British press barons to colonial upstarts Conrad Black and Rupert Murdoch, media proprietors have manipulated the news to accumulate wealth and influence as they meddled with democracy. Eric Beecher knows the news business from bottom to top. He has been a journalist, editor and media proprietor, with the rare distinction of having both worked for and been sued (unsuccessfully) by the Murdochs. This book reveals the distorted role of the media moguls of the past two centuries.
By: Eric Beecher
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Saving Capitalism
- For the Many, Not the Few
- By: Robert B. Reich
- Narrated by: Robert B. Reich
- Length: 8 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
In Saving Capitalism, Robert Reich reveals the entrenched cycles of power and influence that have damaged American capitalism, perpetuating a new oligarchy in which the 1 percent get ever richer and the rest - middle and working class alike - lose ever more economic agency, making for the greatest income inequality and wealth disparity since World War II.
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A riveting economics book! Mind. Blown.
- By Nothing really matters on 04-18-16
By: Robert B. Reich
-
Deer Hunting with Jesus
- Dispatches from America's Class War
- By: Joe Bageant
- Narrated by: Patrick Lawlor
- Length: 8 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Deer Hunting with Jesus is Joe Bageant's report on what he learned when he moved back to his hometown of Winchester, Virginia. Like countless American small towns, it is fast becoming the bedrock of a permanent underclass. Two in five of the people in his old neighborhood do not have high school diplomas or health care. Alcohol, overeating, and Jesus are the preferred avenues of escape.
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Just watch a Jerry Springer episode
- By Jennifer M Cattier on 02-04-24
By: Joe Bageant
-
Strangers in Their Own Land
- Anger and Mourning on the American Right
- By: Arlie Russell Hochschild
- Narrated by: Suzanne Toren
- Length: 11 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
In Strangers in Their Own Land, the renowned sociologist Arlie Hochschild embarks on a thought-provoking journey from her liberal hometown of Berkeley, California, deep into Louisiana bayou country - a stronghold of the conservative right. As she gets to know people who strongly oppose many of the ideas she famously champions, Hochschild nevertheless finds common ground and quickly warms to the people she meets.
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Performance undercuts thesis
- By married, one tall dog, one smelly dog on 01-02-17
-
Why We're Polarized
- By: Ezra Klein
- Narrated by: Ezra Klein
- Length: 8 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
In Why We’re Polarized, Klein reveals the structural and psychological forces behind America’s descent into division and dysfunction. Neither a polemic nor a lament, this book offers a clear framework for understanding everything from Trump’s rise to the Democratic Party’s leftward shift to the politicization of everyday culture. America is polarized, first and foremost, by identity. Everyone engaged in American politics is engaged, at some level, in identity politics.
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Good as an intro, skip if you’re a wonk
- By Tony on 01-29-20
By: Ezra Klein
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Moral Politics
- How Liberals and Conservatives Think, 3rd Edition
- By: George Lakoff
- Narrated by: Fajer Al-Kaisi
- Length: 13 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
When Moral Politics was first published two decades ago, it redefined how Americans think and talk about politics through the lens of cognitive political psychology. Today, George Lakoff's classic text has become all the more relevant, as liberals and conservatives have come to hold even more vigorously opposed views of the world, with the underlying assumptions of their respective worldviews at the level of basic morality.
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extremely insightful. awful to get through.
- By Dave on 05-09-18
By: George Lakoff
-
How the South Won the Civil War
- Oligarchy, Democracy, and the Continuing Fight for the Soul of America
- By: Heather Cox Richardson
- Narrated by: Heather Cox Richardson
- Length: 9 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
While the North prevailed in the Civil War, ending slavery and giving the country a "new birth of freedom," Heather Cox Richardson argues in this provocative work that democracy's blood-soaked victory was ephemeral. The system that had sustained the defeated South moved westward and there established a foothold. It was a natural fit. Settlers from the East had for decades been pushing into the West, where the seizure of Mexican lands at the end of the Mexican-American War and treatment of Native Americans cemented racial hierarchies....
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Disappointing book that wasted such potential.
- By Amazon Customer on 08-07-21
-
Turning to Stone
- Discovering the Subtle Wisdom of Rocks
- By: Marcia Bjornerud
- Narrated by: Rebecca Stern
- Length: 9 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Earth has been reinventing itself for more than four billion years, keeping a record of its experiments in the form of rocks. Yet most of us live our lives on the planet with no idea of its extraordinary history, unable to interpret the language of the rocks that surround us. Geologist Marcia Bjornerud believes that our lives can be enriched by understanding our heritage on this old and creative planet. Contrary to their reputation, rocks have eventful lives—and they intersect with our own in surprising ways.
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Very unusual book by a profound writer
- By F Shaw on 09-17-24
By: Marcia Bjornerud
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The System
- Who Rigged It, How We Fix It
- By: Robert B. Reich
- Narrated by: Robert B. Reich
- Length: 6 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Millions of Americans have lost confidence in our political and economic system. After years of stagnant wages, volatile job markets, and an unwillingness by those in power to deal with profound threats such as climate change, there is a mounting sense that the system is fixed, serving only those select few with enough money to secure a controlling stake. With the characteristic clarity and passion that has made him a central civil voice, Robert B. Reich shows how wealth and power have interacted to install an elite oligarchy, eviscerate the middle class, and undermine democracy.
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Turn Off Your TV. Wake Up and Listen Now!
- By Benchmark on 03-25-20
By: Robert B. Reich
-
Debt - Updated and Expanded
- The First 5,000 Years
- By: David Graeber
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 17 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Here, anthropologist David Graeber presents a stunning reversal of conventional wisdom: He shows that before there was money, there was debt. For more than 5,000 years, since the beginnings of the first agrarian empires, humans have used elaborate credit systems to buy and sell goods - that is, long before the invention of coins or cash. It is in this era, Graeber argues, that we also first encounter a society divided into debtors and creditors.
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-
Transformative to the point of being revolutionary
- By James C. Samans on 08-14-16
By: David Graeber
-
Apprentice in Wonderland
- How Donald Trump and Mark Burnett Took America Through the Looking Glass
- By: Ramin Setoodeh
- Narrated by: Roger Wayne
- Length: 8 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Here for the first time is the definitive untold story of Donald Trump’s years as a reality TV star. Trump himself admits he might not have been president without The Apprentice. Now, just as he uncovered the chaos inside the daytime favorite The View in his bestselling Ladies Who Punch, Ramin Setoodeh chronicles Trump’s dramatic tenure as New York’s ultimate boss in the boardroom, a mirage created by Survivor producer Mark Burnett and NBC boss Jeff Zucker.
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-
Everything I feared was true…really is
- By debra on 06-22-24
By: Ramin Setoodeh
-
End Times
- Elites, Counter-Elites, and the Path of Political Disintegration
- By: Peter Turchin
- Narrated by: Robin McAlpine
- Length: 10 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Peter Turchin, one of the most interesting social scientists of our age, has infused the study of history with approaches and insights from other fields for more than a quarter century. End Times is the culmination of his work to understand what causes political communities to cohere and what causes them to fall apart, as applied to the current turmoil within the United States.
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Boomer History
- By Kevin on 08-12-23
By: Peter Turchin
What listeners say about What's the Matter with Kansas?
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- wade
- 07-21-24
Facts
Enjoyed not only did he bash the repukican party but also the dumbocrat party. For the love and worship of money
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- Flint Mc
- 02-17-23
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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Live Coverage: 2022 Primaries
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.
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- Didi
- 02-11-23
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.
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- Steve Hunt
- 08-20-22
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.
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- Kindle Customer
- 01-21-23
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.
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- Gregorio Bueno
- 01-30-23
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.
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- John M Read
- 08-23-22
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
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- Leonard J. Reibstein
- 08-11-22
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).
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- Luke W
- 02-28-23
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!
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- The Comrade
- 12-29-23
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.
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