Listen, Liberal

or, what ever happened to the party of the people?

By: Thomas Frank

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eBook | 18 May 2016 | Edition Number 1

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With his trademark sardonic wit and lacerating logic, New York Times-bestselling author Thomas Frank exposes how, in the last few decades, the American Left has made an unprecedented shift away from its working-class roots.

Financial inequality is one of the biggest political issues of our time: from the Wall Street bail-outs - where bankers still received huge bonuses while thousands of people lost their homes - to the rise of 'the One Percent', who between them control 40 per cent of US wealth.

So where are the Democrats - the notional party of the people - in all this? In his scathing examination of how the Democratic Party has failed to combat financial inequality, despite being given near perfect conditions for success, Thomas Frank argues that the Left in America has abandoned its roots to pursue a new class of supporter: elite professionals.

Under this 'meritocratic' system, the educated middle class prosper, but ordinary workers continue to suffer. Unless the Democrats remember their historic purpose and win back the working class, Frank warns, the rift between America's rich and poor will deepen further still, with dire consequences for both sides.

PRAISE FOR THOMAS FRANK

'Thoroughly entertaining ... An unabashed polemic ... Frank delights in skewering the sacred cows of coastal liberalism, including private universities, bike paths, microfinance, the Clinton Foundation, "well-meaning billionaires" and any public policy offering "innovation" or "education" as a solution to inequality.' The New York Times Book Review

Industry Reviews

'What makes Frank's book new, different and important is its offer of a compelling theory as to how and why the party of Jefferson, Jackson and Roosevelt is now so unlikely to champion the economic needs of everyday people . . . In such a looking-glass world, Listen, Liberal is a desperately needed corrective.'