Plt;bPgt;From the bestselling and always-prescient author of Plt;iPgt;Listen, LiberalPlt;/iPgt; comes a bold indictment of AmericaP#8217;s chronic obsession with creativity and innovation, showing how these beloved ideas came to dominate the countryP#8217;s political and economic conversation, all while serving to mask inequality and protect elite interests.Plt;/bPgt;
Innovation and creativity have been the defining watchwords of American exceptionalism for decades, used by business thinkers, tech gurus, military strategists, educators, and urban planners to describe the countryP#8217;s unique standing in the world. While other countries supposedly suffer from regimentation and a fatal lack of imagination, the United States is often portrayed as an unmatched dynamo of new ideas and products. In his new book, Thomas Frank disabuses us of this notion, offering a bold account of the way creativity and innovation have been used as a kind of ideological cover for policies that reinforce the class system.Plt;brPgt;Plt;brPgt;Frank uncovers the insidious effects of centring innovation and creativity in rhetoric while, in practice, nurturing exactly the opposite. In the name of these noble goals, he shows, the countryP#8217;s leaders have reoriented the American economy around white-collar knowledge work, cut taxes on the wealthy, deregulated banks, off-shored manufacturing, reoriented cities, and destroyed what is truly creative about this country.Plt;brPgt;Plt;brPgt;Deeply original, marked by FrankP#8217;s signature brilliance and acerbic wit, Plt;iPgt;The Creativity ConPlt;/iPgt; is a troubling X-ray of post-war American business and political culture P#8212; and a crushing indictment of the clichP#233;s that have undergirded its many failures.Plt;brPgt;Plt;brPgt;Plt;brPgt;P#8216;Cultural and political analyst Frank excoriates the disastrous results of the American love affair with P#8220;innovation.P#8221; P#8230; A pithy and entertaining writer, Frank has a special talent for the trenchant quip P#8230; A spirited indictment of the American obsession with innovation.P#8217;Plt;brPgt;Plt;bPgt;P#8212;Plt;iPgt;Kirkus ReviewsPlt;/iPgt;Plt;/bPgt;Plt;brPgt;Plt;brPgt;P#8216;This biting analysis from bestseller and Baffler cofounder Thomas Frank exposes how AmericaP#8217;s decades-long fixation on creativity and innovation helped construct an unequal postindustrial society P#8230; FrankP#8217;s wry critique exposes how creativity and innovation are P#8220;a marker of ghastliness,P#8221; wielded as a justification for policy that benefits only the so-called enlightened few. ItP#8217;s a sharp look at how prized American values mask inequality.P#8217;Plt;brPgt;Plt;bPgt;P#8212;Plt;iPgt;Publishers WeeklyPlt;/iPgt;Plt;/bPgt;Plt;brPgt;Plt;brPgt;Plt;bPgt;Praise for Plt;iPgt;People Without PowerPlt;/iPgt;:Plt;/bPgt;Plt;brPgt;P#8216;Brilliantly written, eye-opening P#8230; From 1891 to the rise of Trumpism, Frank walks readers through a minefield of assumptions about populismP#8217;s nature and history P#8230; Throughout Plt;iPgt;People Without PowerPlt;/iPgt;, Frank takes pains to look at populism through a broad lens P#8230; His reflection on how the jeans-clad Jimmy Carter wrapped himself in populism to avoid being tagged as a socialist, liberal or conservative is spot-on.P#8217;Plt;brPgt;Plt;bPgt;P#8212;Douglas Brinkley, Plt;iPgt;The Washington PostPlt;/iPgt;Plt;/bPgt;
