What's The Matter With America?

Politics & Social Sciences

Frank, Thomas

Politics & Government

Vintage

Economic meltdown usually brings calls for change. Or it’s supposed to. But when Thomas Frank set out to find them in America today, all he heard were loud demands that the losers be hit harder and that the winners get more. Using first-hand reporting, a deep political understanding and a wicked sense of humour, Frank examines the weird double-think that has enlisted the powerless in a fan club for the prosperous. Pity the Billionaire takes us on a wild road-trip through the strange landscape of the American Right, the Tea Party and Glenn Beck, makes sense of a topsy-turvy world and shows how instead of complying with the new speed limit, conservative America has stamped hard on the accelerator. It is essential reading for understanding how we all got to where we are, and how we might get out.

Pity the Billionaire: The Unlikely Comeback of the American Right (Vintage)

The Conquest of Cool: Business Culture, Counterculture, and the Rise of Hip Consumerism

While the youth counterculture remains the most evocative and best-remembered symbol of the cultural ferment of the 1960s, the revolution that shook American business during those boom years has gone largely unremarked. In this fascinating and revealing study, Thomas Frank shows how the youthful revolutionaries were joined—and even anticipated —by such unlikely allies as the advertising industry and the men's clothing business. "[Thomas Frank is] perhaps the most provocative young cultural critic of the moment."—Gerald Marzorati, New York Times Book Review "An indispensable survival guide for any modern consumer."—Publishers Weekly, starred review "Frank makes an ironclad case not only that the advertising industry cunningly turned the countercultural rhetoric of revolution into a rallying cry to buy more stuff, but that the process itself actually predated any actual counterculture to exploit."—Geoff Pevere, Toronto Globe and Mail "The Conquest of Cool helps us understand why, throughout the last third of the twentieth century, Americans have increasingly confused gentility with conformity, irony with protest, and an extended middle finger with a populist manifesto. . . . His voice is an exciting addition to the soporific public discourse of the late twentieth century."—T. J. Jackson Lears, In These Times "An invaluable argument for anyone who has ever scoffed at hand-me-down counterculture from the '60s. A spirited and exhaustive analysis of the era's advertising."—Brad Wieners, Wired Magazine "Tom Frank is . . . not only old-fashioned, he's anti-fashion, with a place in his heart for that ultimate social faux pas, leftist politics."—Roger Trilling, Details

Business & Money

Economics

University of Chicago Press

While the youth counterculture remains the most evocative and best-remembered symbol of the cultural ferment of the 1960s, the revolution that shook American business during those boom years has gone largely unremarked. In this fascinating and revealing study, Thomas Frank shows how the youthful revolutionaries were joined—and even anticipated —by such unlikely allies as the advertising industry and the men's clothing business. "[Thomas Frank is] perhaps the most provocative young cultural critic of the moment."—Gerald Marzorati, New York Times Book Review "An indispensable survival guide for any modern consumer."—Publishers Weekly, starred review "Frank makes an ironclad case not only that the advertising industry cunningly turned the countercultural rhetoric of revolution into a rallying cry to buy more stuff, but that the process itself actually predated any actual counterculture to exploit."—Geoff Pevere, Toronto Globe and Mail "The Conquest of Cool helps us understand why, throughout the last third of the twentieth century, Americans have increasingly confused gentility with conformity, irony with protest, and an extended middle finger with a populist manifesto. . . . His voice is an exciting addition to the soporific public discourse of the late twentieth century."—T. J. Jackson Lears, In These Times "An invaluable argument for anyone who has ever scoffed at hand-me-down counterculture from the '60s. A spirited and exhaustive analysis of the era's advertising."—Brad Wieners, Wired Magazine "Tom Frank is . . . not only old-fashioned, he's anti-fashion, with a place in his heart for that ultimate social faux pas, leftist politics."—Roger Trilling, Details

One Market Under God is a cogent, fiercely entertaining, and often scathing assault on the institutions and pretensions of the new capitalist order and the tyranny of the almighty market. At no other moment in American history have the values of business and the corporation been more nakedly and arrogantly in the ascendant. In One Market Under God, social critic Thomas Frank examines the morphing of the language of American democracy into the cant and jargon of the marketplace. Combining popular intellectual history with a survey of recent business culture, Frank traces an idea he calls "market populism"-the notion that markets are, in some transcendent way, identifiable with democracy and the will of the people. The belief that any criticism of things as they are is elitist can be seen in management literature, where downsizing and ceaseless, chaotic change are celebrated as victories for democracy; in advertising, where an endless array of brands seek to position themselves as symbols of authenticity and rebellion; on Wall Street, where the stock market is identified as the domain of the small investor and common man; in newspaper publishing, where the vogue for focus-group-guided "civic journalism" is eroding journalistic independence and initiative; and in the right-wing politics of the 1990s and the popular social theories of George Gilder, Lester Thurow, and Thomas Friedman. Frank's counterattack against the onslaught of market propaganda is mounted with the weapons of common sense, a genius for useful ridicule, and the older American values of economic justice and political democracy. Lucid and intellectually probing, One Market Under God is tinged with anger, betrayal, and a certain hope for the future.

One Market Under God: Extreme Capitalism, Market Populism and the End of Economic Democracy

DOUBLEDAY

In a book that has been raising hackles far and wide, the social critic Thomas Frank skewers one of the most sacred cows of the go-go '90s: the idea that the new free-market economy is good for everyone. Frank's target is "market populism"—the widely held belief that markets are a more democratic form of organization than democratically elected governments. Refuting the idea that billionaire CEOs are looking out for the interests of the little guy, he argues that "the great euphoria of the late nineties was never as much about the return of good times as it was the giddy triumph of one America over another." Frank is a latter-day Mencken, as readers of his journal The Baffler and his book The Conquest of Cool know. With incisive analysis, passionate advocacy, and razor-sharp wit, he asks where we are headed—and whether we're going to like it when we get there.

One Market Under God: Extreme Capitalism, Market Populism, and the End of Economic Democracy

Business Culture

Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group

In this work, social critic Thomas Frank examines the morphing of the language of democracy into the jargon of the marketplace. He traces an idea he calls "market populism" - the notion that markets are, in some transcendent way, identifiable with democracy and the will of the people.

Secker Warburg

Sherlock Holmes, Bridge Detective Returns

Humor & Entertainment

George Gooden

Puzzles & Games

Pinnacle Books

Journey back in time with Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson as they stalk the pagans of evil--from the decadent quarters of Soho to the exotic reaches of Constantinople, from the mysterious village of St. Aubrey to the familiar 221 B Baker Street.

Sherlock Holmes and the Golden Bird

Mystery, Thriller & Suspense

Mystery

A dying man, an eccentric burglar, and the disappearance of a sacred relic lead Holmes and Watson, from London, to Venice, Berlin, Cairo, and the Valley of the Kings, on the trail of the legendary sword of Mohammed and a false prophet threatening to engulf the Middle East in war

Sherlock Holmes and the Sacred Sword

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Frank, Thomas. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Frank, Thomas

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Frank, Thomas. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

What's The Matter With America?

Pity the Billionaire: The Unlikely Comeback of the American Right (Vintage)

The Conquest of Cool: Business Culture, Counterculture, and the Rise of Hip Consumerism

The Conquest of Cool: Business Culture, Counterculture, and the Rise of Hip Consumerism

One Market Under God: Extreme Capitalism, Market Populism and the End of Economic Democracy

One Market Under God: Extreme Capitalism, Market Populism, and the End of Economic Democracy

One Market Under God: Extreme Capitalism, Market Populism and the End of Economic Democracy

Sherlock Holmes, Bridge Detective Returns

Sherlock Holmes and the Golden Bird

Sherlock Holmes and the Sacred Sword