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From the prophetic author of the now-classic What's the Matter with Kansas? and Listen, Liberal, an eye-opening account of populism, the most important-and misunderstood-movement of our time.
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. Taking us from the tumultuous 1890s, when the radical left-wing Populist Party-the biggest mass movement in American history-fought Gilded Age plutocrats to the reformers' great triumphs under Franklin Roosevelt and Harry Truman, Frank reminds us how much we owe to the populist ethos. Frank also shows that elitist groups have reliably detested populism, lashing out at working-class concerns. The anti-populist vituperations by the Washington centrists of today are only the latest expression.
Frank pummels the elites, revisits the movement's provocative politics, and declares true populism to be the language of promise and optimism.
The People, No is a ringing affirmation of a movement that, Frank shows us, is not the problem of our times, but the solution for what ails us.
List of contents
Introduction: The Cure for the Common Man
1. What Was Populism?
2. "Because Right Is Right and God Is God"
3. Peak Populism in the Proletarian Decade
4. "The Upheaval of the Unfit"
5. Consensus Redensus
6. Lift Every Voice
7. The Money Changers Burn the Temple
8. Let Us Now Scold Uncouth Men
Conclusion: The Question
Notes
Acknowledgments
Index
About the author
Thomas Frank is the author of
Listen, Liberal,
Pity the Billionaire,
The Wrecking Crew, and
What's the Matter with Kansas? A former columnist for
The Wall Street Journal and
Harper's, Frank is the founding editor of
The Baffler and writes regularly for
The Guardian. He lives outside Washington, D.C.
