New Releases by Thomas Frank

The classic bestselling study of the 1960s advertising industry that makes the case that what passes for cultural radicalism isn''t radical at all. "[A] bristlingly intelligent work. . . . An indispensable survival guide for any modern consumer." — Publishers Weekly (starred review) 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." — New York Times Book 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." — 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." — 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." — 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." — Details

A "brilliantly written, eye-opening" look at how elites distort the meaning of populism by the bestselling author of What''s the Matter with Kansas? ( The Washington Post). Rarely does a work of history contain startling implications for the present, but in The People, No, New York Times-bestselling author 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. This 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. "Frank describes an indigenous radical tradition that descends from Jefferson and Paine and stretches forward to Franklin Roosevelt and Martin Luther King Jr. . . . Compelling." ― The New York Times Book Review "Tom Frank does what few writers today are capable of doing―he criticizes his own side." ― The Wall Street Journal "Readers come away knowing that at its heart, populism means just one thing: This land was made for you and me." ― The Washington Post

Wie konnte es dazu kommen, dass die Millionen verunsicherter Amerikaner einen Milliardär zum Präsidenten gewählt haben, von dem sie wussten, dass er letztlich nichts für sie tun würde? Was ist los mit Amerika? Thomas Frank verfolgt seit Jahren die Veränderungen der amerikanischen Gesellschaft, das Abdriften großer Teile der Bevölkerung in prekäre Verhältnisse, das Erstarken fundamentalistischer Bewegungen, die Erosion der politischen Parteien. Seine Artikel aus den letzten zehn Jahren erzählen die politische Geschichte eines Landes, in dem der amerikanische Traum zu Ende geträumt ist, der Verlust geregelter Arbeit, Schulden, Armut große Teile der Bevölkerung betreffen, die Eliten und die politische Klasse sich vor allem mit sich selbst beschäftigen. Vom Skandal des Energiekonzerns Enron, durch den Tausende von Angestellten ihre Rente verloren, über die Finanzkrise 2008, durch die die Standards der Mittelklasse für die meisten unerreichbar geworden sind, bis zum Versagen der Demokratischen Partei: Am Beispiel Amerikas zeigt Thomas Frank eine gesellschaftliche Entwicklung auf, die – bei allen Unterschieden – ein Warnsignal auch für Europa, auch für Deutschland ist.

New York Times–Bestselling Author: "Insightful analysis, moral passion, and keen satirical wit . . . both entertaining and an important commentary on the times." — Publishers Weekly (starred review) What does a middle-class democracy look like when it comes apart? When, after forty years of economic triumph, America''s winners persuade themselves that they owe nothing to the rest of the country? With his sharp eye for detail, Thomas Frank, author of What''s the Matter with Kansas?, takes us on a wide-ranging tour through present-day America, showing us a society in the late stages of disintegration and describing the worlds of both the winners and the losers—the sprawling mansion districts as well as the lives of fast-food workers. 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. These accounts of folly and exploitation are brought together in a volume marked by Frank''s distinctive voice, sardonic wit, and anti-orthodox perspective. They capture a society where every status signifier is hollow, where the allure of mobility is just another con game, and where rebellion too often yields nothing. For those who despair of our country''s future and of reason itself, Rendezvous with Oblivion is a booster shot of energy, reality, and moral outrage. "[A] scathing take on contemporary American politics and culture." — Kirkus Reviews "An invaluable voice . . . as good as any writer working today." — San Francisco Chronicle

Argues that the modern Democratic Party has done little to advance traditional liberal goals, such as expanding opportunity, fighting for social justice, and ensuring that workers get a fair deal, which has accelerated the decline of the middle class and increased the rift between the rich and the poor in America.

La historia que explica la fuerza del TEA PARTY y por qué la izquierda ya no entiende la furia de la gente común. "El enigmático espectáculo de un suicidio colectivo a gran escala siempre resulta fascinante. Pensemos en los cientos de seguidores de la secta de Jim Jones que ingirieron, obedientes, veneno en su campamento de la Guyana. En el terreno económico, eso mismo está sucediendo hoy en Kansas. Ése es el objeto de este excelente libro de Thomas Frank. La sencillez de su estilo no debe impedir que veamos su análisis político afilado como una cuchilla. Fijando su atención en Kansas, cuna de la revuelta populista conservadora, Frank describe con acierto la paradoja fundamental de su construcción ideológica: el desfase, la falta de cualquier conexión cognitiva, entre los intereses económicos y las cuestiones 'morales'. ¿Qué sucede cuando la oposición de clase de base económica (agricultores pobres y obreros contra abogados, banqueros y grandes empresas) se traspone/codifica como la oposición entre los honrados trabajadores cristianos y buenos americanos por un lado, y los progresistas decadentes que beben café a la europea y conducen coches extranjeros, defienden el aborto y la homosexualidad, se burlan del sacrificio patriótico y del estilo de vida sencillo y 'provinciano'? Si ha habido alguna vez un libro que deba leer quien esté interesado en las extrañas torsiones de la política conservadora de hoy, ése es ¿Qué pasa con Kansas?" (Slavoj Žižek) Esta edición de ¿Qué pasa con Kansas? incluye notas de Thomas Frank sobre la campaña electoral de 2008.

Becoming a more effective learner and boosting your productivity will help you earn better grades - but it''ll also cut down on your study time. This is a short, meaty book that will guide you through ten steps to achieving those goals: Pay better attention in class, Take more effective notes, Get more out of your textbooks, Plan like a general, Build a better study environment, Fight entropy and stay organized, Defeat Procrastination, Study smarter, Write better papers, Make group projects suck less, Whether you''re in college or high school, this book will probably help you. But not if you''re a raccoon. I want to be very clear about that; if you''re a raccoon, please buy a different book. This one will do absolutely nothing for you. How did you even learn to read, anyway?

Was geschieht, wenn über die Reform komplexer Institutionen gestritten wird? Wie argumentieren die Befürworter und die Gegner solcher Reformen? Unterscheiden sich historische von heutigen Reformdebatten? Das Buch nähert sich diesen Fragen von der Warte des Spätmittelalters und des 16. Jahrhunderts und trägt damit zu einer Rhetorik des vormodernen Reformdenkens bei. Bühne ist das Hospital, eine besonders reformanfällige, aber von der Größe her überschaubare Institution. Vier ausgewählte Hospitäler – in Mailand, Paris, Straßburg und Modena – bieten Material für eine Analyse der verbalen Kämpfe die Juristen, Theologen, Obrigkeiten, Verwalter, Religiosen und Laienpersonal auf der Suche nach besseren Hospitälern miteinander austrugen.

Macht die Reichen noch reicher! Mit diesem Programm wird man mitten in der Krise keine Wähler gewinnen, möchte man meinen, und doch ist den US-Republikanern genau das gelungen: Breite Wählerschichten begeistern sich für eine Verschärfung der neoliberalen Wirtschaftspolitik, unter deren Folgen sie selbst am meisten leiden. Wer wissen will, wie politischer Populismus funktioniert, kann von Amerika lernen: Arbeiter, rettet den Kapitalismus! – das ist eine Umdeutung der jüngsten Geschichte, wie sie absurder nicht sein könnte. Warum funktioniert sie trotzdem? In hautnahen, ebenso gruseligen wie witzigen Reportagen beschreibt einer der brillantesten Journalisten Amerikas die rhetorischen Kniffe und Strategien, mit denen eine skrupellose Rechte die Sehnsucht nach der guten alten Zeit schürt und sich zugleich selbst als radikaler Reformer gebärdet. Staatliche Unterstützung für die Armen wird als sozialistisches Teufelszeug gebrandmarkt, von dem im Zweifelsfall nur der faule Nachbar profitiert. Und die Abneigung vieler gegen Bürokratie und Regulierung lässt sich bestens für die Interessen der Großbanken und Zocker an der Wall Street instrumentalisieren. Mit grimmigem Humor untersucht Thomas Frank eine entfesselte Rechte, die noch aus dem Desaster Kapital schlägt und in genialer Mimikry versucht, die Entmachteten zum Eintritt in den Fanclub der Milliardäre zu bewegen. Ein unentbehrliches Buch zum Verständnis Amerikas, ein Lehrstück in politischem Populismus.

A look at why the worst economy since the 1930s has brought about the revival of conservatism.

This concise biography introduces readers to Augustine of Hippo through his own writings, in which he dedicates an enormous amount of energy seeking to understand himself and exploring human nature. Augustines writings place the self at center stage and prize introspection and reflection as ways to come to appreciate that self. His emphasis on interiority has had a profound impact upon the West, leading commentators to attribute to Augustine to creation of The "Western self" --Book Jacket.

Frank argues that conservatives have taken pains to enshrine the free market as the permanent creed of state, selling off the government, deregulating some industries, defunding others, but always turning public policy into a private-sector bidding war.

This text presents a critical assessment of the state of America today, while telling a remarkable story of how a group of frat boys, lawyers and CEOs came to convince a nation that they spoke on behalf of the people. This edition contains a new afterword by the author.

This fourth volume of the Church in the 21st Century series examines the relation between Catholic faith and the secular culture. Topics include: The Role of Catholics in American Political Culture * Young Adult Catholic Culture * Gender and Catholic Political Life * Women Theologians * The Power of the Laity * Business Culture and the Church * The Sectarian Threat * A Truly Local Church * U.S. Hispanic Marian Devotion * Collective Identity.

"Frank answers these questions by examining the conservative revolution in his home state, a place that has lately drawn the astonished attention of the world for its unlikely skirmishes over abortion and homosexuality. In Kansas, as in so much of mid-America, Frank finds, society''s losers are even more committed to the Republican agenda than are society''s winners. The state''s low-wage slaughterhouse workers and its struggling farm towns today far outdo the state''s real-estate millionaires and its prosperous telecom execs in dedication to a political program that can only wind up hurting them.".

The figure of Augustine of Hippo looms large over the history of western Christianity: theologian, mystic, monk, philosopher, artist, bishop, ascetic, convert, polemicist, seeker. Augustine's distinctive spiritual vision has played and continues to play a profoundly formative role in both imagining and living the Christian life. For some his presence is celebrated, for others it is lamented - for few can it be a matter of indifference. Thomas Martin's concise survey of this vast, complicated and controversial terrain begins with Augustine and his own restless heart and then traces the legacy of this spiritual vision as it is taken up by other restless seekers through the centuries. Our Restless Heart is a concise but masterly introduction to the Augustinian tradition which will stimulate beginner and specialist alike. Book jacket.

This symposium considered all of the different levels of sketch understanding, starting with the low-level gathering and processing of pen signals up to the high-level reasoning about the things depicted.

This study provides an interpretation of Augustine's theological and exegetical development over the course of his career. On a general level, it demonstrates the impact of rhetorical culture on early Christian approaches to the Bible. It also demonstrates how Augustine's interpretation of Paul was shaped by a persuasive rhetorical milieu. Finally, it shows the history of a critical text (Roman's 7:24-25a) that Augustine employs from first to final writings.

Contains 79 Biographies And 77 Photographs Of Leaders Whose Life And Time Span A Richly Textured Period In American Geography. An Important Contribution To The History Of Geography In America.

Illustrated story of the people, archeology, history, and landscape of the Bible world with 50 original maps.