Pity the Billionaire: The Unlikely Comeback of the American Right

(Paperback)

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The New York Times bestseller - insightful, infectiously furious and funny- why the worst collapse since the 1930s has brought about the revival of conservatism. 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.

Reviews

The thinking person's Michael Moore * New York Times Book Review *
Trenchant and witty -- Alexandra Frean * The Times *
An astonishing story * Observer *
No one fools Thomas Frank, who is the sharpest, funniest, most intellectually voracious political commentator on the scene. In Pity the Billionaire he has written a brilliant expose of the most breath-taking ruse in American political history: how the right turned the biggest capitalist breakdown since 1929 into an opportunity for themselves. * Barbara Ehrenreich *
Tom Frank has the Tea Parties in his sights! Brisk and searing and deeply informed by the lessons of history (shocking notion!), Frank's latest guide for the perplexed is nothing less than a precious gift to us. Read it, and finally--You. Will. Understand. * Rick Perlstein *

Author Bio

Thomas Frank is the author of The Wrecking Crew, What's the Matter with America, and One Market Under God. A former opinion columnist for the Wall Street Journal, Frank is the founding editor of the Baffler and a monthly columnist for Harper's. He lives outside Washington, D.C.