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Thomas Carr Frank (born March 21, 1965) is an American political analyst, historian, and journalist. He co-founded and edited The Baffler magazine. Frank is the author of the books What's the Matter with Kansas? (2004) and Listen, Liberal (2016), among others. From 2008 to 2010 he wrote "The Tilting Yard", a column in The Wall Street Journal.

A historian of culture and ideas, Frank analyzes trends in American electoral politics and propaganda, advertising, popular culture, mainstream journalism, and economics. His topics include the rhetoric and impact of culture wars in American political life and the relationship between politics, economics, and culture in the United States.

Early life

Frank was born in Kansas City, Missouri, and grew up in Mission Hills, Kansas. He graduated from Shawnee Mission East High School, and in 1988 from the University of Virginia with a Bachelor of Arts degree in history after transferring from the University of Kansas in his freshman year. Frank received a Master of Arts degree in history in 1990 and a doctorate in history in 1994 from the University of Chicago. His doctoral thesis on advertising in the 1960s, The Conquest of Cool: Business Culture, Counterculture, and the Rise of Hip Consumerism, was later published by the University of Chicago Press.[1]

Politics

Frank was a College Republican, attending campus meetings at the University of Kansas, but became highly critical of conservatism. He summarized the thesis of his 2008 book The Wrecking Crew (book) as "[b]ad government is the natural product of rule by those who believe government is bad."[2]

Frank's other writings include essays for Harper's Magazine, Le Monde diplomatique, Bookforum, and the Financial Times. His book What's the Matter with Kansas? (2004) earned him nationwide and international recognition. In October 2005, Frank received the Eugene Debs Award for his work in the field of social justice.[3]

From December 2010 to February 2014, Frank wrote the monthly "Easy Chair" column for Harper's Magazine.[4]

Frank identifies as a left-wing populist and supported Bernie Sanders's 2016 and 2020 presidential campaigns.

In Listen, Liberal: Or, What Ever Happened to the Party of the People? (2016), Frank was one of the few analysts who foresaw that Donald Trump could win the 2016 United States presidential election.[5] In 2018, he called Trump "the worst politician ever", but maintained that Trump could be reelected in the 2020 presidential election. Frank further observes that "quasi-fascist movements" are springing up around the world.[6]

Frank's research into U.S. populism was published as the book The People, No: A Brief History of Anti-Populism (2020). In it, he examines the origin of the term in the United States and discusses historical examples of populism and its adherents and detractors.[7]

Personal life

Frank lives in Bethesda, Maryland, with his wife, Wendy Edelberg, and their children.

Works

Books

Articles

  • Frank, Thomas (November 2012). "All the rage". Easy Chair. Harper's. 325 (1950): 6, 8–9.

See also

References

  1. ^ "The University of Chicago Magazine: February 2004". magazine.uchicago.edu. Retrieved 2023-01-15.
  2. ^ "Bill Moyers interviews Thomas Frank". pbs.org. PBS. August 1, 2008. Retrieved August 3, 2016.
  3. ^ "Author of best-selling book to receive Debs award at banquet". Terre Haute Tribune-Star. 2005-10-27. Retrieved 2023-11-25.
  4. ^ "Frank leaves WSJ to become Harper's columnist". Poynter Online. August 2, 2010. Archived from the original (Press release) on August 19, 2010. Retrieved 8 November 2020.
  5. ^ Taibbi, Matt (August 2, 2020). "Kansas Should Go F--- Itself". Substack. Retrieved 8 November 2020.
  6. ^ Murphy, Katharine (30 July 2018). "Donald Trump, 'worst politician ever', on path to re-election, Thomas Frank says". The Guardian. Retrieved 8 November 2020.
  7. ^ Taibbi, Matt; Halper, Katie (August 7, 2020). "'Useful Idiots' With Guest Thomas Frank on Anti-Populism" (Video). Useful Idiots. Rolling Stone. Retrieved 8 November 2020.
  8. ^ "Listen, Liberal". Listen, Liberal book website. Macmillan Publishers. Retrieved 8 November 2020.
  9. ^ "Thomas Frank's 'Rendezvous with Oblivion' Calls for New History". Santa Barbara Independent. Aug 30, 2018. Retrieved 18 August 2020. To regain legitimacy with Roosevelt's great majority, Democrats have no choice but to dump the ideology of the nineties and end their decades-long love affair with high tech, big banks, and globalization.
  10. ^ "Book Review: 'The People, No: A Brief History of Anti-Populism' by Thomas Frank". Retrieved 2020-07-13.

Further reading

External links