A review by porlarta
The People, No: A Brief History of Anti-Populism by Thomas Frank
4.0
A fascinating deep dive into the origins of American populism and how that word and movement have evolved and been weaponized over the decades by numerous movements on both the left and right. Much of the book is concerned with history, and it is these earlier sections I felt were somewhat slow and more difficult to get through.
With that said, the book ends incredibly strongly, with the sections on Carter, Trump, and Obama filled with insightful and scathing critique that directly attacks much of the mythology that has been built up around why Trump won in 2016. He makes a convincing argument that the Democratic party has ceded much of the working class to the Republicans by insisting on the moral and ideological superiority of an educated class that has for decades, failed to justify its place at the top of the hierarchy as it leads us in foreign policy quagmires and economic disasters.
It's a good book that left me with much to think about. It put into clean English much of the scattershot doubts that I have had about the democrats and their aversion to actually progressive politics in the last few years.
With that said, the book ends incredibly strongly, with the sections on Carter, Trump, and Obama filled with insightful and scathing critique that directly attacks much of the mythology that has been built up around why Trump won in 2016. He makes a convincing argument that the Democratic party has ceded much of the working class to the Republicans by insisting on the moral and ideological superiority of an educated class that has for decades, failed to justify its place at the top of the hierarchy as it leads us in foreign policy quagmires and economic disasters.
It's a good book that left me with much to think about. It put into clean English much of the scattershot doubts that I have had about the democrats and their aversion to actually progressive politics in the last few years.