In his incisive and bestselling 2004 book, What's the Matter With Kansas?, Thomas Frank argued that red-state America, pulled by explosive values issues and emotional touchstones of conservatism, votes against its own economic interests. This, he contended, is "how conservatives won the heart of America." Called "perhaps the most provocative young cultural critic of the moment, and certainly the most malcontent," by Gerald Marzorati in the New York Times Book Review, Frank is founding editor of The Baffler, a journal of cultural criticism "only slightly larger than Reader's Digest but with the weight of a hand grenade" (The New Yorker) and a former Wall Street Journal weekly columnist. In Pity the Billionaire, Frank addresses the unexpected reinvigoration of the American Right in the face of dire economic circumstances.  

Pine Tree Foundation Endowed Lecture