What's the Matter with Kansas?

Thomas Frank is a native Kansan who thoroughly explains the "conservative" take over of his home state and other places on the plains. "What's the Matter with Kansas?" received accolades from political pundits as an explanation for Dubya's hair-pulling 2004 presidential win.

The premise is that the old enemey of the working class man was "the boss," or "the cold-hearted capitalist" ... but due to some Machiavellian calculating, the right-wing hate machine was able to pin the tail on the "liberal." In effect, Republicans got working people upset over Jesus issues without mentioning economic issues. Thus a whole slew of people are now voting against their economic and political interests!

It didn't help matters when the Democratic Party abandoned language of economic equality.

Frank certainly didn't reinvent the wheel, but this book has been the most comprehesive and enjoyable explanation of the last few decades' topsy-turviness in politics.

I guess you could call Frank's work the It-Book of August 2006.