Book Discussion "The People, No" by Thomas Frank

Our book for October is The People, No: A Brief History of Anti-Populism by American political analyst and historian Thomas Frank.

[Note: Discussion is the 4th Saturday of October rather than the 3rd.]

From Amazon:
[I]n The People, No Thomas Frank…show[s] us that everything we think we know about populism is wrong. Today “populism” is seen as a frightening thing, a term pundits use to describe the racist philosophy of Donald Trump and European extremists. But this is a mistake.

The real story of populism is an account of enlightenment and liberation; it is the story of American democracy itself, of its ever-widening promise of a decent life for all. Taking us from the tumultuous 1890s, when the radical left-wing Populist Party – the biggest mass movement in American history – fought Gilded Age plutocrats to the reformers’ great triumphs under Franklin Roosevelt and Harry Truman, Frank reminds us how much we owe to the populist ethos. Frank also shows that elitist groups have reliably detested populism, lashing out at working-class concerns. The anti-populist vituperations by the Washington centrists of today are only the latest expression.

"Brilliant…grand…an urgent plea to liberals and radicals alike to embrace a left populism and universalism – or keep on losing." – Jacobin