Thomas Frank | |
|---|---|
 Frank at the 2012 Texas Book Festival | |
| Born | Thomas Carr Frank March 21, 1965 Kansas City, Missouri, United States |
| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater | University of Virginia (B.A.) University of Chicago (M.A., Ph.D.) |
| Occupation(s) | Political analyst, columnist, historian, journalist |
| Known for | Co-founder of The Baffler, culture war author |
| Notable work | What's the Matter with Kansas? |
| Political party | Democratic |
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.
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]
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]
Frank lives in Bethesda, Maryland, with his wife, Wendy Edelberg, and their children.
