Slog - Comments on Reading Tonight http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/08/reading_tonight_133 One open mic and two readings tonight. Out at Elliott Bay Book Company, Sadia Shepard reads from The Girl from Foreign, which is a book about Shepard's discovery that her devout Muslim grandmother was originally a Jew. Up at the University Book Store, Thomas Frank is reading. Frank wrote What's the Matter With Kansas?, which is a book whose title always angered me. I was working in a bookstore when it came out, and I recall dozens of tourists from red states who would see the book and storm off in a huff. Granted, there is a certain pleasure... Copyright 2008 Mon, 11 Aug 2008 10:12:25 -0800 Mon, 11 Aug 2008 13:18:33 -0800 http://www.movabletype.org/?v=3.34 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Comment by Ziggity Book punditry always seems especially odious in election years. The ideas they present always seem opportunistic, pointless, and guaranteed obsolete within 6 months (or, in some cases, 6 days).

]]> Ziggity http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/08/reading_tonight_133#c1097914 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/08/reading_tonight_133#c1097914 Books Mon, 11 Aug 2008 10:19:42 -0800 Comment by Gabriel Andrew Gelman, one of the premier statisticians of the day, has a book coming out soon that debunks a lot of Thomas Franks's book. Check it out.

]]> Gabriel http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/08/reading_tonight_133#c1097945 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/08/reading_tonight_133#c1097945 Books Mon, 11 Aug 2008 10:49:38 -0800 Comment by elenchos The problem always was with those rural idiots, Paul. Still is.

On a side note, I'm beginning to lose sympathy for the many, many crosses you had to bear while working in retail.

]]> elenchos http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/08/reading_tonight_133#c1097964 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/08/reading_tonight_133#c1097964 Books Mon, 11 Aug 2008 11:03:20 -0800 Comment by exelizabeth The real problem with that book was that he never answered the question what is the matter with Kansas? That is, he never really came up with a good answer for why they vote the way they do. The entire book was sort of an exercise in bemused head shaking: What is up with these yahoos?

George Lakoff does a much better job of answering that question in his work, especially Don't Think of an Elephant.

]]> exelizabeth http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/08/reading_tonight_133#c1097973 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/08/reading_tonight_133#c1097973 Books Mon, 11 Aug 2008 11:14:11 -0800 Comment by Mugwump A good review of Frank's book (and one that challenges his basic assumptions) is in the current New Yorker. Click here.

]]> Mugwump http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/08/reading_tonight_133#c1098058 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/08/reading_tonight_133#c1098058 Books Mon, 11 Aug 2008 12:23:29 -0800 Comment by Kevin Paul, I understand being annoyed at the title, but 1)it's a specific historical reference to an article decrying the populist rebellion taking place in kansas 2)anyone who bothered to crack the book would find that Frank, a Kansan himself, has nothing but affection for the people of his home state.

exelizabeth: did you read the same book? I can tell you frank's thesis in a sentence: Kansans vote republican because a bogus class-encoded culture war narrative has displaced substantive discussion of economics, and this was enabled by the democrats moving away from their traditional platform of economic populism.

]]> Kevin http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/08/reading_tonight_133#c1098127 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/08/reading_tonight_133#c1098127 Books Mon, 11 Aug 2008 13:16:25 -0800 Comment by Greg @6: That and the Civil Rights Act.

]]> Greg http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/08/reading_tonight_133#c1098133 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/08/reading_tonight_133#c1098133 Books Mon, 11 Aug 2008 13:18:33 -0800