Rendezvous with Oblivion

What does a middle-class democracy look like when it comes apart? When, after forty years of economic triumph, America’s winners persuade themselves that they owe nothing to the rest of the country?

With his sharp eye for detail, Thomas Frank takes us on a wide-ranging tour through present-day America, showing us a society in the late stages of disintegration, and describing the worlds of both the winners and the losers — the sprawling mansion districts as well as the lives of fast-food workers.

Rendezvous with Oblivion is a collection of interlocking essays examining how inequality has manifested itself in US cities, in its jobs, in the way its people travel, and, of course, in its politics — where, in 2016, millions of anxious, ordinary people rallied to the presidential campaign of a billionaire who meant them no good.

These accounts of folly and exploitation are brought together in a single volume unified by Frank’s distinctive voice, sardonic wit, and anti-orthodox perspective. They capture a society where every status signifier is hollow, where the allure of mobility is just another con game, and where rebellion too often yields nothing.

For those who despair of the future of America and of reason itself, Rendezvous with Oblivion is a booster shot of energy, reality, and moral outrage.