Economic meltdown usually brings calls for change. Or it's supposed to. But when Thomas Frank set out to find them in America today, all he heard were loud demands that the losers be hit harder and that the winners get more.

Using first-hand reporting, a deep political understanding and a wicked sense of humour, Frank examines the weird double-think that has enlisted the powerless in a fan club for the prosperous. Pity the Billionaire takes us on a wild road-trip through the strange landscape of the American Right, the Tea Party and Glenn Beck, makes sense of a topsy-turvy world and shows how instead of complying with the new speed limit, conservative America has stamped hard on the accelerator. It is essential reading for understanding how we all got to where we are, and how we might get out.