{"title":"Kurt Andersen","description":"Kurt Andersen is the bestselling author of Evil Geniuses, Fantasyland and the novels True Believers, Heyday andTurn of the Century, among other books. He contributes to The New York Times and was host and co-creator of Studio 360,  the Peabody Award-winning public radio show and podcast. He also writes for television, film, and the stage. Andersen co-founded Spy magazine, served as editor in chief of New York,  and was a cultural columnist and design critic for Time, New York and The New Yorker. He graduated from Harvard College and lives in Brooklyn.","products":[{"product_id":"evil-geniuses-the-unmaking-of-america-a-recent-history-paperback","title":"Evil Geniuses: The Unmaking of America: A Recent History - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eNEW YORK TIMES \u003c\/i\u003eBESTSELLER - When did America give up on fairness? The author of \u003ci\u003eFantasyland\u003c\/i\u003e tells the epic history of how America decided that big business gets whatever it wants, only the rich get richer, and nothing should ever change--and charts a way back to the future.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003e\"Essential, absorbing . . . a graceful, authoritative guide . . . a radicalized moderate's moderate case for radical change.\"--\u003ci\u003eThe New York Times Book Review\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eDuring the twentieth century, America managed to make its economic and social systems both more and more fair and more and more prosperous. A huge, secure, and contented middle class emerged. All boats rose together. But then the New Deal gave way to the Raw Deal. Beginning in the early 1970s, by means of a long war conceived of and executed by a confederacy of big business CEOs, the superrich, and right-wing zealots, the rules and norms that made the American middle class possible were undermined and dismantled. The clock was turned back on a century of economic progress, making greed good, workers powerless, and the market all-powerful while weaponizing nostalgia, lifting up an oligarchy that served only its own interests, and leaving the huge majority of Americans with dwindling economic prospects and hope. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eWhy and how did America take such a wrong turn? In this deeply researched and brilliantly woven cultural, economic, and political chronicle, Kurt Andersen offers a fresh, provocative, and eye-opening history of America's undoing, naming names, showing receipts, and unsparingly assigning blame--to the radical right in economics and the law, the high priests of high finance, a complacent and complicit Establishment, and liberal \"useful idiots,\" among whom he includes himself. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eOnly a writer with Andersen's crackling energy, deep insight, and ability to connect disparate dots and see complex systems with clarity could make such a book both intellectually formidable and vastly entertaining. And only a writer of Andersen's vision could reckon with our current high-stakes inflection point, and show the way out of this man-made disaster.","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51369342402783,"sku":"9781984801357","price":20.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0813\/8958\/4607\/files\/jwjN5-6MVw9781984801357.webp?v=1789140679"},{"product_id":"heyday-paperback","title":"Heyday - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eHeyday\u003c\/i\u003e is a brilliantly imagined, wildly entertaining tale of America's boisterous coming of age-a sweeping panorama of madcap rebellion and overnight fortunes, palaces and brothels, murder and revenge-as well as the story of a handful of unforgettable characters discovering the nature of freedom, loyalty, friendship, and true love. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIn the middle of the nineteenth century, modern life is being born: the mind-boggling marvels of photography, the telegraph, and railroads; a flood of show business spectacles and newspapers; rampant sex and drugs and drink (and moral crusades against all three); Wall Street awash with money; and giddy utopian visions everywhere. Then, during a single amazing month at the beginning of 1848, history lurches: America wins its war of manifest destiny against Mexico, gold is discovered in northern California, and revolutions sweep across Europe-sending one eager English gentleman off on an epic transatlantic adventure. . . . \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eAmid the tumult, aristocratic Benjamin Knowles impulsively abandons the Old World to reinvent himself in New York, where he finds himself embraced by three restless young Americans: Timothy Skaggs, muckraking journalist, daguerreotypist, pleasure-seeker, stargazer; the fireman Duff Lucking, a sweet but dangerously damaged veteran of the Mexican War; and Duff's dazzling sister Polly Lucking, a strong-minded, free thinking actress (and discreet part-time prostitute) with whom Ben falls hopelessly in love. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eBeckoned by the frontier, new beginnings, and the prospects of the California Gold Rush, all four set out on a transcontinental race west-relentlessly tracked, unbeknownst to them, \u003cb\u003e \u003c\/b\u003eby a cold-blooded killer bent on revenge. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eA fresh, impeccable portrait of an era startlingly reminiscent of our own times, \u003ci\u003eHeyday \u003c\/i\u003eis by turns tragic and funny and sublime, filled with bona fide heroes and lost souls, visionaries (Walt Whitman, Charles Darwin, Alexis de Tocqueville) and monsters, expanding horizons and narrow escapes. It is also an affecting story of four people passionately chasing their American dreams at a time when America herself was still being dreamed up-an enthralling, old-fashioned yarn interwoven with a bracingly modern novel of ideas. \u003cbr\u003e\"In this utterly engaging novel, the author of \u003ci\u003eTurn of the Century\u003c\/i\u003e brings 19th-century America vividly to life . . . While this is a long book, it moves quickly, with historical detail that's involving but never a drag on the action; the characters are beautifully drawn. A terrific book; highly recommended.\" \u003cb\u003e-\u003ci\u003eLibrary Journal\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"\u003ci\u003eHeyday\u003c\/i\u003e is fuled by manic energy, fanatical research, and a wicked sense of humor.... It's a joyful, wild gallop through a joyful, wild time to be an American.\" \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e-Vanity Fair\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51374959198431,"sku":"9780812978469","price":20.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0813\/8958\/4607\/files\/r9HgCxXxfZ9780812978469.webp?v=1789189465"}],"url":"https:\/\/blackandbarhe.com\/collections\/kurt-andersen.oembed","provider":"Black \u0026 Barhe Bookstore","version":"1.0","type":"link"}