Thomas Frank, the author of the bestseller What’s the Matter with Kansas?, presents the revised paperback edition of his book, The Wrecking Crew: How Conservatives Rule, on Tuesday, September 15, at 6:30 p.m. at the Central Library, 14 W. 10th St.

In looking back to the early days of the conservative revolution, Frank describes the rise of a ruling coalition dedicated to dismantling government. But rather than cutting down the big government they claim to hate, Frank asserts conservatives have simply sold it off, deregulating some industries, defunding others, but always turning public policy into a private-sector bidding war. Frank, the founding editor of The Baffler and a weekly columnist for The Wall Street Journal, argues that it’s no coincidence that the same politicians who guffaw at the idea of effective government have installed a regime in which incompetence is the rule.

“Tom Frank has hold of something real,” according to a review in The New Yorker. “The Wrecking Crew can be good, spirited fun. Frank captures a quality of exuberant bullying in those of his conservative subjects he knows well enough to identify individually, rather than categorically.”