Once known for its radicalism, Kansas has become one of the most conservative states in the Union – enter Thomas Frank.

Promoting his book “What’s the Matter with Kansas?” Frank spoke Wednesday to the crowded Sun Room of the Memorial Union.

The book, which rode the New York Times’ best-seller list for 17 weeks, speaks mainly to the “great backlash” that has defined the two sides of politics since the late ’60s.

The lecture, which lasted for just under an hour, attracted Tyler Reedy from Iowa City.

“I’ve read [the book],” said Reedy, a senior at Iowa. “I think it is very insightful and is saying something nobody else is saying. But I think it’s right on the money.”

Frank spoke mainly about the way conservatives “married cultural anger” with conservative economic ideas. The result was unlikely to Frank: The Republicans won much of the lower class votes.

He argued the Republican Party’s success in the last election was “the most unnatural of alliances” as the party was able to unite the blue-collar Midwest with the Wall Street business elite. Frank examined recent national political events, highlighting an electorate and American public that has become increasingly concerned with party leaders’ values than with their stances on key policy.

“Stereotypes of [liberal] people that I work with, more working class people . they are getting their wages cut, their work standards are getting reduced,” Reedy said. “But they are getting blamed for it.”

ISU students were also intrigued by the concept of the book.

“I bought the book for my Dad and read a little bit of it with him,” said Meredith Newton, junior in accounting. “It raised a lot of good points about the questions a lot of people have about conservatives . [who are] the lower class and still vote [Republican]. It’s kind of going against what they really want.”

Frank has authored several books including “One Market Under God” and “The Conquest of Cool: Business Culture, Counterculture and the Rise of Hip Consumerism,” which became a best-seller.

He has been called one of America’s “most insightful social observers” by the Los Angeles Times.

“I came because I am interested in the balance between . conservatives and liberals, and the back-and-forth and what drives it,” said Erica Carnes, graduate student undeclared. “The most interesting part was the cultural aspect.”