Thomas Frank's The Wrecking Crew

And the other big-deal book whose release is being (perhaps deliberately) overshadowed by the Obama-smear: Thomas Frank's The Wrecking Crew: How Conservatives Rule. I've known for the while that the perceived incompetence on 9/11, in New Orleans, and in Iraq was partially by design -- not because of any conspiracy, but because conservatives have a stake in making government as useless and mistrusted as possible. Add to that the boom industry started by Jack Abramoff, Ralph Reed, Grover Norquist, Karl Rove and others that basically funneled money from corporations into movements and think-tanks, starting with the college Republicans in the 70s and reaching its ne plu ultra in the last decade.

Full interview with the author at Salon.