What does a middle-class democracy look like when it comes apart? When, after forty years of economic triumph, America's winners persuade themselves that they owe nothing to the rest of the country?<br> <br> With his sharp eye for detail, Thomas Frank takes us on a wide-ranging tour through present-day America, showing us a society in the late stages of disintegration, and describing the worlds of both the winners and the losers - the sprawling mansion districts as well as the lives of fast-food workers.<br> <br> <i>Rendezvous with Oblivion</i> is a collection of interlocking essays examining how inequality has manifested itself in US cities, in its jobs, in the way its people travel, and, of course, in its politics - where, in 2016, millions of anxious, ordinary people rallied to the presidential campaign of a billionaire who meant them no good.<br> <br> These accounts of folly and exploitation are brought together in a single volume unified by Frank's distinctive voice, sardonic wit, and anti-orthodox perspective. They capture a society where every status signifier is hollow, where the allure of mobility is just another con game, and where rebellion too often yields nothing.<br> <br> For those who despair of the future of America and of reason itself, <i>Rendezvous with Oblivion</i> is a booster shot of energy, reality, and moral outrage.