Today "populism" is seen as a frightening thing, a term pundits use to describe the racist philosophy of Donald Trump and European extremists. But this is a mistake, suggests Thomas Frank, who explains it as the story of American democracy itself, with its ever-widening promise of a decent life for all. Taking us from the 1890s, when the radical left-wing Populist Party fought Gilded Age plutocrats, to the reformers' great triumphs under Franklin Roosevelt and Harry Truman, Frank reminds us how much we owe to the populist ethos. Over the course of the past century and a half, elitist groups have reliably detested populism, lashing out at working-class concerns, and yet as Frank argues, it is still the solution for what ails us.