Thomas Frank Listen, liberal

With his trademark sardonic wit and lacerating logic, New York Times-bestselling author Thomas Frank exposes how, in the last few decades, the American Left has made an unprecedented shift away from its working-class roots.

Financial inequality is one of the biggest political issues of our time: from the Wall Street bail-outs - where bankers still received huge bonuses while thousands of people lost their homes - to the rise of `the One Percent', who between them control 40 per cent of US wealth.

So where are the Democrats - the notional party of the people - in all this? In his scathing examination of how the Democratic Party has failed to combat financial inequality, despite being given near perfect conditions for success, Thomas Frank argues that the Left in America has abandoned its roots to pursue a new class of supporter: elite professionals.

Under this `meritocratic' system, the educated middle class prosper, but ordinary workers continue to suffer.

Unless the Democrats remember their historic purpose and win back the working class, Frank warns, the rift between America's rich and poor will deepen further still, with dire consequences for both sides.