Everything we think we know about populism is wrong.

Donald Trump. Brexit. European right-wing extremists. All have been accused of populism. But what does this often thrown about, yet generally misunderstood, term actually mean?

The real story of populism is an account of enlightenment and liberation; the story of democracy itself, of its promise of a decent life for us all.

Here, acclaimed political commentator Thomas Frank takes us from the emergence of the radical left-wing US Populist Party in the 1890s, through the triumphs of reformers under Roosevelt and Truman, to the present day, reminding us how much we owe to the populist ethos. He pummels the elites, revisits the movement's provocative politics, and declares true populism to be the language of promise and optimism.

People Without Poweris a ringing affirmation of a movement that, Frank shows us, is not the problem of our times, but the solution.