Scribe strikes deal with US commentator Frank

Scribe has acquired two new books by US political commentator Tom Frank.

Henry Rosenbloom at Scribe bought UK and Commonwealth rights to two new books from Caspian Dennis at Abner Stein. 

The first in the two-book deal will publish in October. Entitled Rendezvous with Oblivion, it is a collection of interlocking essays examining how inequality has manifested itself in US cities, describing the worlds of both "the winners and the losers, the sprawling mansion districts as well as the lives of fast-food workers". It is also about how millions of anxious ordinary people rallied behind the presidential campaign of a billionaire. 

Following on in 2021, Scribe will publish Frank's next book, tentatively titled Creative Destruction, which has been pitched as "a devastating look at the cult of creativity". It promises to dismantle "the myth of 'innovation'".

The books follow Frank's critique of middle-class elitism in his 2016 book Listen, Liberal (Scribe). Sales of the book received a bump after the election of Donald Trump, and Frank has been a regular in the UK media since then.

Rosenbloom said: "I just love Tom’s approach, and he's a superb stylist. I have to admit I agree with everything he says, but even if I didn’t I’d still think he was a gem. The concluding essay in Rendezvous with Oblivion, about the possibility of Trump being re-elected, is terrifyingly spot-on."

The books will be published in North America by Sara Bershtel at Metropolitan Books.