Arianna Huffington will speak to a sold-out audience at the Commonwealth Club on Thursday evening (check our web site, standing room tickets may still be available) about her new book, which has an off-putting yet increasingly relevant title: Third World America: How Our Politicians Are Abandoning the Middle Class and Betraying the American Dream.

A media innovator, Huffington is the co-founder of an extremely successful political blog which bears her name and which provides links to the political news of the moment. It boasts a large collection of liberal commentary on contemporary issues from noted scholars, actors, authors and political figures. “[The Huffington Post] has grown from a hyperspace operation with a cadre of volunteer journalists to a hefty organization with 6,000 unpaid bloggers and 186 paid staffers,” according to Forbes magazine.

In a recent blog post on her $100 million media blog, Huffington wrote that since writing her new book with a doomsday title, her outlook on the future of America is surprisingly optimistic. Huffington, the queen of the inventive online news medium, wrote that she finds hope for the future in the American citizens who are pulling together by creating their own media innovations, providing online forums for struggling Americans. Huffington cited wevegottimetohelp.org, a blog started in Portland, Oregon, which lists volunteer projects happening around the country and encourages people who are unemployed to put their skills to work to help others in need.

Huffington will speak at the Club Office at 6:30 p.m.