Winner of the Pulitzer Prize, Robert Penn Warren’s tale of ambition and power set in the Depression-era South is widely considered the finest novel ever written about American politics.All the King’s Men traces the rise and fall of demagogue Willie Stark, a fictional character loosely based on Governor Huey “Kingfish” Long of Louisiana. Stark begins his political career as an idealistic man of … idealistic man of the people but soon becomes corrupted by success and caught between dreams of service and an insatiable lust for power, culminating in a novel that Sinclair Lewis pronounced, on the book’s release in 1946, “one of our few national galleries of character.”
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American politics elevated, or degraded, to a personal level; It depends on ones point of view. This is a novel about tone man’s struggle for power, and his struggle to stay in power once he is there. Another novel that has become more, rather than less, relevant.
A novel about politics and how it corrupts. Applicable to both the past and the present. One of the greatest dangers is the person who sets out to do good and gets blinded by power.
All the King’s Men is one of the most gorgeously written books that I have ever read. It is a layered portrait of corruption which, in my opinion, has yet to be matched. Based on former Governor of Louisiana Huey Long, Robert Penn Warren’s masterpiece explores the political career and moral decline of the a character by the name of Willie Stark. …
This novel is the greatest political thriller ever written. The main character, Willie Stark, is based on Huey Long, the Depression-era Louisiana governor and senator. For a long time I’ve wanted to write a similar novel about a polarizing, morally compromised politician, and I found my opportunity after the election of 2016. The result is THE …
A well-plotted novel with fully-drawn characters, the surface tale is about a naive yokel who enters politics with good intentions who gains insight into the dirty backroom deals and becomes a corrupt powerhouse, rising to governor of his state. However, the story is much more than a morality tale about political ethics. The novel follows the rise …
All the King’s Men was one of the most brilliant books I’ve ever read, with incisive characterization, lyrical language, and even a fair number of plot twists. One of the greatest of great American novels.
Warning: It’s a product of its time and place (1930’s Louisiana), and contains some offensive language.