All the King's Men

Masterpiece scarcely does justice to this extraordinary tome. I feel speechless with the way book moved me over and over in myriad ways. I have often wanted to be a writer, but reading this book reminds me why I left it for the masters instead.

Buyers should be aware, this is the "Restored" edition, in which an editor supposedly "returned" the work to its "original" condition. Bit it isn't really original, since the original first chapter is included for comparison. This begs the question, what is original, and why should that be better than a version most thought was better, and was published as such? What was the "Original" Gettysburg Address, before Lincoln's final editions? How would that be relevant to anything? Opinions are worth what you pay for them.

Awarded the Pulitzer Prize for best American novel in 1947, the final year of the award (which was replaced with the award for best American fiction), ALL THE KING’S MEN is considered an American classic and the go-to Allstar of American political fiction.Peripherally, ALL THE KING’S MEN tells the story of the charismatic and morally-questionable Governor of Louisiana and US Senator, Huey Long “The Kingfish”. His dramatic rise and sudden demise were familiar to readers in the 1940’s but by now most have forgotten (or never heard of) Governor Long. This book doesn’t detail much about The Boss’s policies or controversies, so I thought potential readers may be interested in a bit of backstory: Huey Long was a socialist populist, promoting the role of government in helping the poor through redistribution and public works. He was reviled by old-guard politicians of both political parties, the blue-blooded elites, and the corporate interests he wanted to tax (mainly oil companies). He managed to make plenty of enemies during his politicking, employed pay-for-play politics, and was accused of dictator-like abuses of power in Louisiana. During his time in the US Senate, Long was described as “the hillbilly hero … [who] wore silks suits and pink ties, womanized openly, swilled whiskey in the finest bars, swaggered his way around Washington, and breathed defiance into the teeth of his critics” (Historian David Kennedy). Long was a critic of the New Deal, claiming it didn’t go far enough in redistributing power and wealth from Wall Street (Long’s favorite bogeyman) to the poor. President Roosevelt considered Long a major threat, accusing him of election fraud, voter intimidation, and tax evasion. This drama was coming to a head when Long was assassinated.However, while the story in ALL THE KING’S MEN revolves around the political career of Willie Stark (Huey Long), the book is not really about him at all, but about the personal growth and awakening of his right-hand-man, Jack Burden. Indeed, the entire book is spent inside the head of Jack Burden as he searches for The-Point-Of-It-All while working as the get-it-done man for The Boss. As you read this book you’ll discover that Jack Burden’s head is an interesting and somewhat neurotic place. He has a generally perverse, almost morbid view of the world. He notices and remembers things like how a person’s skin covers their skull and tends to see the most compromising past and darkest potential in everyone. He is also passively arrogant, almost psychotically unempathetic, and basically jaded by the human experience. Still, his psychological journey is convincing and somehow inspiring, and there is no shortage of profound philosophy here, even if it tends to be on the more pessimistic side of the spectrum.If that sounds less than pleasant, don’t worry, because Robert Penn Warren’s lyrical prose is absolutely masterful, being breathtakingly beautiful and often hilariously witty, making ALL THE KING’S MEN an enjoyable page-turner that you can read for no other reason than experiencing how the words are put together. A less-skilled wordsmith trying to tell the same story is the same manner would have failed epically, but this book is confusingly excellent and a must-read.

The plot involves Jack Burden, failed historian and fallen aristocrat, who has become a political hatchet man for a charismatic populist politician, Willie Stark, who believes that the greater good may be cultivated if well fertilized by the corruption of his friends and the carcasses of his enemies. Jack's duties include gathering weapons for use against those enemies, like biblical David before him, by gathering stones with which to fell the Goliaths of a more genteel, if scarcely less corrupt, plutocracy who formerly ran the state. But it is not the stones themselves that Jack gathers but rather the creepy crawlies living underneath the stones unearthed that will eventually allow Jack to be so successful that tragedy will ensue for all, good and evil alike.This theme of raking through the muck of bygone days resonates with me as I first read this book as a youth some forty years ago and as I reread it I see my childhood and this book in a different light. But as I understand more of this book than I did upon first reading, I fear that one need not delve so deeply into the past to see the relevance of this book today and into the future. Although inspired by Louisiana's Governor Huey Long, one need not look to the thirties to see the type. Stark rather resembles a certain Arkansas governor of recent vintage whose wife, like Stark, attempted to redeem the family of its sins by providing free health care to the less fortunate. One need not squint too hard to see in Anne Stanton, that paragon of female nobility whose virtue could not survive an encounter with Willie Stark, the National Organization of Women who were only too willing to overlook the sexual improprieties, lies and corruption of their Willie Stark if only he pretended to respect them in the morning. Why, even the senator from Massachusetts may be glimpsed as Tom Stark drunkenly drives into a culvert ruining the life of a young lady companion with no consequence to himself, although admittedly Tom had the foresight to avoid plunging the car into water. Huey Long promised to raise Louisiana up out of the muck but mired it in corruption just as Willie Stark promised to raise a Louisiana-like state only to see it sunk into corruption. Now we see the results of an additional seventy years of Democratic good old boy (and girl) corruption in Louisiana as it struggles to blame others for its failures of government to the detriment of the very people in pretends to help but, in fact, victimizes.So off we go into the future as the citizens of Louisiana and elsewhere continue to not only accept but to positively demand a snake oil salesman, well acquainted with his wares due to close family relations, to lead them into the promised land. Too bad that we, like Jack Burden, Willie Stark, and the rest, will find more venom than remedy from the fangs of the serpent we demand.

I was surprised that the focus of the book is on Jack Burden and not Willie Talos (Stark in the movie). It is a great read.

I've heard so much about this book over the years that I was glad to finally read it for myself. However, it wasn't written well enough to hold my interest. Didn't finish it.

Robert Penn Warren's ALL THE KING'S MEN packs a powerful punch! The main character (Willie Talos) will remind each and every reader of far too many contemporary politicians. Sobering and provocative ... this cautionary tale was well worthy of its Pulitzer Prize status in 1947 - and, for my money, should be required reading for anyone old enough to VOTE!

Una GRAN novela que se disfruta desde el primer capítulo hasta el final, además de tener una actualidad asombrosa.

Good book

This is classic novel about US politics in depression era Louisiana

Le roman est un chef-d'œuvre. Admirablement écrit, il suit le passage d'un homme politique de l'intégrité à la corruption. Les personnages sont nombreux, dont le narrateur, un journaliste passé au service du gouverneur et chargé de réaliser ses basses œuvres. La plupart des figures évoluent, mais certaines demeurent immuables, comme le chirurgien qui, à la fin, est à l'origine d'un événement tragique. Les hommes dominent dans le roman, mais deux personnages féminins intéressants paraissent en bonne place.L'ouvrage est proche de la tragédie. Le message dont il est porteur est plutôt pessimiste, voire cynique. Nés dans le péché, nous ne pouvons que tendre vers le mal. Mais puisque nous sommes tous aussi mauvais, pourquoi nous sentir coupables? Le moteur de l'histoire n'étant jamais qu'une impulsion électrique, faut-il que nous soyons tenus pour responsables de nos actes?PS-Le chapitre 7, avec sa description si délicate et pudique d'un amour pur, est un chef-d'œuvre dans le chef-d'œuvre!