Rating: 
Summary: Greatest American Novel of the 20th Century
Review: Certainly the most lyrical, at the very least.A feast for lovers of the English language. A feast for lovers, too. Simply consider Chapter 7. Never has young
love ached this much, or sounded so wistfully
seductive. For me the finest chapter in American letters. A lot of people will tell you this is a political
novel, but don't pay that much mind. Politics
is simply the backdrop here. The real story is good/evil, redemption, love,
betrayal, fatherhood, corruption, idealism gone
awry, and a dozen other themes. Watch carefully whenever the words "white" or
"black" are mentioned. What is their significance? Is Warren telling us that good and evil exist side
by side? Within the same being? Are inseparable? See for yourself. One sad note however: the use of the N-word.
Rating:
Summary: The Best Political Novel of All-Time!
Review: The end justifies the means. Make the good out of the bad. That ostensibly sums up the intriguing philosophy of Willie Stark, the Huey Long-modeled demagogue protagonist. All the King's Men follows the political career of country boy Willie Stark - from a small fry County Treasurer known as "Cousin Willy" all the way to Louisiana Governor referred to simply as "The Boss". The reader follows Willie undergo a transformation from a young, naive, idealist politician who despises corruption into a hardened, cynical machine politician who will use any means necessary to aid his poor and disenfranchised constituents - all the while helping himself as well as the cronies of his machine. But this is not entirely about Willie Stark. It is beautifully written in 1st person narrative as told by Stark's right hand man, Jack Burden, a man facing many struggles of his own. Throughout the book, Jack's inward struggle with morality parallels Willie's outward struggle with his actions and their moral repercussions. Both Jack and Willie believe the paradoxical philosophy that "you had to make the good out of the bad because there wasn't anything else to make it out of." At the end they both undergo an epiphany of sorts as Jack starts a clean new life and rids himself of all the residue of his corruption while Willie states on his deathbed, "It might have been different, Jack. You got to believe that." Winner of the Pulitzer Prize in 1946, All the King's Men is a masterpiece and is unequivocally the best politcal novel ever written. Having said that, it is not a classic to put on your bookshelf as a trophy and let collect dust. It is a book to be treasured and referenced early and often for its wisdom, which resonates as strongly today as at its first printing.
Rating: 
Summary: Flawed Work of American Genius
Review: Penn Warren's All the Kings Men is an extremely involved read. The book focuses not so much on American politics and the myth of the demagogue politician but rather on one man's journey into himself into finding his place in the world. The book also provides the basis for one man's understanding of the meaning of responsibility for his actions. That said, a lot of the critical focus of this novel has been placed on the character of Willie (Stark) Talos the fictional governor who starts out as a simple man of the people and evolves into a Machiavellian powerhouse who demands that the ends justify the means for all his actions. The book has been called the ultimate political novel or even a novel about the rise and fall of an American dictator. This rather general review barely scratches the surface of Penn Warrens attention. In its most basic aspect, this is a novel which deals literally with one of the King's men. In this case that man is Jack Burden. Jack, for the most part, is an observer of the world around him. This is his most basic take on life. He observes and basically floats through his existence as a sort of thinking yes man for his political leader. He will do anything that his boss tells him and he will feel very little, if any responsibility for his actions. This view of life gradually changes through his interaction with Willie (Stark) Talos and the immediate circle of people around the governor. Jack through this novel grows into a responsible person. I called the novel flawed in the title to this review for a few reasons. The first is the narrative style. Jack is a first person narrator and an observer of life. As such everything (and I mean everything) gets described. This has a great tendency to slow the novel almost to a crawl at some points. The flip side of this, however, is that Penn Warren creates prose that almost has the feel of a painting in its description. The novelist forces his reader to view the entire world through the narrators eyes. There is very little direct narration and ore than a little of Warren's personal philosophy involved in reading this. The second point that has been called a flaw is the placement of the Cass Mastern episode. This however is a centralpart of the novel. It is also the portion of the novel that William Faulker thought to be the best writing of the book. The episode runs nearly fifty pages and contributes nothing to the existing narrative structure. First looks however can be deceiving. This section of the novel provides a model for Burden's eventual change into a more responsible person. On the whole this was probably one of the most difficult books that I've read in quite a while. At times one wants to scream in frustration but with some patience the careful reader is left with a feeling of great accomplishment and the feeling of having read something truly great and uniquely American.
Rating:
Summary: Among the Best
Review: I have a list of books that I put into the category, "Books Every American Must Read." I don't put books on that list thoughtlessly, but All the King's Men occupies one of the top spots. Many people are turned off by a book that is ostensibly about a politician, but this book is really about how politics is fused into our lives; it is about how many of the basic activities and achievements in a town, city or country come down to the mentality of one or two individuals; and politics becomes a metaphor for something that intoxicates you to the point of becoming unable to consider the humanity that surrounds you, so that the meaning of what you are doing is disconnected from your ambition to do it. It is also a story about how all of us, as we mature, give up the things that mean so much to us emotionally as we slowly but surely begin to serve what we believe is a better, more intelligent purpose. The narrator, Jackie Burden, has a wonderfully ironic way of expressing himself, where he recognizes that he has been disloyal to a "friend of his youth," yet goes ahead with a dark plan anyway. Mr. Burden once had dreams of being something great, of exploring history for its beauty, he had honorable family friends, but he ended up instead digging up dirt for his "boss," Willie Stark, the politician who transforms himself from a naive small-town speaker into a prominent, powerful figure on the brink of national attention. One of the people he digs up dirt on is one of those honorable people from his youth. But there is poetic justice in the story -- the corruption that engulfs the characters ends their upward rise. The themes of corruption explored in this book are played out again and again in American politics. The book was written in the 1940's, but it "predicted" Watergate, the Iran-Contra Affair, the Monica Lewinski scandal, as well as scores of other political games that have been played in the intervening decades. Finally, the main female character in this book is one of the most complex, unforgettable people you will ever meet in a novel. As an aside, the recent bestseller, "Primary Colors," has a main character with the name Jack Stanton, which happens to also be the name of one of the main political figures in this book. I have always thought it was NOT a coincidence, but no other reviewer writing about either the book or the movie that came later has pointed this out. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Rating:
Summary: tries too hard to be a masterpiece, thus imposing flaws
Review: Now don't get me wrong: All The King's Men is a great book, a gorgeously, sumptuously written narrative of great interest and compelling action. The problem lies in the utterly self-referencial nature of the narrator, which sometimes obscures the fascination of every other character save himself. Of course this is meant to be part of the point of the book, but to me it just emphasizes my conviction that Warren tried too hard with this novel. He had everything working but for some reason decided to blur the facts (perhaps as an intential obscuring of history) in the muddled numbness of someone who has distanced himself from his own life and relegated himself to an observer. Second person narration is a difficult goal to maintain (one inevitably thinks of The Great Gatsby, helped out a great deal by its brief length) and Jack Burden ultimately comes across as a gloomy, arrogant, pompous jerk, so self-obsessed that the legitimicy of the tragedy and greatness of others is numbed, dragged down, trapped in the lowered expectations of his own world view. This brash imposition of reality is to be commended--as highly praised as anything that has been highly praised in this book. Jack is miserable and for good reason. He'd never expected anything of anyone in his life and can be satisfied that no one can disappoint him (until the betrayal of a long since ended romance comes along, but I should be honest--this sub-plot contains most of the parts I found boring and 'self-reflective'--I guess I don't imagine liking the author personally very much--). The prose, clearly, is confidently assured, a guy never struggling with style and language. Even the characterizations of others is profound, dense with meaning and the full force of graphic realization. But when he gets to himself, despite Jack's boasts to the contrary, he backs off and grows defensive, merely covering up, seeking not only to prove but to justify every wrong turn he's ever taken in his life. I don't like Jack Burden. I think I love this book . . .
Rating:
Summary: A great work of fiction
Review: Like a few other reviewers here, All the King's Men is my favority work of fiction ever. I first read it two years ago, and re-read it last month. I can't say whether I liked Robert Penn Warren's style or themes more - they both appealed to me. More on that in a second, however. I just want to say that, even after I finished it the second time, I kept on returning to the novel just to read select pages. This book alone accounts for three or four of my ten favorite passages. Now, everyone seems to enjoy the style of the book. It's hard not to. But the themes of All the King's Men are equally poignant. Jack Burden, the main character, deals with lost love, disgust at the life he's led and still leading, and disillusionment with modern society. Willie Stark, the demagogic governor, presents themes regarding the nature of power - is it possible to attain power and still remain moral? Can morality survive as a means, or can man only try to, as Stark says, "make the good from the bad?" Is it necessary to pander to corruption to achieve good? Penn Warren not only presents all these questions, but knows how to argue them as well. This is rare for an author - many only fancy themselves stylists, not philosophers. Penn Warren is both. I could write for days on the style of All the King's Men. Suffice it to say it's wonderful. A touch of nostalgia, a whiff of fatalism, a little cynicism here and there...since the novel is written in the first person, the writing provides the best way to get to know the narrator, Jack Burden. Because of the strength of the writing of All the King's Men, Jack Burden may be one of the most detailed and complex characters in all of american literature. I can not state this any more clearly; All the King's Men is my favorite work of fiction ever. If you haven't read it, please, please do.
Rating:
Summary: Even stranger...
Review: Some time ago, I wrote a review for this book. I was then on the second reading of the book, and decided that it had no merits other than the writing style. That was earlier today. Well, I began reading again, from the beginning, and the most insane thing happened - I began loving the book. And not just that, I read for hours on end, finishing at least a quarter of the book before my first break. Still, I don't feel that this is the best book ever, and in a similar vein (as far as writing style is concerned anyway) Ulysses is much better, but then again, Ulysses is one of my all-time favourites.
Rating: 
Summary: Strange
Review: This book is rather strange: it presents me with a situation I have never encountered before. Penn Warren's writing is superb, his command of the English language perfect, and his use of images simply fabulous. However, the book fails to strike me as anything. After reading it I don't feel as though I have, for a time, entered a different world and learned something in that world. In short, this book is bland, repetitive, unnecessary fiction that fails to impress the reader on any level other than its use of language. At first, I didn't want to admit this, and went back and read the book again; each time I found myself falling asleep every 30 pages. Many would say "Oh, well you must like escapist fiction, and this is why you cannot appreciate this book," however, this is hardly the case. If you want to read a great novel that is deep, equally well written (if not more so), keeps the reader's interest, and is written in a simlar "stream-of-consciousness" narration style, go buy yourself Ulysses by James Joyce. All the King's Men is, quite tragically, a failure: Robert Penn Warren certainly had talent in writing, and it is very sad to see that talent go wasted.
Rating:
Summary: A must read
Review: As a visitor living here for a few years I have decided to read the cream of American Fiction.I must say in this book I struck gold.The writer seemed to have the skill to combine a hugely compelling plot,elaborate character development and prose which at times was poetic.The novel is full of timeles themes such as the greed and corruption of the body politic,sowing what one will reap and the importance of friends and roots,it is all there.
This novel for me was a great discovery and I was in awe from start to finish.This is compelling reading and stands head and shoulders above some of the modern writing we are getting today.
I would recommend this book to anyone.......it is a must read.
Rating:
Summary: The best book I ever read. Don't miss it!
Review: Born in Kentucky, Robert Penn Warren (1905-1989) had a long and prestigious literary career, his huge body of work including poetry, essays, textbooks, history and novels. "All the King's Men", written in 1946, won a Pulitzer Prize and I can well understand why. First of all there are the words, lots of them, words that flow and caress and make liberal use of just the right tiny details to get to the essence the people he dscribes. Never have I seen such artful characterization and I found I was re-reading some of these descriptions just for the pure beauty of the way he used his words. And yet those words never got in the way of the story; they enhanced it. It is also a piece of history as the author brings alive the South of 1920s and 1930s. The story is about Willie Stark, man of humble origin who rose to power as a governor of an unnamed Southern state and is supposedly loosely based on the life of Huey Long, the Governor of Louisiana. But the main character is really Jack Burden, the narrator of the story. He's a reporter when he meets Willie Stark early in his career and is there as witness his political rise. Later, he works directly for Willie and becomes a key player in the blackmailing and political intrigue that surrounds the Governor. We come to know Jack through the people in his life as well as his own internal introspections and watch the swirl of events that grow in depth and complexity. Nothing is quite what it seems at first, and there are multiple sub-stories that unfold as the basic action of the book moves along. And then, just when I think I understand it all, there is yet another and another layer of depth and meaning. Everything has an effect on everything else. I found the book impossible to put down, thinking about it all the time, not only as it related to the story itself, but also how it applies to my own life. This is perhaps the best book I ever read and I can't heap enough praise on it. It is clearly a masterpiece and I give it my very highest recommendation. It's a present to yourself to read it. Don't miss it!
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