Warren, Robert Penn

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This is a Great American Novel [36][38][T]
Audiobook easier than reading
IN THE TIME OF THE STUMP POLITICANS
It's NOT about Huey Long. Warren said so.
all the kings men

All the King's Men
Robert Penn Warren
Manufacturer: Harvest Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0156004801

Amazon.com

This landmark book is a loosely fictionalized account of Governor Huey Long of Louisiana, one of the nation's most astounding politicians. All the King's Men tells the story of Willie Stark, a southern-fried politician who builds support by appealing to the common man and playing dirty politics with the best of the back-room deal-makers. Though Stark quickly sheds his idealism, his right-hand man, Jack Burden -- who narrates the story -- retains it and proves to be a thorn in the new governor's side. Stark becomes a successful leader, but at a very high price, one that eventually costs him his life. The award-winning book is a play of politics, society and personal affairs, all wrapped in the cloak of history.

Book Description

Winner of the Pulitzer Prize, this classic book is generally regarded as the finest novel ever written on american politics. It describes the career of Willie Stark, a back-country lawyer whose idealism is overcome by his lust for power. New Foreword by Joseph Blotner for this fiftieth anniversary edition.

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This is a Great American Novel [36][38][T].......2007-06-06

Written in the post war era, published in 1946, this book simultaneously idolizes and humanizes the Huey-Long like personality of Louisiana's grand governor - Willie Stark.

Cleverly, the spots of Willie Stark and his wife, Lucy, and son, Tom, are not the heart or center of this book. It is really about the narrator (Jack Burden), whose perspective delivers us to the inside world of the political smoke-filled negotiating rooms of the state' deal makers. Why deals must be made, how deals must be made, the purposes for deals, and more information about the machinations of political machinery are disclosed.

Not surprisingly, what happens in these pages is similar to what happened in the same time period 1,300 miles away in Mario Puzo's "The Godfather." Stark is Louisiana's Don Corleone.

And, like Corleone, there are lickspittles - "yes men." And, like Corleone, one will betray the leader. Like Corleone, there is a fair-haired son whose antics are governed more by his libido than brains. Like Corleone, the provider wants to deliver a world to his child that he could not have. And, like Corleone, his efforts encounter tragedy. Greek theater does not deliver greater tragedy.

The book is highlighted - in this reader's perspective - by the down-home farm metaphors constantly recited in the dialogue of Stark - the "Boss." And the zingers delivered by narrator Jack Burden also bring cheer. Many of the contrarian and pithy statements they deliver remind me of the great lines written by Ayn Rand in "The Foutainhead."

Beneath the story of the Starks is the story of the Burdens. All of it. From Jack Burden's boyhood days living on the "Row" of "Burden's Landing." He recalls his childhood relationship with his "first love", Anne Stanton, and her brother (and his best friend), Adam Stanton, the children of then Governor Stanton. He recalls how his education was enhanced by neighborly and fatherly Judge Irwin. And, in great detail, he recalls how his freshmen days were tainted by beautiful Anne Stanton's breaking of his heart.

The beat and rhythm of this book has a few slow spots - Jack Burden's smitten character with Anne Stanton when they were teenagers; and his thorough description of the book that he never published on "Cass Mastern." But, those spots are easily overlooked when the Stark dialogue comes about and the human intricacies of the Row and governor grow until they reach a crescendo where either good music or disaster must arrive.

William Faulkner's Lafayette County is rivaled by William Penn Warren's "Burden's Landing."

Robert Penn Warren's greatest work is claimed to be this novel. Warren's works have always been well received. This is one of many glorified novels or works. After winning one National Book Award, three Pulitzers, the National Medal of Freedom, and the MacArthur Prize, this book sturdily sits on a very high pedestal

Audiobook easier than reading.......2007-05-17

For those who are having a hard time with reading this very long book with the very long sentences, let me recommend the audiobook. Yeah, it's long, too-- 21 hours-- but I've been listening to it during my long commute and my evening walks, and it is absolutely riveting. In fact, it's so engrossing that I've started taking it to bed to listen to the way I used to sit up and read in bed. The long sentences are pure poetry, once you just relax and listen. The version I'm listening to (which I downloaded to my iPod from audible) is read by a very talented man who captures the inflections in the voices of all the characters. I only have about five more hours of it to go, and frankly, I hate to see it end.

IN THE TIME OF THE STUMP POLITICANS.......2007-04-19

The following review was based on seeing both film versions of Robert Penn Warren's classic political noir All the King's Men recently as well as having read the book some time ago. Many of the points about the character of Willie Stark as portrayed on the screen apply to the book, especially the Crawford portrayal. However, the book gets much more into the grit of what ails Willie and his seemingly endless quest for power and control-when he actually gets his hands on it. Every class and personal resentment seems to come to the fore. An amazing piece of writing. As noted below, the Sean Penn version is a little closer to Warren's intent in that the narrator/ reporter Jack Burden is the real 'anti-hero'of the piece. Why? He gives legitimacy to Willie's efforts in quarters where Willie cannot go-the old Southern aristoracy that scorned the 'hicks'.

I might also add that one can benefit from a careful reading of this book as a quasi-historical document of what stump-style politics looked like up close and personal- a type of politics that has practically vanished from the American political scene in the age of mass media and 24/7 'talking heads'. Today, one probably could not get elected to town selectmen with old Willie's style, but such is life.

I have seen both film versions of Robert Penn Warren's classic tale of the rise and fall of a `populist' corrupted politician, Willie Stark, based at least loosely on the political career of 1930's Louisiana Governor Huey Long. America has had no shortage of such politicians who have allegedly championed the cause of the `little people' in their rise to power while on the side lining their pockets and the pockets of their friends. The late Governor of Alabama George Wallace comes to mind as a more modern example but there have been others, some who did not bother to champion the cause of `little people' or anyone else, for that matter.

The question before us, however, is who is the real Willie Stark. Since the story line is fairly simple and familiar from a glance at today's newspapers or a look at the political landscape it is the believability of the performances in the films that counts here. Broderick Crawford played in the original black and white film version and won an Academy Award for his performance by acting as a initially naïve country bumpkin with a thirst for power to do `good' who is corrupted by power as he goes about the business of governance. Seemingly, all his baser instincts come into play and there is an almost fatalistic sense that he is in for a big fall. Sean Penn in the more recent version seems to be more world-weary about the political process and cynical about what he can do for the `people' and himself when in power. Of the two, Crawford just seems to be more comfortable in his interpretation of the role. Moreover, in the recent version the narrator's story, that of a troubled alcoholic former news reporter hired by Stark as his smooth-tongued flak, takes top-billing and that diminishes Stark's role in all the shenanigans. For my money, although Penn's performance may appeal to today's more politician-averse audience, Crawford wins this duel. View both films and you decide.

It's NOT about Huey Long. Warren said so........2007-04-18

I just want to correct one error. This book is NOT about Huey Long nor was it based on him. The author, Robert Warren stated as much.

all the kings men .......2007-04-04

let me start off bye saything that the book is a good book but it has its flaws. One of the few flaws it has however is that alot of the dialogue between different characters is to long and drawn out and not very exctiteing, but the actions bye the powerful polictical leaders in this book is what will get you hooked. It make want to see what happens next. See its about a man named willie stark whos corruption and crave for power almost led the us to have a dictatorship. Throughtout the book he learns how to bend the rules without breaking them however once he gets the power he has craved for so long he is slowyly taken down by senators and people in office with him seeing his true goals for america. It puts you in a possesion to wonder what would america be like with a dictator. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in history or good villians.

Fifty Years of American Poetry: Anniversary Volume for the Academy of American Poets

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Fifty Years of American Poetry: Anniversary Volume for the Academy of American Poets

Manufacturer: Harry N Abrams
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Anthologies | Poetry | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0810909340

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A word on these stories over fifty years after publication date
A Classic Anthology of Fresh and Surprising Choices
Good, but hard to understand book.

Short Story Masterpieces
Robert Penn Warren , and Albert Erskine
Manufacturer: Dell
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

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ASIN: 0440378648
Release Date: 1954-03-15

Book Description

With works by Henry James, Stephen Crane, John Cheever, James Joyce and many others, this outstanding collection of 35 American and British short pieces of fiction from the first half of the 20th century is one of the bestselling collections of our time.

Customer Reviews:

A word on these stories over fifty years after publication date.......2006-10-05

This mass- market collection of stories was published in 1954. It was thus an educational tool for many of us who wanted to know the 'story as a form'. It has some truly wonderful stories, Hemingway's 'Soldier's Home' Faulkner's 'Barn Burning' Joyce's 'The Boarding House' Sherwood Anderson's ' Egg', and one of my all - time favorite's Irwin Shaw's 'Eighty- Yard Run'.
It is a very rich and rewarding collection.
Had a similar anthology been published today it would include other names,certainly Salinger, Raymond Carver, and my all- time favorite short story- writer Isaac Bashevis Singer.

A Classic Anthology of Fresh and Surprising Choices.......2006-08-25

The title is no lie. These are masterpieces, one and all. The editors, Warren and Erskine, display a fine discernment in their choices. Every story is great. There isn't a single dud, not even the one by Mister Sominex himself, Henry James. And the editors didn't just round up the usual suspects - their choices are fresh and surprising. Instead of Fitzgerald's "Babylon Revisited," they give us "Winter Dreams." Instead of Aiken's "Silent Snow, Secret Snow," they give us "Impulse." Instead of Steinbeck's "The Chrysanthemums," they give us "Flight." Instead of Lardner's "The Golden Honeymoon," and McCuller's "A Tree. A Rock. A Cloud.," they give us "Liberty Hall" and "The Sojourner." Instead of almost anything else by Hemingway, they give us "Soldier's Home." In other words, these are not the over-anthologized pieces you would expect. And in what other American anthology would you find a story by Elizabeth Taylor? (No, not THAT Elizabeth Taylor, the other one, the British writer.) Also, at the risk of revealing that my college English Lit days were in the turbulent 70s, I must say that there's an advantage to the fact that this book was originally published in the 1950s: It predates and thus thankfully precludes the post-modernist experiments of the Barth-Barthelme-Coover school of metafiction and anti-story, a literary blind alley if ever there was one. But I do have one quibble about this book: The latest edition of this 1950s classic, the one you would buy new from Amazon, lacks the original's J.D. Salinger story. Apparently the Zen anchorite withdrew his permission to reprint "Uncle Wiggily in Connecticut." (Which again was a good choice by Warren and Erskine. Most short story collections of that time would have instead included Salinger's "For Esme -- with Love and Squalor.")

Good, but hard to understand book........1999-11-16

I am a student who was assigned to read this book. The best part of reading it was not the actual reading but the reflection on the various meanings conveyed by the stories. It took me a very long time to read because most of the stories required that you read between the lines to understand the full meaning of the story. Overall, an average book

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Freedom and identity
If Scarlett O'Hara Had been a Slave
A wonderful romantic read by (surprise!) a male writer.
A wonderful romantic read by (surprise!) a male writer.

Band of Angels (Voices of the South)
Robert Penn Warren
Manufacturer: Louisiana State University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0807119466

Customer Reviews:

Freedom and identity.......2006-04-26

Set from just prior to the Civil War up to about 1888, this novel explores the concepts of freedom and self-identity. Told in the first person by the main character, Amantha Starr is the daughter of a rich Kentucky planter and one of his slaves. She goes to Cincinnati with her father where under the tutelage of Miss Idell (one of Warren's best character creations in the novel) she is readied for Oberlin College. At Oberlin she meets Seth Parton and learns about abolitionism from him, which she immediately uses against her father to get him to free his slaves. It doesn't work, but it makes her feel powerful for the first time, which Warren makes ironic since after her father dies Amantha learns that he never manumitted her: she is sold into slavery and sent to New Orleans.

Now the property of Hamish Bond, she learns to "protect" herself with self-pity. After New Orleans falls to the Federals, she marries the Union officer Tobias Sears. Sears is a fiery promoter of freedom for the slaves and black rights, but the wealth to be made in Reconstruction contaminates him; he begins drinking heavily and becomes an utter failure, to his cause and to himself. It's with this realization about Sears that Amantha, who has always relied on the men around her (her father, Parton, Bond, Sears) to define and control her, throws off the cloak of self-pity and stands up for herself for the first time.

Warren's message is that if Amantha was looking to others to set her free, she was wasting her time: her freedom can only come from within herself. It's an important idea, worth repeated reminding. Dense with period details, and sometimes melodramatic, the novel is nevertheless compelling. Based on a true story and made into a movie starring Clark Gable as Bond and Yvonne De Carlo as Amantha.

If Scarlett O'Hara Had been a Slave.......1999-10-13

This is perhaps the best novel ever written about the Civil War and Reconstruction. Unlike Gone with the Wind, the denizens of Warren's South aren't caricatures but complex human beings. You feel the hurt and disappointment of many people, sucked into the tensions of the antebellum South, the abolitonist North, the Civil War, and Reconstruction. "Little Miss Manty" is one of the most engaging characters in fiction. Warren never patronizes anyone. Each page is filled with rich imagery and points for deep reflection.

A wonderful romantic read by (surprise!) a male writer........1999-01-07

This is a wonderful read. You will "get lost" in Warren's evocative recreation of the post civil war period as he follows the fortunes of a young woman who is technically "colored," but was raised in "white" society by her white father. Unsurprisingly, her circumstances undergo a great change once her father dies and she loses his protection and the position that came with it. Read this book and get a nice surprise!

A wonderful romantic read by (surprise!) a male writer........1999-01-07

At Heaven's Gate (New Directions Paperbook)

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At Heaven's Gate (New Directions Paperbook)
Robert Penn Warren
Manufacturer: New Directions Publishing Corporation
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0811209334

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Allen Tate's Text
The right book at the right time.
Bible of poets

Understanding Poetry
Cleanth Brooks , and Robert Penn Warren
Manufacturer: Heinle
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0030769809

Book Description

The fourth edition of UNDERSTANDING POETRY is a re-inspection of poetry. Keeping it teachable and flexible, the material allows for full and innocent immersion as well as raising inductive questions to develop critical and analytical skills. Students will be led to understand poetry as a means of imaginatively extending their own experience and indeed, probing the possibilities of the self. This latest incarnation of the landmark text facilitates a thorough study of poetry.

Customer Reviews:

Allen Tate's Text.......2007-03-15

I would just like to add to these good reviews that Understanding Poetry was the text used by Allen Tate in his poetry class at the University of Minnesota in 1966. (You had to sign up early to get into this class because it filled up fast!) Tate taught the New Criticism which emphasized the text as an autotelic artifact, something complete with in itself, written for its own sake, unified in its form and not dependent on its relation to the author's life or intent, history, or anything else. He began each session by reading a single poem from this text, which somehow made it clear just by his reading. Then he explained each line in careful detail. It was a wonderful class, and this book contines this kind of close reading. There is no Anxiety of Influence in the New Criticism.

The right book at the right time........2002-06-13

For most of my life, I hated poetry. One year, I had a great English teacher who really showed me what poetry was all about and got me interested. This book was just what I needed. I bought it because it had the look of the best prose book around (Writing Prose: Techniques and Purposes, Oxford University Press). It is a great introduction to poetry. It's full of great poems. It's just great. Gosh. You're going to love it. I get excited just thinking about it.

Anyway, it's basically just a big six-hundred page anthology of poems, *with commentary*. And that's key. There are a lot of great poems that you just can't get without a little bit of context.

My adventures in poetry never went further than this book, but I still read it often.

Bible of poets.......1998-03-15

If there is only one book that teachers should let literature students read, it should be this one. Definitely the Bible of writers (and amateur writers), critics, or those who simply love the written Word. Cleanth Brooks gives as wide a perspective as possible about the different literary movements and the notable poets.It's just a shame that this book is VERY hard to find. A reprint would benefit English literature programs greatly.

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New and Selected Poems 1923-85
Robert Penn Warren
Manufacturer: Random House
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0394545869
Release Date: 1985-03-12

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A Good Book For Understanding Formalist Criticism

Understanding Fiction (3rd Edition)
Cleanth Brooks , and Robert Penn Warren
Manufacturer: Prentice Hall
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0139366903

Customer Reviews:

A Good Book For Understanding Formalist Criticism.......2003-06-18

I am taking a college English class which includes an introduction to literary criticism. We were not assigned this book as our textbook, but I had occasion to write an essay recently for class and referred to this book as one of my secondary sources. This book is an excellent resource book. It is very clearly written. The topics covered are "The Intention of Fiction", "How Plot Reveals", "What Character Reveals", "What Theme Reveals", "Stories for Study", and "Fiction and Human Experience: How Four Stories Came to Be Written." It uses many, many, stories written by famous authors to illustrate each topic. I feel certain one could find at least one story from just about any textbook used in an English 101 class. Even if you are not studying literary criticism explicitly, this book is a good resource just for understanding how to look for things like theme and plot, just to name a few. It's a good book to get you thinking the way you need to think in order to write a paper. Even though I don't plan to major in English, I know I will use this book again and hopefully Amazon.comwill be able to find it for me!

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All the Kings Men
ROBERT PENN WARREN
Manufacturer: Harcourt, Brace & Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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Understanding Poetry: An Anthology for College Students THIRD EDITION

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Understanding Poetry: An Anthology for College Students THIRD EDITION
Cleanth Jr.; Robert Penn Warren Brooks
Manufacturer: Henry Holt and Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000GWUARK

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