All the King's Men - Paperback

by Robert Penn Warren (Author), Noel Polk (Author)

WINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZE

The fully restored original text of the classic, ever-relevant story of a backcountry lawyer whose idealism is overcome by his lust for power in a story of moral complexity--American literature's definitive political novel.

All the King's Men traces the rise and fall of demagogue Willie Stark, a fictional Southern politician who resembles the real-life Huey Long of Louisiana. Stark begins his career as an idealistic man of the people, but he soon becomes corrupted by success and the lust for power, a gripping tale of political corruption.

Now Warren's masterpiece has been fully restored and reintroduced by literary scholar Noel Polk, textual editor of the works of William Faulkner. Polk presents the novel as it was originally written, revealing even greater energy, excitement, and complexity.

Back Jacket

A fully restored American political classic. . . . Now we can read it as it was written. --Chicago Tribune
Winner of the 1947 Pulitzer Prize, All the King's Men is one of the most famous and widely read works in American literature, and as relevant today as it was fifty years ago. Now it has been fully restored and reintroduced by literary scholar Noel Polk, textual editor of the works of William Faulkner. Polk presents the novel as it was originally written, revealing even greater energy, excitement, complexity, and subtlety of character in this landmark of letters.
"[Polk] should be commended for this restored edition of Warren's great novel. . . . Deeply imagined, beautifully written, [All the King's Men] is both a reckoning with the deepest forces of life and an edge-of-your seat page-turner."--The Raleigh News and Observer
"To read [All the King's Men] in this new edition is to be struck again by its raw power, its urgency and relevance."--New Orleans Times-Picayune
"The publication of a new, corrected edition of All the King's Men is welcome news for all who care about American literature." -- Joseph Blotner, author of Robert Penn Warren: A Biography
Robert Penn Warren (1905-1989), America's first Poet Laureate, won three Pulitzer Prizes and virtually every other major award given to U.S. writers.
Noel Polk is a professor of English at the University of Southern Mississippi. He lives in Hattiesburg, Mississippi.