All the King's Men - by Robert Penn Warren & Noel Polk (Paperback)

About the Book

One of the great classics of American fiction is now available in this restored edition that presents it as it was originally written. The winner of the 1947 Pulitzer Prize traces the rise and fall of Southern politician Willie Talos, an idealistic man of the people who is corrupted by success and lust for power. This edition is restored by Noel Polk.

Book Synopsis

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--American literature's definitive political novel.

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

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.

From the Back Cover

"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.

Review Quotes

PRAISE FOR ALL THE KING'S MEN

"Over the course of more than two centuries of vivid political history, there is perhaps only one full-blooded American novel of politics that plunges deep into the hearts of its characters and therefore into the hearts of its readers, thus rising to the top ranks of American fiction. That is Robert Penn Warren's lush All the King's Men."
- L O S A N G E L E S T I M E S B O O K R E V I E W

"It's a measure of the enduring worth of All the King's Men that Willie Stark has entered our collective literary consciousness, in the company of Captain Ahab, Huck Finn, Jay Gatsby, Holden Caulfield, Rabbit Angstrom, and very few others."
- J O Y C E C A R O L O A T E S, T H E N E W Y O R K R E V I E W O F B O O K S
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