Intrigue

The rise and fall of a grass-roots rural politician who eventually becomes mired in the sort of political corruption he vehemently railed against on his way to the governor's mansion.

Jack Burden is a newspaper reporter who first hears of Willie Stark when his editor sends him to Kanoma County to cover the man. What's special about this nobody running for county treasurer? He's supposedly an honest man. Burden discovers this to be true when he sees Stark delivering a speech and having his son pass out handbills, while the local politicians do their best to intimidate him. Willie Stark is honest and brave. He's also a know-nothing hick whose schoolteacher wife has given him what little education he has. Stark loses the race for treasurer, but later makes his way through law school to become an idealistic attorney who fights for what is good. Someone in the governor's employ remembers Stark when the governor needs a patsy to run against him and split the vote of his rival. The fat cats underestimate Stark, but Jack Burden, Stark's biggest supporter, overestimates the man's idealism. To get where he wants to go, Willie Stark is willing to crack a few eggs--including his tough-talking assistant Sadie Burke, Jack's poised and elegant fiancée Anne Stanton, and even Jack Burden himself.—J. Spurlin

The story of Willie Stark, an unassuming, unsophisticated idealistic farmer who becomes Governor of his state, and Jack Burden, reporter and Stark ally. Stark fights his way up from lowly beginnings, initially failing at politics but then succeeding. However, once in office, his ideals slip, his standards fall, and power leads to corruption. Burden should be his conscience, but he finds himself going along for the ride.—grantss

The evolution of Willie Stark from self-professed uneducated country bumpkin to politician. Initially he runs for a county treasury seat believing that the political machine is corrupt and needs an honest man like himself to bring back integrity in his outward goal of getting the truth to the people. He poses no real threat to the establishment, but the establishment does whatever it can to quash Willie's political voice, especially through intimidation--until it believes it can use him to their advantage. In turn, Willie discovers an opportunity to use the machine to his advantage instead in espousing a populist agenda. Getting a taste of power may give Willie a different view of politics than his initial outward view. Also presented are a number of people around Willie who get out of him what they need for their own lives, as he only keeps around people who can serve his interests: Lucy Stark, his former-schoolteacher wife, has acted more as a mother to him than a wife; reporter Jack Burden, who grew up in privilege in an isolated enclave of the state called Burden's Landing, is trying to find his place in life without the connections of his childhood and believed he found that in writing articles on Willie for his newspaper; Jack's childhood friend and current girlfriend Anne Stanton, the daughter of a former respected governor, who wants her husband, be he Jack or anyone else, to be a Somebody; and Sadie Burke, who has always surrounded herself with whoever can pay her the most for her brains, might see Willie as more than just a paycheck.—Huggo

"All The King's Men" is the story of the rise of politician Willie Stark from a rural county seat to the spotlight. Along the way, he loses his initial innocence, and becomes just as corrupt as those he previously assaulted for this very characteristic. Also included is the romance between one of his "right-hand women" and the up-and-coming journalist who brings Stark to prominence.—Neal Scoones <verty@ritz.mordor.com>