All the King's Men

All the King's Men provides a historical fiction account of the life of Louisiana governor Huey Long. But it doesn't. The character was very much inspired by Long. However, the novel takes great pains to not tie the events to any real event. The location is southern and could very well be Louisiana, but it is never called out. The character goes to "state" college. They go to the capital. It could theoretically take place anywhere.

The book is narrated by Jack Burden, a journalist and historian who worked as an assistant to "boss" Willie Stark. The narrative wanders back and forth in time, covering Stark's life and rise to power along with the important events in the life of Burden.

Stark came from a small town. He was an idealist who never intended to be involved in politics. He was upset about the shady dealings in the city. We was spoke out against the corrupt backroom deals that allowed a school to be constructed by a crony friend of the political leaders. While it didn't have any immediate impact, people remembered what he said when the shoddy construction failed, leading to the deaths of students. This helped him rise in power. The state powers that be used him as a pawn to divide the ticket for governor. He bumbled along through his campaign until he found out what was up. Then he unleashed passion to destroy those that were using him and rose to power.

Burden was from another small town and had been working for a newspaper when he got to know Stark. He had studied history in the state university and had been in love with the daughter of the previous governor, but things never worked out. 

Stark was a populist that later let his idealism morph into a crony populism. He did not favor corruption in deals, but worked hard to make sure nobody got in the way of what he wanted. He would calmly intimidate those that would dare cross him. Then he would dig up appropriate dirt to hold against them. Burden's history skills would be used to help find this dirt. Stark saw everyone as having both good and evil. Good could only arise out of evil. 

Many people died (often by their own hand) after learning that their dirty laundry was exposed. Burden played a key part in this (even realizing after the fact that he had contributed to his father's suicide.) Burden also details his historical research into some records he found of a family that was loaded with drama of an affair, murder and cover up.

The novel does not easily demarcate the "good" and the "bad".  Absolute power appeared to corrupt "boss" Stark. He was not afraid to use this power to hurt people in order to achieve what he saw as a long term good. He was not alone. Even the most impeachable characters had times when they fell to the "bad" side. Living through a complex world is a challenge. If we "cancel" everyone that has done anything bad, we would be left with just those that can really hide it well.