Pulitzer Book Club Inclusion Guide
"All the King's Men"
by Robert Penn Warren
INCLUSION MILESTONES
1947
• Robinson breaks color barrier; plays in first TV world series.
• Freedom Riders challenge Jim Crow laws
• Hollywood Ten defy congressional communist hunters
AUTHOR INSPIRATIONS
Warren was born in Kentucky and spent eight years of his teaching career at LSU Baton Rouge. Huey Long, controversial Louisiana senator and governor, is said to have been inspo for Warren. Novel’s title and content echo Humpty Dumpty nursery rhyme. Proud Flesh, a verse play by Warren, was the foundation for the novel.
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– Share your key take-away about inclusion in this book in a sentence or two.
– Write a paragraph or two (up to 250 words) to describe your thoughts on exclusion/inclusion in the book, why you related or did not connect with the book, and why you think reading, inclusion and dialog about inclusion matter.
– Identify the name and website address of a cause you support with an inclusive mission.
Fixer’s expose of corrupt Louisiana governor, his regime, his hero.
Governor’s son has horrific injury on football field.
First person narration by journalist/historian/political fixer.
Long: 624 pages, 21 hours
Ends do not justify the means.
Voter targeting; putting up “stooge” candidate to split opposition vote.
Bigotry toward black people; use of n-word.
Candidate presents himself as red-neck hick – like you.
Dirty politics accepted as necessary to get things done for the people. Good names besmirched.
Fast-driving, sugar-addicted, stutttering chauffer.
Young jock becomes quadriplegic.
High-minded, respected judge and surgeon
show major character flaws.
Lots of alcohol, little attention to food. Feel free to serve only bread and let group decide whether or not to transform masticated bread into angels. Provide pile of sugar cubes to satisfy those who need bliss.
“All change costs something.”
Somewhere unappetizing like the corner of a backroom bar or cafeteria in a hospital or government building.
Is political corruption ever acceptable?
Talk about the “Great Twitch” – the universe sends out a current, a person twitches/reacts/acts, therefore, logic can’t explain why things happen to a person and there is no accountability for actions.
How and why do characters lose their moral compass? How does that affect the way they interact with others?
Why does this novel focus on the flaws of a judge, surgeon, journalist, and political figures?
What are the challenges of dealing with a family member with a spinal cord injury?
Where is the bigotry in the novel?
Is there real desire to help people who need help? Is there follow-through?
What’s the point of the Civil War soldier/unfinished PhD dissertation?
Does the content feel contemporary? Why/why not?
Take a fast ride in a Cadillac and combine a Louisiana political whistlestop tour with stops on the Civil Rights Trail. Spend time in Baton Rouge where you can take a self-guided Huey P. Long walking tour including the Old Governor's Mansion, built by Huey P. Long in 1930 and nicknamed "Louisiana's White House.”
Go to the top of the Capital Building for views of downtown Baton Rouge and the Mississippi. Add a very long round trip drive to Long Beach California if you need distance and enlightenment.
Film adaptations of All the King’s Men in 1949 (Best Picture) and 2006.
All the King’s Men: A Play, written by Warren, ran off-Broadway in 1959.
Warren was nation's first Poet Laureate and twice won poetry Pulitzer (1958, 1979). He wrote short stories, textbooks, children’s books and plays -- as well novels Night Rider (1939), At Heaven's Gate (l943), World Enough and Time (1950), Band of Angels (1955), The Cave (1959), Wilderness: A Tale of the Civil War (1961), Flood: A Romance of Our Time (1964), Meet Me in the Green Glen (1971), A Place to Come To (1977).