Young, visionary, and ambitious, Willie Stark begins his political career determined to take revenge for his humble origins, to serve the people, the outcasts, and the wronged, and to fight for a different, progressive America.
Now he is the powerful governor of a Southern U.S. state. Convinced that pure ideals have little to do with harsh reality, he concludes that if he wants to remain true to his goals and stay in power, he must not fear but rather exploit the corruption that prevails in human relationships and cynically engage in the appropriate manipulation of people and situations.
When the aristocratically-born Judge Montague Irwin, who has a reputation for being incorruptible, stands against him, Stark calls on his advisor Jack Burden for help, assigning him to delve into the judge's past: he is certain that Irwin also has skeletons in his closet. Jack is the other central character of the novel. A former journalist with historical studies, a highly cultivated man, he observes everything as a narrator and eyewitness, always remaining detached. He is aware of both the value of good and the dominance of evil. He is torn between his admiration and his repulsion for Stark, knowing deep down that he will not be able to remain uninvolved until the end and that History will seize him.
"All the King's Men" is a political novel of philosophical and moral inquiries that highlights the depth of the author's thought and the breadth of his cultivation, a work that impresses with its meticulously crafted language and style, often lyrical, sometimes simple and concise, but always vigorous and flooded with imagery.
An excellent, evocative elegy for the tragedy of human existence, "All the King's Men" is among the great novels of the 20th century.