All the Kings Men

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.