Huey Long

by T. Harry Williams

Overview

Winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award, this work describes the life of one of the most extraordinary figures in American political history. Huey Long was a great natural politician who looked, and often seemed to behave, like a caricature of the red-neck Southern politico, and yet had become at the time of his assassination a serious rival to Franklin D. Roosevelt for the Presidency. In this "masterpiece of American biography" [New York Times Book Review], Huey Long stands wholly revealed, analyzed, and understood.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780394747903
Publisher:	Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Publication date:	08/12/1981
Edition description:	1st Vintage Books ed
Pages:	944
Sales rank:	173,476
Product dimensions:	5.17(w) x 7.94(h) x 1.66(d)

About the Author

T. Harry Williams was born in Vinegar Hill, Illinois, in 1909. He taught at the universities of Wisconsin, Omaha, and West Virginia before becoming Professor of History of Louisiana State University, and was the author of many books on military and political history. The T. Harry Williams Center for Oral History was established at Louisiana State University in 1992.

Table of Contents

1	Not Even a Horse	3
2	There He Goes Again	25
3	High Popalorum and Low Popahirum	47
4	All the Law Business I Could Handle	71
5	I Won a Very Good Lawsuit	91
6	The Sport of Kings	106
7	The Fight Is Just Beginning	129
8	We Are Forcing Them Back	153
9	Blood on the Moon	181
10	I Am a Candidate	214
11	In the Radiance of the Future	244
12	Fry Me a Steak	280
13	Kingfish of the Lodge	312
14	Bloody Monday-and Impeachment	347
15	The Round Robins	384
16	We Propose to Go Faster	420
17	Beating the Feather Duster	454
18	I've Got a University	492
19	Completing Our Great Program	526
20	We Always Have a Wild Man	554
21	A Circus Hitched to a Tornado	583
22	He Lied to Me	619
23	Polecats Everywhere	648
24	Share Our Wealth	676
25	Sit Down, Isom	707
26	Power in Himself	737
27	Fighting for Their Ground	763
28	I Might Have a Good Parade	793
29	Lay Over, Huey	819
30	Blood on The Marble Floor	848
	Epilogue	873
	Bibliographical Essay	877
	Index	884

Editorial Reviews

"A brilliant, bawdy, unforgettable picture of the most colorful, as well as the most dangerous man to engage in American politics." —Washington Post

From the Publisher

I know of no better American political biography.
—Saturday Review

E. Yoder

Finding insufficient material about politician Huey Long to adequately capture his past, the author sought hundreds of personal histories from family, friends, and acquaintances. They form the structure of an intimate biography, the kind to savor. Long, an unlikely mix of self-interest and altruism, led a life of scheming and intrigue worthy of becoming a novel. Many Louisianans populate the story, and Tom Weiner gives them perfect Southern accents. He mimics Martin Berman, the 1920s mayor of New Orleans: "You can make prostitution illegal in Louisiana—but you can't make it unpopular." Weiner employs a sharp, authoritative tone for Long, telling his amusing and sometimes apocryphal stories. The combination of excellent material, skillful composition, and Weiner’s engaging narration makes this audiobook easy to recommend. First published in 1969, the hardback was awarded both a Pulitzer Prize and a National Book Award. J.A.H. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine

SEPTEMBER 2009 - AudioFile