Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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61 of 64 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Politics 101, May 9, 2004
Academic historians spend a lot of time complaining about the merits of so called popular history. This is of course mostly due to the fact that popular histories outsell what the academics turn out causing the academics to cry foul. I have read a fair amount of both types of history and have always felt that if the academics would turn out books that weren't so dull they could attract readers also. In his biography of Huey Long, T. Harry Williams delivers absolute proof that academics can turn out extremely interesting books. This book is fascinating from cover to cover and anyone who is considering a career in government should read this biography of one of the cleverest politicians of all time. Historians often crucify the Kingfish but Williams doesn't follow that course. He simply presents the story and lets the reader decide whether Long was a hero or a villain. Huey's tactics were ruthless there is no doubt but in order to break the power of the Bourbon ruling class of Louisiana there was little alternative. This elite ruling class was thoroughly entrenched and had been grinding the people of Louisiana under their feet for years. Long may have indeed become a dictator but he broke the power of the Bourbons and brought Louisiana out of the 18th century. Huey's list of accomplishments is far too long for a review of this type but there is one area that must be mentioned. Huey gave to the people of Louisiana the key that would open the door to a brighter future by finally giving people a chance to get an education. For the first time children in Louisiana received free textbooks and LSU was built into a major institution of higher learning. He also created a medical school at LSU so those qualified citizens of the State that couldn't pay the high tuition at Tulane could still become doctors. Not only did this let the children of the middle class attend medical school, but also it also greatly improved the access of the people to medical care. There is of course no doubt that Long had his bad side also and Williams doesn't cover it up. This is a very fair and balanced biography and the author's writing style is marvelous. Do not let the size of this work intimidate you, there are no tedious sections and chapters that will make your eyelids heavy. Williams relies heavily on oral history in this book. He has done dozens if not hundreds of interviews with Long's family, his associates, his supporters, and his enemies. Most of Long's communications were face to face or over the phone so this method was critical to the success of this work, and a success it is. Many biographies are credited with being the definitive work on the subject's life. Sometimes with justification, sometimes without. In this case there is great justification for the definitive label. Nothing before or since has come close to Williams' work. If you want to understand the Kingfish, Louisiana politics, or just study a political genus at work, this is the book to read hands down.
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15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Though 30 years old, still the definitive Kingfish biography, November 3, 1999
Many on-line reviews of the book critique it as "slow", "plodding", "pro-Long", etc. Any definitive biography by definition covers all available detail on the life of its subject. Harry Williams does that indeed. In fact, by the standards of biographers such s Barbara Tuchmann, it is somewhat restrained. It is probably impossible to be ambivalent regarding Huey Long, but Willimas does look at hims as objectively as could be imagined. He seems to separate Huey the man- often coarse and boorish- with Long the master politician. Indeed, in the chapter "Power Unto Himself", he points out that Long changed, with the focus of his efforts shifting from what he could do for Louisiana to what he could do for himself. It is a masterful book, and after reading it, one feels tempted to style oneself as an authority on Long. If there is a serious shortcoming, there is no epiloug to analyze the Long legacy, itself huge as personified by brother Earl and son Russell.
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Big Correction, June 25, 2002
Williams does much to correct misrepresentations of Huey Long. To label Long a 'dictator' and thus compare him to Stalin, Hitler, Castro or countless others is a joke. Unfortunately, Long has been popularized by Penn's book and Hollywood's "All the King's Men." Consider those largely fictional accounts that bent Long's life to fit a narrative arch and moral: the politician rises to power and inevitably becomes corrupted. In actuality, isn't it possible Huey was a fighter for the people until he was assassinated? That conclusion would render quite a different moral, indeed, about American politics and power and those who challenge it.While Long grasped relentlessly for power, how did his tactics differ from FDR's Supreme Court packing or Chicago Mayor Daley's election frauds? No doubt Huey wasn't always clean, but has any politician (e.g. LBJ, Slick Willie) who successfully changed the system entirely played by the rules? He also shamefully engaged in 'Willie Horton' type tactics to win the day. But do not disregard that Long's powerful enemies left him little choice if he wanted to achieve anything like social justice in Louisiana. Huey used the ambiguity in the law to his advantage. And, yes, he became too willing to squash opposition as witnessed by his intimidation of LSU student journalists. But he ran the state little more than GOP Gov. Tommy Thompson ran Wisconsin with his line item veto & micro-management of who received state contracts. Long was, in fact, nearly impeached for taking on Standard Oil. His chances of becoming President were small, and he was only viewed as 'dangerous' by those who wanted to make more than $1MM a year or inherit more than $5MM in 1930s dollars. In reality he would have been marginalized like any other 3rd party candidate. Only his murder places him in the annals of American history. Long was exceptional in that he called for the deconcentration of wealth & power to protect the free market system Americans believe is at the center of their way of life. Seventy years later, Bill Gates has more personal wealth than the entire GDP of many nations ($80B), and 200 people receive most of the annual economic gains on the planet. Was Long really a 'dangerous' man or just the wind in the desert? The biography is not too PRO-Long. His biggest abuse was that he managed to put the local governments under the thumb of the state. No other state governor has matched this level of control. But did Long fundamentally change the American system? Dream on. Not possible for such a radical to undermine the influence of wealth on our national politics. A satisfying read, especially about Long's transformation from salesman to lawyer to politician. Tireseome in the mechanics of the state legislature, but the biography makes up for that in destroying the myth of Long as demogogue and its thorough research. It's only failing, as noted, is that it deals little with the man's legacy.
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