All The King's Men (Robert Penn Warren, 1946)

I've seen bits and pieces of the movie but never read the book.  I thought Broderick Crawford was great in the (1949) movie; didn't realize it won Best Picture (and that Crawford was Best Actor).  Didn't realize there was a 2006 movie version with absolute all star cast (discussed here) that was a colossal failure.

The version I read was billed as a "restored edition" - some professor went back and assembled original version of the story, I think this means changes in chapter 1 plus some other changes.  I obviously don't appreciate if there was a difference.  The demagogue is named Willie Talos in this "restored" version (echoing some Roman from classical times); the later (and far more likely to endure) version of the book - actually the version that already has been in widespread use for 50 years - used the name Willie Stark.  Styled after Huey Long.

Though the story is really about Jack Burden anyway.

I liked the book quite a bit, more than expected.  Would definitively recommend it.

Some echoes of Citizen Kane (with the Joseph Cotten character from the movie reminiscent of Jack Burden).  Many echoes with current politics, as discussed here.  Compelling characters:  Willie Talos/Stark, his wife, his son (Tom), Jack Burden, Sadie Burke, Sugar Boy, Tiny Duffy, Judge Irwin, Anne Stanton, Adam Stanton, Jack Burden's mother and her husbands (the Scholarly Attorney, the Count, the Young Executive).  And I much liked how the time lens of the story moved back and forth, I thought that worked really well. 

There is a really effective section in the middle of the book where Burden describes his research into a family member (undertaken back when Burden was pursuing an advanced degree in history that he never finished) - Cass Mastern - this would be a great stand-alone story.  Cass died in a Confederate hospital in Atlanta during the Civil War; lover of his friend's wife before the war; very compelling how they couldn't stand when slaves had "their eyes on me" - selling Phebe away from her husband; etc.

The most interesting discussions probably occur when Talos/Stark discusses how he gets things done in politics, and why it's ok.  The ridiculous belief that "there was a time a long time back when everything was run by high-minded, handsome men wearing knee breeches and silver buckles or even buckskin and coonskin caps, as the case may be . . . who sat around a table and candidly debated the good of the public thing."  Talos/Stark understands that the world has never worked that way . . . he would say you try to make goodness out of badness "because there isn't anything else to make it out of."  Interesting.