Huey Long Book

With this magisterial biography, the late T. Harry Williams did for Huey Long what David McCullough did for Truman, Robert Remini did for Andrew Jackson, and Douglas Southall Freeman did for R. E. Lee - he crafted the definitive biography. Huey Long is a sterling example of biography as history. It is notable too as an early academic foray into oral history. Williams interviewed 295 people, including Long's family, friends, enemies, journalists, elected officials and private citizens, and delved deeply into numerous manuscript collections and official archives to shape a complete portrait of Louisiana's renowned "Kingfish." The results were admirable. Among Williams' talents was that of a skillful prose stylist. With 896 pages of text, followed by a bibliographical essay and index, Williams' book appeared daunting, but read well and never flagged. This was not just a biography of a politician, but a perceptive history of politics in Louisiana, the American South, and the United States from the beginning of the 20th century until just before World War II.

Professor Williams received the National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize for Biography in 1970 for Huey Long. Both awards were well-deserved. Any reader with a deep interest in American politics or Depression-era history should pick up a copy of Williams' Huey Long. It earned Five Stars from me.