Robert Penn Warren’s masterpiece has been restored by literary scholar Noel Polk, to present the novel as it was originally written, revealing even greater complexity and subtlety of character. It traces the rise and fall of demagogue Willie Talos, a fictional politician who resembles the real life Huey Kingfish Long of Louisiana. Talos begins his career as an idealistic man of the people, but soon becomes corrupted by success and caught in a lust for power.