A Godly Hero : The Life of William Jennings Bryan
by Michael Kazin
List Price:
Our Price: $4.43
You Save: $25.57 (85%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $2.78 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: Michael KazinEdition: Hardcover
Format: Bargain Price
Published: 2006-02-07
ISBN: 0375411356
Number of pages: 400
Publisher: Alfred a Knopf Inc
Book Reviews of A Godly Hero : The Life of William Jennings Bryan
Book Review: Easily the best book on WJB ever writen
Summary: 5 Stars
Michael Kazin's book truly captures William Jennings Bryan as never before. Bryan was a remarkable public speaker in the days before microphones and loudspeakers. But his message is what was unique: to quote Thomas Frank in "What's the Matter With Kansas?": "Bryan was an evangelical and a leftist---an almost unimaginable combination today." How true.
In many ways, Bryan was like a "John the Baptist" for the Democratic party, as he led the way for many of his ideas to ultimately become law. Without Bryan, there would have been no Woodrow Wilson, and no FDR, at least in the form we know them. His views were hugely progressive on war and peace, against plutocracy and monopoly, in favor of unions, in favor of women's suffrage, campaign finance reform, bank depositor insurance, initiative and referendum, and popular election of Senators. Bryan's ideas on these items were so powerful that Republican/Bull Moose Teddy Roosevelt adopted many of his ideas (breaking up monopolies).
To me, Bryan was like a five karat diamond with a big flaw--- the flaw being his backwards views on African-Americans. In the 1908 campaign for President, a black lawyer from Kansas wrote to Bryan and begged him to fight publicly against lynching. Likewise, DuBois, one of the two or three most influential blacks in the US was ready to endorse Bryan. But he kept them both at bay. After all, he was a politician first and foremost. And he would have lost the entire "solid south" in the election had he embraced the African-American cause. Politicians who want to win can't do the right thing, because the right thing is rarely popular. Jesus never got to 51%.
To me, his views on prohibition and his poor performance in the Scopes Monkey trial are forgivable, but his deaf ear in regard to African-Americans really stains an otherwise remarkable career.
Are Democrats going to serve God or Mammon? Are they going to serve the corporate elites, or "We the People?" This is the central question of William Jennings Bryan. I admire him a great deal. I only wish the Democratic party would have applied the Jeffersonian principles of "We the People" to African-Americans earlier,instead of waiting for Truman, Kennedy, and LBJ.
But today, the Democratic vision is a vision for all people, and things are exactly as they should be. Bryan did alot to move the nation and his party in the right direction.
Summary of A Godly Hero : The Life of William Jennings Bryan
Politician, evangelist, and reformer William Jennings Bryan was the most popular public speaker of his time. In this acclaimed biography?the first major reconsideration of Bryan?s life in forty years?award-winning historian Michael Kazin illuminates his astonishing career and the richly diverse and volatile landscape of religion and politics in which he rose to fame. Kazin vividly re-creates Bryan?s tremendous appeal, showing how he won a passionate following among both rural and urban Americans, who saw in him not only the practical vision of a reform politician but also the righteousness of a pastor. Bryan did more than anyone to transform the Democratic Party from a bulwark of laissez-faire to the citadel of liberalism we identify with Franklin D. Roosevelt. In 1896, 1900, and 1908, Bryan was nominated for president, and though he fell short each time, his legacy?a subject of great debate after his death?remains monumental. This nuanced and brilliantly crafted portrait restores Bryan to an esteemed place in American history.Subjects Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in Subjects Books
That Hideous Strengthby C S Lewis
Voyager; Published: 2005-12-05; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.01
Gates of Rome (Emperor 1)by Conn Iggulden
Harpercollins Pb; Published: 2003-09-01; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.80
Girl With a Pearl Earringby Tracy Chevalier
Harper Collins Audio; Published: 2002-06-17; Audio Cassette; Book
Best price: $34.99
Illustrated Man (Voyager Classics)by Ray Bradbury
Voyager; Published: 2002-08-19; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.81
Magician's Nephew (Chronicles of Narnia S.)by C S Lewis
Harper Collins Childrens H/B; Published: 2003-10-06; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $25.99
1960s Series American Dreamby Norman Mailer
Flamingo; Published: 2001-04-17; Paperback; Book
Best price: $16.99
Jonathan Livingston Seagullby Richard Bach
Harpercollins Publishers; Published: 1994-08-22; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.85
Man Lay Deadby Ngaio Marsh
Harper Collins Pb; Published: 2000-12-04; Paperback; Book
Best price: $107.58
Rhythm Sectionby Mark Burnell
Harper Collins Pod; Published: 2000-06-19; Paperback; Book
Best price: $33.84
I Am Mary Dunneby Brian Moore
Flamingo; Published: 1995; Paperback; Book
Best price: $79.95
Similar Books and other products
Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIAby Tim Weiner
Doubleday; Published: 2007-06-28; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $15.20
Price in other shops:
Last Call: The Rise and Fall of Prohibitionby Daniel Okrent
Scribner; Published: 2010-05-11; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $13.96
Price in other shops:
Power and Protest: Global Revolution and the Rise of Detenteby Jeremi Suri
Harvard University Press; Published: 2003-05-30; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $27.21
Price in other shops:
The Age of Reagan: A History, 1974-2008 (American History)by Sean Wilentz
Harper Perennial; Published: 2009-05-05; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.11
Price in other shops:
Power and Protest: Global Revolution and the Rise of Detenteby Jeremi Suri
Harvard University Press; Published: 2005-04-15; Paperback; Book
Best price: $15.00
Price in other shops:
The William Howard Taft Presidency (American Presidency Series)by Lewis L. Gould
Univ Pr of Kansas; Published: 2009-10-20; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $28.30
Price in other shops:
V Was for Victory: Politics and American Culture During World War IIby John Morton Blum
Mariner Books; Published: 1977-11-04; Paperback; Book
Best price: $12.24
Price in other shops:
The Republican Roosevelt, Second Edition (Harvard Paperback; HP 114)by John Morton Blum
Harvard University Press; Published: 1977-01-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $26.37
Price in other shops:
Strategies of Containment: A Critical Appraisal of American National Security Policy during the Cold Warby John Lewis Gaddis
Oxford University Press, USA; Published: 2005-06-23; Paperback; Book
Best price: $11.28
Price in other shops:
The Tragedy of American Diplomacy (50th Anniversary Edition)by William Appleman Williams
W. W. Norton & Company; Published: 2009-04-06; Paperback; Book
Best price: $10.88
Price in other shops: