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Fr. Barnabas Powell's avatar

Now this is a perfectly timed article.

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Joel J Miller's avatar

Thanks, Fr Barnabas! It’s a great book and speaks well to the present moment. “For him who has ears…”

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David Perlmutter's avatar

This novel was adapted into a film by screenwriter/director Robert Rossen in 1949 which won several Academy Awards.

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Joel J Miller's avatar

I’ve heard good things about it! Now that I’ve read the novel I’ll look that up.

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Erik Rostad's avatar

I like this - "he was “concerned more with the myth than the fact, more with the symbolic than the actual.”"

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Matthew Long's avatar

Read this in high school. Thanks for the refresher.

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Michael Kupperburg's avatar

If the book were written today, Trump would be its star and not Huey Long.

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Lhfry's avatar

I have been surprised that no one has reminded us of Huey Long in the Trump era.

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Michael Kupperburg's avatar

For all of Huey Long’s lack of ethics in government, he left Louisiana with a state university, LSU, that was respected throughout the nation. He made it so that school children no longer had to buy their own school books, which was common back then. His bridges are still standing, for the most part, while those of his successors have been blown away, due to graft. For all that he did, he left a solid legacy for the people of Louisiana.

We are also lucky that Roosevelt did not have to face him in an election.

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Joel J Miller's avatar

Probably so. I was thinking about that while I was reading it. If we were in the 90s, it would have been Bill Clinton.

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Michael Kupperburg's avatar

Bill was a rogue, who never got caught, Monica Lewinsky apart. Whatever deals he had done or the people he had do things, somehow, they just did not touch him. Our only true teflon President. Even the hints of him and Epstein have yet to stain his legacy. He may have been the best politician that can recall, though Edward Edwards of Louisiana comes close.

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Thaddeus Wert's avatar

An excellent review of one of my all-time favorite novels. The image of a huge web where one person's indiscretion can have far-reaching effects has stayed with me for many years. Also, is there a better description of original sin than "man passeth from the stink of the didie to the stench of the shroud"? I always thought Jack Burden and Nick Carroway (Great Gatsby) had a lot in common. Both imagined themselves impartial observers of flawed men, yet both had serious shortcomings. I can't wait to read your thoughts on another favorite, Something Wicked This Way Comes!

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Joel J Miller's avatar

Thanks! The connection between Burden and Carraway is interesting; they do have similar characteristics. And re Bradbury’s Something Wicked, yes! I just finished it. Still trying to decide what I think about it for the review.

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Gary Spangler's avatar

Thanks, Joel. A too full day prompted me to forward this to myself. I suspect it will be a good read for a quiet evening.

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