Authoritarianism and Class in American Political Fiction

This book analyzes what many critics consider to be the three best examples of modern American political fictionRobert Penn Warrens All the Kings Men, Edwin OConnors The Last Hurrah, and Billy Lee Brammers The Gay Placeto address a specific problem in American governance: how the intense competition for power among elite factions often results in their ignoring major groups of their constituents, thereby providing political bosses with a rationale to seize authoritarian control of the government in the name of constituent groups who feel ignored or neglected, promising them more democratic rule, but in the process, excluding other groups, so that the bosses themselves become elitist, ruling only for the sake of some constituents and not others.