LANE, Joseph H., Jr <br/><br/>
The Stark Regime and American Democracy :  a political 

 -  2001 
<br/><br/> Robert Penn Warren`s All the King`s Men is a political novel that deserves the seriou study of political scientist interested in understanding the formative effects of American democracy. A careful reading of the novel that is informed by the classical approach to the analysis of regimes reveals the close  connection between the politics of Willie Stark and the politics of modern American dmoncracy. Furthermore, by viewing Stark`s actions through the eyes of Jack Burden, a perceptive narrator who is moving toward self-knowledge, we can gain insight into both why modern democracies encourage the formation of a debilitating nihilism among their citizens and the prospects for countering these effects