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steve_brinson's review against another edition
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
samle1e's review against another edition
4.0
I devoured the first third of this biography, which describes Bryan's rise as a progressive hero nicknamed The Great Commoner. He was a bit more Trump in style and less Bernie than I expected--he spoke a lot about the tyranny of the elites. The second third lags while he loses campaign after campaign. In the last part, I ended up liking him more than I expected as the Scopes prosecutor. He opposed teaching evolution to encourage virtue, not necessarily to discourage science, and Kazin makes a good point about how Bryan could have saved his reputation by arguing more about the perils of social Darwinism.
markk's review
3.0
Michael Kazin's book is an insightful effort to rehabilitate William Jennings Bryan for our times. Seeking to dispel the image from Mencken of the fundamentalist bigot, he argues that Bryan is a pivotal figure in the transformation of the Democratic Party into the liberal force it became in American politics. While he relies on heavily on previous Bryan biographers for much of his details, his great strength is in his placement of Bryan within the context of his times. This allows him to demonstrate Bryan's impact in the movements and developments of his times, showing him to be a more significant figure than a thrice-defeated presidential candidate might otherwise warrant. The result is the best single-volume biography of Bryan available, one that should be read by everyone interested in this oft-caricatured historical figure.
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