Every Man a King

October 1, 2018
Stirewalt, a political editor at Fox News, attempts to reassure readers that American democracy has survived worse than the current political climate by looking at seven famous populists from American history in his fast-paced and engaging first book. He gives short, entertaining, and at times insightful biographical sketches of Andrew Jackson, William Jennings Bryan, Theodore Roosevelt, Huey Long, George Wallace, Pat Buchanan, and H. Ross Perot. Ultimately, he defines populists by “their ability to convince millions of ordinary Americans... that the system is rigged against them, that only these individuals can fix it, and that urgent action can still make every man a king.” The book succeeds in identifying precursors to the current incarnation of populism and argues that, over time, populism has shifted from primarily being left-wing, with a focus on economics, to right-wing, with a focus on cultural change. This analysis doesn’t fully take into account the recent resurgence of left-wing populist movements, such as Occupy and the wave of support for Bernie Sanders, and the selection of exemplars feels somewhat arbitrary. Still, the writing can be entertaining (on the rift between Teddy Roosevelt and his presidential successor, William Howard Taft: “So it’s not like they were making friendship bracelets for each other.”). This is, as promised, more short and colorful than comprehensive.