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The twelve essayists in this critical collection examine anew two fundamental concerns of Penn Warrenâ€™s landmark work, which has as valid a claim to being â€œThe Great American Novelâ€ as any in the literary canon. The first challenging conundrum these critics examine is narrator Jack Burdenâ€™s adequacy as a historiographer and the impact of his reliability upon his alter-ego-persona-narrative: does Jack succeed in becoming an able historian of his family and of Willie Starkâ€™s political career, or does he become self-delusive and resort to a â€œselectively culledâ€ history to justify himself to his audience as a trustworthy chronicler of the Willie Stark era of Jackâ€™s life. The second major thematic motif these essays explore is Penn Warrenâ€™s implicit positing of a spiritual dimension to Jack Burdenâ€™s quest for a viable identity to sustain him in his ultimate decision to join humanity and finally live in the history heâ€™s so long lived outside of, as a cynically un-involved observer. The provocative efforts of these twelve scholars, fifty-six years after the publication of All the Kingâ€™s Men, testifies to the novelâ€™s great philosophical and psychological depths, riches that continue to induce new readers and returning readers to shadow Jack Burden in his quest of the examined life: the quest to fully engage ourselves in becoming ever more human despite our being flawed, ever-plagued by our social shortcomings, as are â€œall the kingâ€™s men.â€