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Article: The Gospel of William Jennings Bryan: the great commoner wasn't a progressive despite his traditionalism--but because of it.(On Political Books)(A Godly Hero: The Life of William Jennings Bryan)(Book Review)
- Article from:
- The Washington Monthly
- Article date:
- March 1, 2006
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2006 Washington Monthly Company. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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A Godly Hero: The Life of William Jennings Bryan By Michael Kazin Knopf, $30.00
Upon hearing of the death of Willliam Jennings Bryan in 1925, the Socialist leader Eugene Debs sadly commented that the iconic populist over the course of his lifetime "grew more and more conservative until finally he stood before the country as a champion of everything reactionary in our political and social life."
This is the still-prevailing judgment that led Georgetown University's Michael Kazin to undertake a new biography of Bryan. Kazin's mission in A Godly Hero: The Life of William Fennings Bryan is to establish that the Great Commoner was the same man with the same ...