Huey Long in Literature and Film

Catalog description

This course will consider the life of Huey Pierce Long as depicted in biography and film. It will discuss and analyze three major biographical and literary works about Long: Alan Brinkley's comparative biography Voices of Protest: Huey Long, Father Coughlin, and the Great Depression, Richard D. White, Jr.'s Kingfish The Reign of Huey P. Long, and Robert Penn Warren's classic political novel, All the King's Men. The course will also view and analyze two films about Huey Long: Ken Burns's documentary Huey Long and an Academy Award film based on Robert Penn Warren's All the King's Men. The course will also discuss and assess Long's life in light of other writings on the history of Louisiana, the South, and nation from the 1890s through the 1930s.