| Book Review | The Journal of American History, 93.3

You have not been recognized as a subscriber to JAH online. About 232 words from this article are provided below; about 387 words remain.

If you are a individual member of the Organization of American Historians, you may:: • login here if you have already registered for online access.; • Or if you're already logged in register your subscription.
• Set up your online account for the first time.
If you are not a member of the Organization of American Historians, you can:: • Join the OAH and receive many member benefits including print and electronic issues of the Journal of American History.
• Purchase a research pass to gain two-hour access to the entire History Cooperative web site. You will have full access to current issues of the Journal of American History (86.1-present). Note: the Research Pass does not provide access to JSTOR's holdings of the Journal of American History.
Instititutions can:: • Subscribe to this journal and receive print and electronic issues.
• Activate your existing subscription so that we recognize your IP number ranges.

| Book Review | The Journal of American History, 93.3 | The History Cooperative

Book Review

A Godly Hero: The Life of William Jennings Bryan. By Michael Kazin. (New York: Knopf, 2006. xxii, 374 pp. $30.00, ISBN 0-375-41135-6.)
After reading this outstanding biography, one wonders when the reputation of William Jennings Bryan will finally surmount the cruel images of an antiquated, foolish buffoon—"a tinpot pope" as the journalist H. L. Mencken described him or as the well-known 1960 movie Inherit the Wind portrayed him. Michael Kazin, a distinguished scholar of American labor and populism, has written a first-rate book that not only continues the reassessment of Bryan but offers him as a "great Christian liberal" with a relevant message for the current, dispirited condition of U.S. politics (p. 305). Drawing on a wide range of secondary and primary sources, and writing in a clear, readable style, Kazin has produced a wonderfully accessible and balanced biography.	1
In a sense, A Godly Hero provides a definitive synthesis of what a number of Bryan experts have written since the mid-1960s—starting with Lawrence Levine's pioneering reassessment of Bryan's last years (Defender of the Faith, 1965), Paola Coletta's heavily detailed three-volume biography (William Jennings Bryan, 1964–1969), and Louis Koenig's 1971 study, Bryan, that, like Kazin's, emphasizes the Nebraskan's legacy to the modern Democratic party. But Kazin has researched deeply to make his own persuasive case for Bryan's continuing significance for American liberalism.	. . .

There are about 387 more words in this article. Please log in (or, if you are not yet an authorized user, please go to the User Setup page) to gain full access rights. Or if you're already logged in register your subscription.