Customer Reviews

Alistair Cooke's America

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

There are some books that are just so informative that no library should be without them. There are some books that are written so well that it is a positive joy to read the text. There are some people who have such a way of looking at the world that you feel comfort hearing them speak. There are people who have seen so much that their opinion is something you seek.

All of these traits are combined in this volume that only Foote's Civil War trilogy can compare with. The small stories that are routinely missed (such as the origin of "the real McCoy) and the relevence of these ordinary people making extrodinary things happen are coupled with the tales of the extraordinary people who had their ordinary vices. (Franklin's advice to take an older mistress because they are both more discreet and more grateful) Both named and unnamed he tells their tale as it fits in the piece of this puzzle of America

Unlike much of history which seems to have an agenda, Cooke's masterpiece is classical, telling a story of grandur without fawning and of warts without lambasting. It is a grand overview rather than a list of presidents, wars and laws. He captures the essense of what is importnat. It is as if he wished to give a consice guide to his compatriots in England of what facinates him about this land that he eventually settled as did many in his story.

It captures what America and Americans are very well and would be an excellent guide to any person who wants to understand us. With so many Americans ignorant of their own history it would be an even better guide to todays college or high school students to make them understand this land of their birth and how it came to be what it is.

This book is 30 years old as I write this (July 4th 2003) at the time he wrote this Cooke was in his 27th year of his Letter from America Broadcast for the BBC. When you finish this book you will find yourself wanting more. Have no fear Mr Cooke is now in his 57th year of his broadcasts telling the story of America 15 minutes at a time continues. Lets hope he dictates a sequel filling in these 30 years.

No stiff upper lip Brit here, not at all. As a transplanted British journalist Alistair Cooke who studied in America's Ivy League universities and then returned to America as a BBC correspondent seems to have been deeply affected and impressed by what he saw here. He stayed here and became a citizen. If the little man and his small cracker-barrel anecdotes represented the collective spirit of the country Alistair Cooke's fascination of the common man's philosophy captured that spirit simply and eloquently in his writings. This simple eloquent approach addressed and exposed the heart and feeling of the people that drove the great country for higher aspirations of the human experience. This is what he wrote about. His observations and examination of the Civil War capture the fervent feelings that Americans held be they morally right or wrong. Yet at the end of this struggle the common purpose of the people did not deter them to find their destiny in this land. The spirit never died and that is what Cooke seems to capture, explore and explain in such eloquent words.

His prose depicting the American people throughout our nation's historical record are eloquent and shear poetry to read. His endearing objectivity and love of this land through his insightful words are stirring and heartwarming. You do not come across this type of writing with genuine devotion, respect and love for what comprised the greatness of the American spirit.

Besides being a beautifully written, poetic portrait of America's history, the author's British background provides for a totally different perspective. This viewpoint provides a different insight on people and events that an American writer might not have grasped and that I found very interesting and refreshing.

Alistair Cooke, who died very recently, was a Briton who first came to America during the dark days of the Great Depression as a very young BBC correspondent. The venerated justice Oliver Wendell Holmes was one of the very first people whom he met - and he writes eloquently of that encounter in the Civil War chapter of this book. Finding our spirit and our optimism contagious, Cooke spent much, if not most of his life here for the next seven decades, getting the know the best and the brightest, the celebrity and the common man on the street, learned about our history with an appreciation that very few - even many Americans - have for this country.

The result is "Alistair Cooke's America" first published as a loving tribute to this country at its Bicentennial in 1976, with a revised forward in 2002, though with no mention of the tumultous events of September 11, 2001. Cooke writes movingly of our history and of the spirit of the American people, the fight for Liberty during the American Revolution, the move westward, that "firebell in the night" (to quote Thomas Jefferson) as the country tore itself apart over the question of Slavery. He writes of the Civil War, interestingly considering Antietam to be a much more significant battle than Gettysburg. His views on Abraham Lincoln are also surprising, in his view that President Lincoln was venerated in great part due to his death, and being the leader of the winning side.

Cooke also spends much more writing space on Woodrow Wilson, whom he clearly admires for his domestic and foreign policies, but either ignores or just wasn't aware of Wilson's Racist policies. By contrast, Theodore Roosevelt, whose Presidency bridged the gap between the Civil War years and America becoming a major power, gets barely two pages.

Cooke's chapter on the "Arsenal of Democracy" is a revelatory look at how America's policy of "Lend Lease" and our subsequent entry into World War II did save the world from Hitlerism, especially when France had fallen and Britain was on the ropes.

Despite some of his views, or perhaps because of them - This well-written and profusely illustrated book deserves the five-star review because Alistair Cooke wrote a history that belongs on every thoughtful American's bookshelf alongside Stephen Ambrose's "To America". The things we take for granted about how great this country is were never missed by this great British writer.

Cooke's America series on PBS was one of the best historical TV productions. His warm presentation made American history come alive. He did not bore you to death with minutia. As I watched it many years ago, I often remarked that if we had more Cooke-types in the classroom, learning history would have been fascinating, engaging and fun. This book, much expanded from the original TV scripts, is a pure joy to read and captures the style and delivery of one of the 20th century's greatest observers of American culture.

The reviews above mine reflect the quality of penmanship and historical research of a personal kind that is to be found in Cooke's America, so much so that there is little left for me to add. This is no dry retelling of American history, but is a personal journey in words, based on the accompanying 13 part television series (now released on dvd)broadcast in 1974. According to Cooke, his book is more substantial than the documentary series itself because of a lesser restraint on information, but over all each is an excellent complement to the other. If you have the book, but do not yet have the series on dvd, be well advised to purchase it through amazon.uk It is both a sheer joy and a sad reflection of how great TV documentary series were once made.
Ironically and sadly the opening sequences pan New York with the Twin Towers fully in view, one of them apparently still under construction. From beginning to end, Cooke takes the viewer on a journey throughout the United States to the places where history of personal interest to the commentator occurred. And so the viewer has the juxtaposition of the present alongside the pleasure of Cooke speaking directly to camera, (and at one point illustrating New Orleans jazz history with his own excellent piano recital) while telling the story of its past - with many anecdotes included. Absolutely enthralling, with so much in each part that it might be best to view just one at a time so as not to induce information overload.

This is a fun narrative of US history from exploration times up to the late 20th century! Cooke uses personal observations as he guides the reader through the main events that shaped our country. As a former teacher I highly recommend this book as a primer to get young people interested in our glorious past.

This is probably the very best book ever written on the history and culture of this Nation. It is a must read for anyone who desires more knowledge on America and why we succeeded when other "democratic experiments" failed. Written first as a series for PBS and then expanded into a book, it will challenge many of the concepts that you learned in school. And, with all of that, it is still a great read.

I am a huge fan of Alistair Cooke. The book is wonderful, the writing is delightful, BUT the formatting for a Kindle is atrocious!

The font is not well suited to the Kindle screen, and I had to read it in large-print because in regular size the letters were too thin. I could not change the font. Some letters are split vertically down the center, with a gap between the left and right sides.

Figure captions appear to be randomly inserted into the text, and are separated from the actual figures by several Kindle pages. This means that as you are reading along, it appears that the subject has changed abruptly, whereas in fact you have simply struck a caption. (It took a while to recognize the slight change in font).

This is the worst formatted Kindle book I have encountered. My 3-star rating is a split between 5-stars for the writing and content, and 1-star for the presentation. Such a shame...