Letter from America, 1946-2004 [Hardcover]

Alistair Cooke (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 9, 2004

For over half a century, Alistair Cooke entertained and informed millions of listeners around the world in his weekly BBC radio program Letter from America. An outstanding observer of the American scene, he became one of the world’s best-loved broadcasters, and a foreigner who helped Americans better understand themselves.

Here, in print for the first time, is a collection of Cooke’s finest reports that celebrates the inimitable style of this wise and avuncular reporter. Beginning with his first letter in 1946, a powerful description of American GIs returning home, and ending with his last broadcast in February 2004, in which he expressed his views on the United States presidential campaign, the collection captures Cooke’s unique voice and gift for telling stories.

Gathered in this volume are encounters with the many presidents Cooke knew, from Roosevelt to Nixon, Reagan, Clinton, and Bush, both Senior and Junior. His friends are warmly recollected–among them Leonard Bernstein, Philip Larkin, Humphrey Bogart, Charlie Chaplin, and Katharine Hepburn. We observe a variety of political landmarks–the Vietnam War, Watergate, Cooke’s remarkable eyewitness account of Robert Kennedy’s assassination, through to the scandals that surrounded Clinton and the conflict in Iraq. His moving evocation of the events of September 11 and its aftermath remains essential reading, while his recollections of holidays and sporting events remind us of Cooke’s delight in the pleasures of everyday life.

Imbued with Alistair Cooke’s good humor, elegance, and understanding, Letter from America, 1946—2004 is a captivating insight into the heart of a nation and a fitting tribute to the man who was for so many the most reassuring voice of our times.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Erudite, dry, calm, utterly confident. Such was the voice that millions of Americans were familiar with when Alistair Cooke (1908–2004) hosted PBS's Masterpiece Theatre. What those millions might not have known was that Cooke broadcast a weekly radio essay, Letter from America, on the BBC. These pieces showcased Cooke's hard-eyed impressions of the American scene, its players and victims, its edges and contours, its movers, shakers and fools. In this tightly edited collection of those essays, Cooke's voice is present throughout, his mid-Atlantic inflection indelibly stamped. A journalist by trade, an aristocrat by aspiration, Cooke lived and reported from New York, covering the U.S.'s rise to global superpower. Some of the early essays have a fish-out-of-water tone, and the writing is at times claustrophobic, hemmed in by language better suited to a London gentlemen's club than the rough and tumble of bursting-at-the-seams postwar New York. As the years pass, the writing becomes looser, more New World than Old. Cooke's politics turn more conservative; he idolizes Reagan and looks dimly at the unkempt Democrats. He frets about the future of America, never more so than in the wake of 9/11. Still, throughout, Cooke feeds on the unfettered optimism of his adopted country. Never glib, snide or contrived, Cooke captures the expanding soul of a nation and people. Photos.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Most people will remember Alistair Cooke as the avuncular, tweedy host of PBS' Masterpiece Theater. He was much more than that, as this compilation attests. Born in Edwardian England (and only recently deceased), Cooke gravitated to the U.S. early in his life and soon took out American citizenship. For more than half a century, he broadcast weekly radio programs from this side of the Atlantic to his home country. Now, for the first time, a career-wide selection has been gathered together in book form. Arranged into chapters by decades, these commentaries reveal not only Cooke's mastery of clear prose but also the range of American topics that caught his interest, from politics to culture. A profile of boxer Joe Louis appears alongside a gathering of immigrants' stories. And the differences between British and American English (for instance, in Britain a "light" suit means light in color, here in the U.S. it means lightweight) intrigued him as much as exploring the "southerness" of Maryland. A book for appreciators of American culture in the second half of the previous century as well as those who relish the essay in either oral or written form. Brad Hooper
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 528 pages
• Publisher: Knopf (November 9, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1400044022
• ISBN-13: 978-1400044023
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.4 x 1.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #961,038 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars For 58 years Cooke was unfailingly at the heart of the complex nation. This is a treat., January 7, 2006

By 

D. Stuart "Researcher at Kudos" (Auckland NZ) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Letter from America (Hardcover)

Alistair Cooke's wonderful Letter from America broadcasts were heard world-wide and were an institution for close to 60 years. In that time, Cooke - UK born but for most of his life a resident of New York City - sought through his thoughtful pieces to convey the complexity of life, of society and of politics in the United States.

In this collection of essays, organised chronologically, Cooke takes us from post-war America through to mid 2005, and his subject matter ranges from the specific relatively "small" topics (for example McLaren's dogged creation of San Francisco's Golden Gate Park) through to large, world-changing subjects including the Vietnam question and the assassinations of both John and Robert Kennedy. The latter is a riveting account because Cooke was there when it happened and his journalistic and observational skills come through as finely honed, dispassionate yet all the more powerful.

What gives this volume real richness are two things in particular.

First; Cooke has an unfailing grasp of history. In writing each week's snapshot of a changing nation, he manages to contextualise what he sees, and to draw upon both his enormous grasp of history and his unparalled contact with top politicians, writers and artists over 60 years. In today's age of soundbyte editorializing and glib simplifications (history seen through the eyes of Forrest Gump, if you will), Cooke's essays are thoughtful, well researched and highly reasoned. As a reader I'm struck by how prescient his comments are, and I'm also struck at how relevant his thought provoking comments about previous political events resonate in today's unfolding history.

The second facet of this rich gem is Cooke's beautifully crafted writing style. He wrote these essays for radio and perhaps this is why they read so beautifully. In his portrait of Charles Lindbergh, for example, he talks about the man for 500 words - creating a vivid, recognisable picture before he even mentions the name of his subject. In so doing, Cooke furnishes the reader (or listener) with the frisson of a delightful guessing game (he's talking about Lindbergh, right?) that allows us to hear more about the subject matter without letting us backfill the story with our own preconceptions. His humour is delightfully wry, and his ability to choose surprising and sometimes quite earthy quotes from the history makers of the past 60 years provides additional pleasure. Cooke clearly laboured over each and every essay to ensure their seamless recipe of wit, fact and observation.

This volume is a remarkable collection of essays: a format that encourages thoughtful, enjoyable bedside reading. In devouring this marvellous book, you are taken to the heart of a complex nation. An easy 5 stars; I'd add that this book makes an excellent gift, regardless of which way your friends vote.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Love Letter To America, May 18, 2006

By 

MR NC SHACKLEY (London, England) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Letter from America, 1946-2004 (Hardcover)

When I left England to live in the United States for one year last August, there was only one book I took with me - Alistair Cooke's `Letter From America'. What else could I have taken? Cooke saw into America like no other Brit (or no other non-American, for that matter).

Starting at the mid 1940s, the book winds its way through post-war America nearly right up until the authors death in 2004, picking out the best of his weekly broadcasts. The subject matters range from politics, history, current affairs, entertainment and the topics from the New England fall, jazz, Robert Kennedy's assassination and O.J Simpson.

But it is not the subject matter that makes this book so special (for we already know about most of them anyway) it is none other than Cooke's insight and writing style. The articles flow like the finest novel or poem (which is probably attributed to Cooke's background in theatre). Each time you come back to read the book again it feels as though you are receiving the opinions of a familiar friend, and not some distant journalist.

There are drawbacks. Cooke was often criticised, and quite rightly so, for ignoring the darker side of the American dream. The other possible drawback, depending on your viewpoint, is that Cooke was a committed conservative, especially in the latter half of his career. Many of the final articles from the late 90's and early 00's lament the current position of America and (what he saw as) the sliding standards of journalism. Maybe, but you also can't help feel that he was by this point slightly out of touch.

These minor quibbles, however, cannot undermine Cooke's overall achievement of helping us better understand this important nation, which could be described as love letters to America.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Masters at Augusta and the Kentucky Derby too, June 28, 2005

By 

Shalom Freedman "Shalom Freedman" (Jerusalem,Israel) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Letter from America, 1946-2004 (Hardcover)

For many years I listened to Alistair Cooke's ' Letters from America'. The calm, erudite voice , the super- civilized tone , the suggestion of great intelligence somehow always promised to provide insight into America that no one else had. The British Tocqueville of the airways who knew more about the Americans than the Americans knew about themselves.

Yet somehow I more often than not felt a certain disappointment in the communications. Reading them without the Cooke tone and pause, without his special emphasis diminishes them further. There is it seems to me a great deal of observation and color , and not enough striving for deep general understanding.

And there is too in the calm of Cooke's tone something strange and distant.The many rich voices of America, its ways of shouting and making itself felt are not transmitted strongly here.

Nonetheless in close to sixty years of reporting there are numerous insights and observations and much that entertains.

I think of Cooke's elegy for his old friend Isaiah Berlin. I think of reports made from all kinds of whistle stops on Presidential campaigns. I think too of his capacity for friendship, and how that does move through these letters and give them a warmer feeling of comraderie.

I think also of Cooke's basic real affection for America, his interest and appreciation of much what is good and beautiful in it.

I think too of how many listeners he delighted with his wit, and dry humor and clear - cut language.

This is a lifetime work of special meaning and value for the many thousands who waited each week for those fifteen minutes of his often most delightful and insightful talk.