Customer Reviews

Six Men: Charlie Chaplin, Edward VIII, H. L. Mencken, Humphrey Bogart, Adlai Stevenson, Bertrand Russell

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Many of us who appreciate the work of truly great non-fiction writers were deeply saddened by the recent passing of Alistair Cooke.

Although best remembered for his long running radio commentary "A Letter from America" and his various television shows of earlier years, it makes for a pleasant change to go back and rediscover some of Mr Cooke's more substantial literary efforts.

A graduate in English literature from Cambridge University and a print journalist of considerable experience, Cooke managed to perfect a difficult balancing act. Throughout his long and prestigious career he steadfastly adhered to the highest professional and intellectual standards yet still managed to enjoy enviable success within the mass media. In many ways he raised the bar in his field by proving that there was, indeed, a solid market for quality work if it was cleverly presented in an entertaining and accessible style.

In this book the veteran newspaper man draws upon his impressive array of observational and descriptive skills to create a striking collection of penetrating celebrity profiles. Cooke wrote with the deft, light hand of a popular scribe but also with the probing incisiveness of a psychology professor. At all times he examined the inner workings of his subjects with an almost clinical thoroughness and a commendable sense of fairness. When it came to creating word pictures, the man was an old master.

Alistair Cooke was a consummate journalist, an all class act and a credit to his chosen calling .

Six famous transatlantic figures: 3 English and 3 American men, all of whom had a legendary meaning in the seventies: Charles Chaplin, H. L. Mencken, Humphrey Bogart, Adlai Stevenson, Bertrand Russell and Edward VIII. I liked his style of writing and he really provided insightful surprises on each of these famous men. An interesting read, if not for the history alone.

Mr. Cooke is a very bright, amusing, observant man -- who writes so extraordinarily well you'll wish to re-read passage after passage for the pleasure of the sounds. He has chosen six men of diverse background and writes about them with sympathy -- but more importantly for this reader, with an acute sense of their singularity and what made them so. Any reader would only wish the book much longer because it's a beautiful one.

As is usual with any of Alistair Cooke's writing, that unmistakable transatlantic voice can be heard behind the words as if the author himself was reading his work to an audience of one - you. The generations who would remember the men of whom he has written are fast coming to an end, but there is enough in each of these insightful vignettes to whet the appetite of a true biography-phile of whatever era. I would say that Cooke enjoyed the company of each of his subjects, but that did not put him beyond objective honesty. The saddest, most poignant and ultimately most honest comment of all was that of his summing up of Edward VIII - "The most damning epitaph you can compose about Edward - as a prince, as a king, as a man - is one that all comfortable people should cower from deserving:he was at his best only when the going was good"