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Product Description
Review
Cooke's debonaire, transatlantic tones are unmistakable... -- FT Magazine, March 8, 2008
--This text refers to the
Audio CD
edition.
Product Description
When Alistair Cooke retired in March 2004 and then died a few weeks later, he was acclaimed by many as one of the greatest broadcasters of all time. His Letters from America, which began in 1946 and continued uninterrupted every week until early 2004, kept the world in touch with what was happening in Cooke's wry, liberal and humane style.
This selection, made largely by Cooke himself and supplemented by his literary executor, gives us the very best of these legendary broadcasts. Over half have never appeared in print before. It is a remarkable portrait of a continent - and a man.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
29 of 29 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
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 topics from the New England fall, jazz, Robert Kennedy's assassination (which he witnessed first-hand) and the O.J Simpson trial.
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, particularly 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 by this point he was slightly out of touch.
These minor quibbles, however, cannot undermine Cooke's overall achievement of helping us better understand this important nation, which could more accurately be described as love letters to America.
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 topics from the New England fall, jazz, Robert Kennedy's assassination (which he witnessed first-hand) and the O.J Simpson trial.
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, particularly 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 by this point he was slightly out of touch.
These minor quibbles, however, cannot undermine Cooke's overall achievement of helping us better understand this important nation, which could more accurately be described as love letters to America.
54 of 56 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase
Ah! That voice! Alistair Cooke had the voice that could be listened to for hours on end i.e. a sort-of cool, mellow, slow-burning voice. In fact he was one of the few people I've ever heard who could spend 15 minutes telling you almost nothing - and yet make it sound interesting!
The collection includes letters broadcast from the late 40s right through to the last few he wrote... but there's a caveat: and that is, that a lot of the letters are not the ORIGINAL recordings, but they were re-recorded (by Cooke himself of course) I would guess sometime during the late 80s/early 90s.
The collection loses one star for this... shame on you BBC! I know the original recordings still exist as a fair few of these letters were broadcast just after his death earlier this year in the BBC's "Letter From America - A Celebration" series, so why the original recordings weren't used I don't know. The sound quality was considered too poor I suppose. To me this does detract from the enjoyment as I would have liked to have heard again how his voice sounded all those years ago (I remember several of the 1960s letters that are featured very well).
But don't let this put you off buying the set, it's still a very good "listen" and it IS the voice of the man himself!
The collection also contains a bonus: Alistair Cooke at the BBC. I haven't listened to this yet, but it's contents look promising.
Recommended.
13 of 13 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I have been listening to Alastair Cooke's broadcasts for many years, always finding something rewarding in them: a reference to an age before I was born, a different view point about an issue or something everyone else appeared to have missed. Cooke brought the ordinary into the major world events, showed the human side to many a major story and gave others the chance to see a perspective only obtainable through many years of hard work and intelligent inquiry. This book only contains a tiny number of the vast quantities of Letters from America but they are worthwhile letters; reading these samples of nearly sixty years of broadcasting provides a special insight into many issues, historical events and people largely forgotten or interpreted differently by a modern audience. Much of the most interesting content of the book is simply that of an old man explaining how the world changed in his lifetime: Cooke tells of the constants that he believed would last forever that new generations have never even heard of. It's worth reading for that warning alone. Regardless of the fading of the world Cooke knew his letters are both timeless reflections on people's nature and historically important records of a not so distant past. Some of the letters are included in the BBC audio CD collection but most are not so even if you have those recordings this book is still a worthwhile read. It's a different kind of America to that seen on the TV and movie theatre screens.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Exellent
Sublime!!! The master at work. Effortlessly.. Every story a pleasure. all set around the events of their time.
Listen and learn ... He's the voice...
Listen and learn ... He's the voice...
Published 1 month ago by Paul
Letter from America - Alastiar Cooke
Very pleased with prompt delibery and price - excellent service. I would have no hesitation in using this seller again.
B McGonigal
B McGonigal
Published 13 months ago by B. McGonigal
FIRST CLASS DELIVERY
Here are 102 of the 2869 letters for over fifty years presented by Alistair Cooke until weeks of his death at the grand old age of 95. Read more
Published 22 months ago by Mr. D. L. Rees
An Inspiration
Wishing to take a break from just listening to music, I was looking for something different to load onto my MP3 player. Read more
Published on 13 April 2010 by John Russell
Fascinating
It's taken me the better part of 5 months to read this book, it really isn't the kind of thing you sit down and read in large chunks. Read more
Published on 8 Nov 2009 by Sulkyblue
Stirring
The doyen of radio broadcasting does not disappoint on this collection of some of his earlier letters from America. Read more
Published on 20 Oct 2009 by Turner
Iconic
Sadly, many of the great icons of broadcasting in the twentieth century are slipping away from us, but at least we have their broadcasts and their work to remember them by, and to... Read more
Published on 17 April 2009 by Emanon
An Alistair Cooke fan since the 1950s is delighted
Having listened to A. Cooke, bought his book America, this collection
completes my pleasure at this genius's style, language and poetry.
completes my pleasure at this genius's style, language and poetry.
Published on 4 April 2009 by Wilson Barrie
Perfection
Its not too much of an exageration to say that this book is an oversight of 20th century usa. Alistair Cooke's letter is something i came too only a few years before his death and... Read more
Published on 18 Sep 2008 by Mark42
Wonderful; Touching; Wise
"A post mortem collection of the famous "Letter from America" series written and broadcast on the BBC over a staggering period of 58 years and 2,869 broadcasts. Read more
Published on 29 Dec 2006 by Philip Mayo
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