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Alistair Cooke

Letter from America (Penguin Celebrations) Paperback – 6 Sept. 2007

by Alistair Cooke (Author)

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Alastair Cooke's Letter from America: 1946-2004 is a defining collection from his legendary BBC Radio broadcasts that guides us through nearly sixty years of changing life in the United States.

Alistair Cooke's Letter from America interpreted nearly sixty years of changing US life for the rest of the world. Covering key moments from the assassination of Kennedy through Vietnam and Watergate to September 11, Iraq and anticipating the 2004 elections, this book provides a defining collection of Letters from his legendary BBC Radio 4 broadcasts.

Encompassing portraits of the great and the good from Charlie Chaplin to Martin Luther King and topics as varied as civil rights, golf, jazz and the changing colours of a New England fall, each Letter contributes a captivating portrait of a nation - and of a man.

'Cooke was the special relationship'
Daily Mail

'Such experience, wisdom and education are unlikely ever again to combine in one journalist'
Mark Lawson

'There is never going to be anyone else like Cooke, a chronicler of amazing times'
Daily Telegraph

'The range of Cooke's experiences was awesome but he always had the personal touch'
Jeremy Vine

'No one else succeeded in explaining to the English-speaking world ... the idiosyncrasies of a country at once so familiar, and yet so utterly foreign'
Independent

Alistair Cooke (1908-2004) enjoyed an extraordinary life in print, radio and television. The Guardian's Senior Correspondent in New York for twenty-five years and the host of groundbreaking cultural programmes on American television and of the BBC series America, Cooke was, however, best known both at home and abroad for his weekly BBC broadcast Letter from America, which reported on fifty-eight years of US life, was heard over five continents and totalled 2,869 broadcasts before his retirement in February 2004, far and away the longest-running radio series in broadcasting history.

Print length

544 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Penguin
Publication date

6 Sept. 2007
Dimensions

13 x 2.5 x 19.6 cm
ISBN-10

014103534X
ISBN-13

978-0141035345
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Product description

About the Author

Alistair Cooke was born in Manchester in 1908 and educated at the universities of Cambridge, Yale and Harvard. Throughout his long career he worked as a journalist and broadcaster for many different organisations including the BBC, The Times and the Guardian, and won numerous awards for his work. He is best known both at home and abroad for his weekly Letters from America, far and away the longest-running radio series in broadcasting history. He died in March 2004, just a few weeks after his retirement.

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Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Penguin (6 Sept. 2007)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 544 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 014103534X
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0141035345
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 13 x 2.5 x 19.6 cm

Best Sellers Rank: 839,232 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- 514 in Radio Communication Studies
- 1,417 in Radio
- 3,735 in Journalistic Writing

Customer reviews:
109 ratings

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3 star		8%
2 star 0% (0%)		0%
1 star		2%

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Mrs. C. J. Eager

I could spit!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 24 June 2020

Verified Purchase

This selection of broadcasts made my Alistair Cook reads as if he is talking to you. No surprises there. The selection includes some key moments in American history and some insights into what it was like to live in America in the 20th and early 21st Centuries. Alistair Cook obviously knows or has met a lot of interesting people. It's good for dipping into rather than a straight through read. BUT (this is what makes me want to spit) THERE IS NO INDEX. Seriously. That's ridiculous and why it only gets 3 stars. How can you have what is essentially a history of America without an index? So unless you can remember the exact month and year of the reference to Bing Crosby or Katherine Hepburn or Bobbie Kennedy you will have no chance of finding them again without reading the book again. Sigh.

One person found this helpful

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bobrmj

Memories

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 10 November 2018

Verified Purchase

I used to listen to Letters from America with my grand-mother in the 50s when I was a little boy. I have purchased some of his talks on CD and love this chats and his insight into the American lifestyle through the decades. I have bought the book so I can read his thoughts and hear in my mind the way he talked as the CDs help put the way he talked with the written work.

2 people found this helpful

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Leo

An insightful look of American history up to 1970's

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 28 January 2019

Verified Purchase

For those who remember the 1970's programme narrated/written by A Cooke, are in for a treat. Flush from this success, 'Letter from America' followed and was originally aired on Radio4. The late Alistair Cooke managed to balance required detail whilst maintaining an entertaining air of amusement for his audience or reader.

One person found this helpful

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Keith

Great introduction to the USA beyond the news headlines - as the BBC originally intended

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 3 June 2013

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Even though the oldest of these are pushing 70 years old (and occasionally the language shows - after all when written the US still had segregation and even a progressive, liberal, jazz enthusiast like Alistair Cooke would use the language of the time) I think they still provide an invaluable view of US attitudes, virtues, and optimism that is frequently missing from many of the received media images. The vignettes of many of the early 20th Century opinion formers of the US also provides a perspective I have never seen elsewhere. Also, purely by being a Foreign Correspondent for nearly 70 years meant Alistair Cooke simply new so many people throughout their entire careers that his personal insights and recollections into what are now deeply historical figures make this worth reading.

I have very old paperback copies of earlier collections, but wanted the convenience of the Kindle version. As there must have been several thousand scripts to choose from, the Kindle version has to be selective so some favourites from the paperback versions aren't in here.

Overall, I would say these are a "must read" for anyone with received opinions about the US.

One person found this helpful

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An Inspiration

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 13 April 2010

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Wishing to take a break from just listening to music, I was looking for something different to load onto my MP3 player. There are a lot of audio books out there but they are often a bit of a let down because the person reading the book does not inspire the listener. I have found a few people whose audio titles provide an insight into history, politics, or science which I find very interesting and the way they deliver the `stories' brings inspiration. Alistair Cook is one of them and I just wish there were more of his `Letters from America' available on audio. You can however listen to more on the BBC website archive.

If you are interested the others are Spike Milligan / War diaries, Tony Benn / Diaries, & Dr Karl / Great Moments in Science)

3 people found this helpful

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Amazon Customer

A joy to read

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 18 December 2016

Verified Purchase

These Letters from America are just as entertaining to read as they were to listen to and - despite the passage of years - still very valuable and insightful. Cooke had a wonderful art, which he employed in the majority of his talks, of starting off on a tangent and describing a wide arc around the real subject of his talk to establish its context before homing in on it. Since broadcasts were not individually titled, one was often kept guessing for several minutes what the real focus was going to be. He was a superlative journalist and a consummate commentator, rightly lauded for doing so much to improve Britons' understanding of Americans (and vice versa) and to foster good relations between them.

One person found this helpful

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Turner

Stirring

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 20 October 2009

Verified Purchase

The doyen of radio broadcasting does not disappoint on this collection of some of his earlier letters from America. That lilted cadence to his accent just adds to the fascination of the story he relates in under 15 minutes. I used to tune in every Sunday, here in England, to listen to his latest installment and can honestly say I was never disappointed. I will be looking out for the rest of the collection. Great to pop onto your mp3 player and listen to on those long haul flights instead of being bored to near death by your fellow passenger's tales of his hernia op!!

One person found this helpful

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Kindle Customer

Letters from America

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 10 June 2020

Verified Purchase

Not as enjoyable as listening to him talking on the radio but descriptive of life in US.

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