Alistair Cooke

Masterful essays by one of the most distinctive voices in broadcast journalism In his Letter from America reports for the BBC and as the host of PBS's Masterpiece Theatre, Alistair Cooke addressed millions of people all over the world every week. The fourteen essays collected here, each of which was first delivered as a speech, showcase the wit, charm, and eloquence of Cooke's voice in more intimate, but no less intimidating, settings. In exclusive...

In addition to his most visible presence as the host of PBS's Masterpiece Theater for over two decades, British-born Alistair Cooke entertained and informed millions of listeners around the globe with his weekly BBC radio program, Letters from America, for over half a century. An outstanding observer of the American scene, he became one of the world's best-loved broadcasters. The three works in this collection gather together his most memorable insights...

The definitive survey of Alistair Cooke's brilliant career as a newspaperman Few journalists have covered the American scene as thoroughly as Alistair Cooke did. In addition to presenting the Sunday-night Letter from America broadcasts for the BBC, Cooke was the Guardian's chief US correspondent for more than a quarter century, filing daily dispatches about the former colonies for his British readers. Selected and introduced by Professor Ronald...

Drawing on a lifetime of journalistic encounters with the great and the famous, Alistair Cooke profiles the six extraordinary men who impressed him the most Over the course of his sixty-year career as a broadcaster, television host, and newspaper reporter, Alistair Cooke met many remarkable people of the twentieth century. This entertaining and insightful collection shares his unique, often startling personal vision of six key figures from the worlds...

As the voice of the BBC's Letter from America for close to six decades, Alistair Cooke addressed several millions of listeners on five continents. They tuned in every Friday evening or Sunday morning to listen to his erudite and entertaining reports on life in the United States. According to Lord Hill of Luton, chairman of the BBC, Cooke had "a virtuosity approaching genius in talking about America in human terms." This second collection of Cooke's...

Shortly after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Cooke, a newly naturalized citizen, set out to see his country as it was undergoing a monumental change. He wanted to "see what the war had done to people, to the towns I might go through, to some jobs and crops, to stretches of landscape I loved and had seen at peace; and to let significance fall where it might." Working throughout the war, Cooke finished the manuscript as the atomic bomb was being dropped...

Classics stand the test of time, and Alistair Cooke's history of America is a classic. Nearly three decades have passed since the original edition of America -- based on journalist-historian Cooke's extraordinarily popular thirteen-part television series -- sold more than a million copies. Yet Cooke's view of America's dynamic past and its impact upon the always-changing present continues to provide striking insights into the singular character...

This is a fact-based story about a young Georgia housewife named Eve, who suffers from multiple personalities. Eve's husband, confused by his wife's aberrant behavior when assuming her two "other selves," seeks out help from a psychiatrist. Carefully probing Eve's subconscious via hypnosis, the doctor finds out that, though each of Eve's personalities is aware of the other's existence, none are related. After months of therapy, Eve is purged of her...