Most Popular Books by Alistair Cooke

A new edition of Alistair Cooke''s classic work, which has sold more than 2 million copies. Full of Cooke''s signature erudition, this is an incisive and illuminating history of the United States. Republished to mark the 50th anniversary of the classic BBC series and this title''s first publication.

Three volumes of BBC broadcasts about the US from the New York Times–bestselling author, host of Masterpiece Theater, and “international treasure” (Booklist). 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 into American history and culture. “Reading [Cooke] is like spending an evening with him: you may have heard it all before, but never told with such grace and sparkle” (The New York Times Book Review). Letters from America: Beginning with his first letter in 1946, a powerful description of American GIs returning home, and ending with his last broadcast in February 2004, reflecting on the presidential campaign, this comprehensive collection displays Cooke’s “virtuosity approaching genius in talking about America in human terms” (Lord Hill of Luton, chairman of the BBC). Highlights include an eyewitness account of Robert Kennedy’s assassination, a moving evocation of 9/11, personal reflections on presidents, and warm remembrances of celebrity friends and cultural icons. “In this tightly edited collection . . . Cooke captures the expanding soul of a nation and people.” —Publishers Weekly Talk About America: Personally selected by Cooke, these dispatches cover a tumultuous time in American history, including the civil rights movement and the Vietnam War. Along with cogent commentary, Cooke offers characteristically incisive portraits of political and cultural figures such as John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, Robert Frost, H. L. Mencken, Charles Lindbergh, and John Glenn. “There is great political penetration here, and there are flashes on every page of wit, humanity, and wisdom.” —The New York Times The Americans: Always entertaining, provocative, and enlightening, the “best storyteller in America” reports on an extraordinarily diverse range of topics, from Vietnam, Watergate, and the constitutional definition of free speech to the jogging craze and the pleasures of a family Christmas in Vermont (James Reston). In this New York Times bestseller, Cooke eulogizes Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl Warren, pays an affectionate and moving tribute to Duke Ellington, and treats readers to a night at the opera with Jimmy Carter. “One of the most gifted and urbane essayists of the century.” —The Spectator

Alistair Cooke, a newly naturalized American citizen, shares his observations of American life in the year following the 1941 bombing of Pearl Harbor.

“There is never going to be anyone else like Cooke, a chronicler of amazing times.” —The Daily Telegraph 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 personally selected letters covers tumultuous events in American history such as the Vietnam War and the civil rights movement. His analysis of the origins of the conflict in Vietnam is clear eyed and compelling, and in three thoughtful and incisive essays—on Brown v. Board of Education, the struggle to integrate the Deep South, and the riots in Watts—Cooke identifies the changing racial attitudes that defined the era. He reflects on the rise of drug use among college students and offers a paean to the beauty of Golden Gate Park. With characteristically incisive portraits of political and cultural figures such as John F. Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, Robert Frost, H. L. Mencken, Charles Lindbergh, and John Glenn, Talk About America: 1951–1968 is rich with humor, compassion, and commitment. In this superb overview of an astonishing era in America’s twentieth century, Alistair Cooke is at the top of his game.

“[Cooke is] one of the most gifted and urbane essayists of the century, a supreme master.” —The Spectator 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.” Letters from America: 1946–1951 contains highlights from the first five years of Alistair Cooke’s legendary BBC radio program, years when listeners were eager to put the horrors of World War II behind them. Cooke’s lively and illuminating dispatches from New York perfectly capture the spirit of the times. From the significance of Labor Day to reflections on the changing seasons to the heroic Long Island duck that saved two people from drowning, little escapes the broadcaster’s sharp reportorial eye and affable wit. This collection includes Cooke’s historical tour of Washington, DC, and his thoughts on why New York is such a singular city, and covers more serious topics such as the Soviet threat and the anxieties of the atomic age. Always captivating, Cooke treats the reader to profiles of Joe Louis and Will Rogers and reflections on Damon Runyon’s America, and concludes with a “Letter to an Intending Immigrant.” Letters from America: 1946–1951, the first volume of Cooke’s iconic broadcasts, offers a captivating journey through culture, history, and politics and is a classic of twentieth-century journalism.

Alistair Cooke knew, met, interviewed, or reported on many of the most influential men and women of the twentieth century and in this collection profiles the twenty-three he considered the most remarkable In his career of more than fifty years broadcasting the BBC radio program Letter from America and as the US correspondent for the Guardian for more than twenty-five years, Alistair Cooke met and mixed with many famous people. In Memories of the Great & the Good he shares his portraits of the men and women that he felt made the world a better, more stimulating place. We read about Franklin D. Roosevelt’s maintenance of his public image by means of a gentleman’s agreement with the press and Lyndon Johnson’s masterful backroom dealings. “Eisenhower at Gettysburg” reveals a conversation between Cooke and the president, touching on everything from their mutual love of golf to what it was like to grow up in a small Kansas farming town at the turn of the twentieth century. Literary figures including P. G. Wodehouse, Erma Bombeck, and George Bernard Shaw are succinctly sketched. And, in the final pair of essays, Cooke pays moving tribute to two of the men he admired the most: Winston Churchill and golfing legend Bobby Jones.

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 forums as varied as the Mayo Clinic and a conference of British and American scholars investigating the “state of the language,” Cooke eagerly challenges expert opinions and delightfully skewers the pretensions of the powerful. Addressing the House of Representatives on the bicentennial of the Continental Congress, he warns against the dangers of sentimentalizing history and wryly notes that “practically every man who signed the Declaration of Independence is at this moment being measured for a halo or, at worst a T-shirt.” At the Royal College of Surgeons in London, he compares his listeners to armed robbers and to the disreputable half of that infamous duo Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. “If I could be benevolent dictator of the United States for a year,” he informs the National Trust for Historic Preservation, “I should provide several million jobs for the wrecking industry.” No one played the devil’s advocate with as much grace and good humor as did Alistair Cooke. The Patient Has the Floor is an eminently quotable testament to his extraordinary talents as a journalist, scholar, and public speaker.

From Duke Ellington to Churchill Downs, championship golf to Greta Garbo, Alistair Cooke reports on the popular sports and entertainments he loved the most This delightful anthology, drawn from Alistair Cooke’s Letter from America BBC broadcasts as well as his reporting for the Guardian, showcases the legendary journalist’s wide range of sporting pleasures, which include golf, tennis, baseball, and horse racing, and records memorable fun he had with favorite movies, theater productions, and jazz performances. Included here are perceptive portraits of sports personalities such as Gabriela Sabatini, Arnold Palmer, and Sugar Ray Robinson, whom Cooke regarded as the best fighter in the history of boxing. “A Mountain Comes to Muhammad” captures Muhammad Ali in victory; “Come-Uppance for the ‘Onliest Champion’ ” portrays him in defeat. A “Revised (Soviet) History of Baseball” humorously details Russian misconceptions about America’s pastime, a.k.a. beizbol. In “The Road to Churchill Downs,” Cooke captures the sights and sounds of Kentucky’s crown jewel and delights in the joy that his young daughter, Susan, who appears with her father on the cover of this edition, takes in the sport of kings. Sharing the spotlight are celebrities of the Hollywood variety, including Gary Cooper, John Wayne, Groucho Marx, and Charlie Chaplin. Filled with Cooke’s infectious enthusiasm for fun and games of wide variety, the lighter side of the legendary journalist’s output will be enjoyed by devotees of popular culture.

A wonderful entertainment that reflects Alistair Cooke’s love affair with cinema, from his early days as a film critic to his iconic role as the host of Masterpiece Theatre Humphrey Bogart, Fred Astaire, Lauren Bacall, Marlene Dietrich, and Marilyn Monroe are just a few of the stars profiled, along with many directors, in this sparkling and comprehensive collection of reviews, interviews, and essays. Alistair Cooke’s first radio talk at the BBC was in October 1934, and the subject was cinema. He had begun reviewing films in the 1920s as a Cambridge undergraduate. This anthology of his best film criticism and essays includes his many favorite subjects. In “The Symbol Called Garbo,” Cooke reveals the woman behind the enigmatic screen goddess. James Cagney is identified as “one of the few technically perfect actors,” while Charlie Chaplin was “the funniest clown alive.” Shirley Temple’s multi-million-dollar appeal is explained, as is the subtlety underpinning the slapstick humor of the Marx Brothers. Directors such as Frank Capra, Fritz Lang, and Cecil B. DeMille meet with Cooke’s high praise, while Alfred Hitchcock evokes a more complicated reaction. Full of glamorous stars, provocative opinions, and fond memories, Alistair Cooke at the Movies is a very personal and captivating guide to the golden age of Hollywood and beyond.

Legendary journalist and beloved TV host Alistair Cooke shares his life-long passion for golf in this stunning collection of his best writing on the sport he loved most. On a fateful day in 1964, Alistair Cooke was dragged into Van Cortland Park in New York City to play his first game of golf. He was immediately hooked, and golf became his greatest passion, even though he called it “a method of self-torture, disguised as a game.” No one has written more brilliantly or more lovingly about golf than he does here in this collection. Golf gathers together for the first time the best of Cooke’s pieces on what he called “the marvelous mania” and showcases the incomparable wit and mischievous charm that made Cooke one of the greatest journalists and broadcasters of the twentieth century. Languish in his prose as he describes Arnold Palmer playing in 102-degree heat in San Antonio, dapper Gary Player winning the US Open at Creve Coeur, Missouri, and Jack Nicklaus playing—and winning—almost everywhere. This is a book no golfer—pro or amateur—should be without.

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.

Although Alistair Cooke called golf ''a method of self-torture, disguised as a game'', from the first time he swung a club at the age of fifty-five, he was hooked for the rest of his life. This book brings together the best of Cooke''s writings about his greatest sporting passion, which display the incomparable wit, the unexpected insights, the mischievous charm, the elegance and enchantment which made him famous for over sixty years as a broadcaster. Whether he is writing about the pleasures of a bout in the snow, how the ''senior golfer'' secretly disguises their ageing swing, Arnold Palmer playing in 102-degree heat in San Antonio, dapper Gary Player winning the U.S. Open at Creve Coeur, Missouri, or Jack Nicklaus playing - and winning - almost anywhere, (not to mention a surprising and persistent tendresse for Raquel Welch), Alistair Cooke on his favourite sport is a rare and constant pleasure.

In May 2005 Penguin will publish 70 unique titles to celebrate the company''s 70th birthday. The titles in the Pocket Penguins series are emblematic of the renowned breadth of quality of the Penguin list and will hark back to Penguin founder Allen Lane''s vision of good books for all''. radio dispatch Letter from America entertained listeners around the globe from 1946 until his death in 2004. Penguin have proudly published editions of Cooke''s Letters since 1979, and those in Letters from Four Seasons have been specially selected along the theme of the changing seasons to show the range, intimacy and elegance of his inimitable style.

A collection of essays written by a British journalist about his experiences and observations of Americans immediately post-World War II.

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 A. Wells, the pieces in America Observed showcase the full range of Cooke’s omnivorous interests and impressive reportorial skills. From baseball to Billy Graham, Harry S. Truman to Chappaquiddick, he depicts the defining characters and events of the American century with elegance and insight. “The Untravelled Road” is a poignant and perceptive snapshot of the civil rights movement in Montgomery, Alabama. “The Legend of Gary Cooper” eloquently summarizes the unlikely career of America’s leading man, and “A Woman of Integrity” delivers the news of Marilyn Monroe’s death with empathy and honesty. “The Ghastly Sixties” is a concise, candid, and ultimately inspirational chronicle of that turbulent decade. Remarkably prescient and endlessly entertaining, the journalism collected here is some of the twentieth century’s finest.

Alistair Cooke''s essays about the history, personalities and literary works that shaped the programs that have appeared on Masterpiece Theatre.

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"What man could better have evaluated the military mind of Winston Churchill than the man who shared with him the momentous decisions of war - Dwight D. Eisenhower. In this conversational reminiscence, General Eisenhower fondly recalls his phenomenal friend and irascible fighting companion. The result is a unique segment of living history, revealing the Prime Minister in the role he particularly cherished, the military one."--Book Jacket.

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.

This now classic portrait of Douglas Fairbanks - the swashbuckling original King of Hollywood - was first published in 1940. This book goes step-by-step through Fairbanks'' career.

Three stories given originally as broadcasts on the Letter from America weekly talks on three successive Christmas eves.