Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 808
EAN: 9780141020150
ISBN: 0141020156
Label: Penguin
Manufacturer: Penguin
Number Of Pages: 544
Publication Date: June 02, 2005
Publisher: Penguin
Studio: Penguin

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Related Items:

• Reporting America: The Life of the Nation 1946 - 2004
• Letter from America: v. 3 (BBC Radio Collection)
• Alistair Cooke: The Essential Letters from America: The 70s (BBC Audio)
• The English: A Portrait of a People
• Alistair Cooke's America
• see more

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Rating: - 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 this book goes through from the 40s right until his last letter.

The quality of writing is superb of a man at the cutting edge of history.

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Rating: - 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. His last broadcast was made in Feb 2004, after which he retired. He died the following month in his 96th year.

It is simply staggering to consider the prolificacy and quality of these Letters which were faithfully produced against such an unforgiving deadline over so many years. All the more incredible it is to consider that ... Read More

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Rating: - An unputdownable summary of the 20th Century
To be blunt: Alistair Cooke's writing is of the highest quality. It surpasses most fiction and non-fiction writings in these terms. The key characteristic of "Letters from America" is that they were meant to be read aloud and so adopt a more authoratative tone than most published writings. Cooke's America is fascinating; it shows what has been forgotten as well as documenting the present. Past luminaries such as HL Mencken, who is now largely forgotten, are described in detail under the assumption ... Read More

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Rating: - A 'Love' Letter to America

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, ... Read More

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Rating: - Read this and you'll be wanting more..
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 ... Read More

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