Entertainment Biography, Journalism, Radio, News & Media Biography, Television Biography

Alistair Cooke

Name: Alistair Cooke
Author: Nick Clarke
ISBN: 9781611451092

by Nick Clarke

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Overview

Drawing on a rich variety of private and public sources, not to mention hours of interviews with the enigmatic subject himself, Clarke shows how Alistair Cooke carved out for himself, with dogged determination, a unique position as the foremost reporter on American life and politics, first for the British press and eventually for the entire world. Settling in New York City in 1937 at the age of twenty-eight, Cooke focused his efforts on putting years of Anglo-American misunderstanding to rest. In 1946, he began his weekly radio program, Letter from America--which still airs to this day, and which is now broadcast to more than fifty countries worldwide.

Cooke's story is also the story of the United States in the twentieth century. He has reported for decades on the events and personalities that have shaped this country--from the Great Depression through World War II, from the Cold War tensions of the'50s to the turbulence and social upheaval of the '60s, all the way up to the Clinton administration. Most astonishingly, at an age when many men might have moved sedately toward retirement, Cooke launched energetically into new careers, becoming a familiar television face to Americans on Omnibus and later the immensely popular Masterpiece Theatre, and completing his epic BBC series and book, America, one of several best-sellers he penned.

Alistair Cooke: A Biography is both a fascinating record of one man's constant determination to reinvent himself, as well as a lively and informative journey through the highways and byways of the twentieth century.

Synopsis

BBC broadcaster Clarke, who had Cooke's cooperation, tells the story of Cooke's peripatetic life entertainingly.

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Editorials

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Clarke, a BBC television and radio journalist in London, rarely brings Cooke (b. 1908) to life on the pages of this new biography, already published in England. To lots of Americans, the British-born Cooke is known primarily as the urbane, erudite host of Masterpiece Theatre. But that incarnation did not begin until 1971. Long before that, Cooke had established himself as a print and broadcast journalist commentator, specializing n helping his native citizenry understand their rebellious and remarkable colonies of long-ago. Cooke arrived in the U. S. in 1932 not to become a journalist, but rather to study theater at Yale. Nobody, including Cooke, realized then that America would become his adopted home for the rest of the century, and that he would become its interpreter to a significant part of the world. Journalists are usually outsiders, dependent on what insiders will tell them. That means biographies of journalists are difficult to write compellingly, because the subjects are rarely primary actors. Clarke's accounts of how outsider Cooke did, and did not, cover the administrations of various U.S. presidents are, for the most part, stultifying. Clarke is more successful when examining Cooke's personal life. He discusses nothing scandalous or even lewd, but there are moments of insight, such as the 20-something budding intellectual adopting the name "Alistair" to substitute for the Alfred chosen by his parents; his inability to deal sensibly with money, whether poor or relatively wealthy and his occasionally tense family life. (Nov.) Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.

Library Journal

Alistair Cooke is one of the most recognizable broadcast personalities in America, a man whose career in journalism spanned the 20th century. The depth and breadth of his associates, from Charlie Chaplin to Leonard Bernstein--not to mention presidents and leaders of industry--made him better informed on America than most Americans. Although Letters from America, his observations on American life for the BBC, was his life's work, he is best known as the host of Masterpiece Theatre. BBC Radio presenter Clarke successfully executes the formidable project of displaying this great journalist as a human being, struggling financially, perpetually cadging cigarettes from BBC producers, and laboring to be a parent. We see Cooke the amateur bootlegger, the unemployed correspondent, and the drama critic working hard to find his legs as a news commentator. This excellent biography of a man who rose from modest beginnings to the highest ranks of society is strongly recommended for public and college collections.--Robert Moore, Raytheon, Sudbury, MA Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.

Booknews

BBC radio presenter Clarke recounts the life of the prominent British journalist, widely known as the host of and author of the weekly . Working in print, radio, and television, Cooke became the foremost commentator on American life, first for the British press and eventually for the whole world. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Peggy Constantine

Without fawning or criticizing, Clarke has written a straightforward, mostly chronological biography of one of the notable men of England and the United States of the 20th century.
—New York Times Book Review