Reporting America

Over fifty years of reportage on American life by one of the 20th century's greatest broadcasters for nearly sixty years, Alistair Cooke reported on American life for the BBC.

Reporting America is a fascinating account of history in the making. His beloved radio show, Letter from America, saw eleven presidents, four wars, and an incredible shift in culture. He adored the u.s. as only a naturalized citizen could, and his reports were incisive and often moving. Cooke traveled extensively all over the united states to convey the views of citizens in all the nuances of regional opinion as well as those of the presidents and policy makers to whom he had easy access.

Susan Cooke Kittredge's introduction offers rare insight into the life of her father, the man many knew as the voice of Letter from America and the host of CBS's Omnibus and PBS's Masterpiece Theatre. Here are the triumphs, disasters and vicissitudes of American life --from Korea, McCarthyism, the Civil Rights movement, JFK, the moon landings, Watergate, Nixon's resignation, Clinton's scandals, the attacks of 9/11, right up to the war with Iraq --as told by one of the century's most admired reporters.