Reporting America

Over fifty years of reportage from one of the twentieth-century’s greatest broadcasters, showcasing his “masterly discursive approach and splendid humor” (The Independent).

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 United States, as only a naturalized citizen could, and his reports were incisive and often moving. Cooke traveled extensively all over the US 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.
“A peerless observer of the American scene for almost 70 years . . . His observations were not only insightful but also gracefully written and often gently witty.” —The New York Times
“This collection reveals all the suppleness of his writing, and his passions . . . As a chronicle of modern America, these newspaper pieces and Radio 4 letters have remarkable immediacy.” —The Telegraph
“A fitting tribute to Cooke and his accounts of postwar America.” —Publishers Weekly