Includes bibliographical references (pages 529-530) and index.

"One of the preeminent journalists of the twentieth century, Alistair Cooke has enjoyed a truly extraordinary, sixty-five year career in print, radio, and television. Throughout those years, Cooke has given only tantalizing glimpses of the man behind the well-known persona. Only in his late eighties did he allow a biographer, noted journalist Nick Clarke, unprecedented access to tell the whole compelling story of his life and times - a story filled with unexpected surprises."

"Drawing on a rich variety of private and public sources, not to mention hours of interviews with the enigmatic subject himself, Clarke shows how 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."

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

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