Memories of the Great and the Good

by Alistair Cooke

Alistair Cooke knew, met, interviewed, or reported on many of the most influential men and women of the twentieth century and in this collection profiles the twenty-three he considered the most remarkable

In his career of more than fifty years broadcasting the BBC radio program Letter from America and as the US correspondent for the Guardian for more than twenty-five years, Alistair Cooke met and mixed with many famous people. In Memories of the Great & the Good he shares his portraits of the men and women that he felt made the world a better, more stimulating place.

We read about Franklin D. Roosevelt’s maintenance of his public image by means of a gentleman’s agreement with the press and Lyndon Johnson’s masterful backroom dealings. “Eisenhower at Gettysburg” reveals a conversation between Cooke and the president, touching on everything from their mutual love of golf to what it was like to grow up in a small Kansas farming town at the turn of the twentieth century.

Literary figures including P. G. Wodehouse, Erma Bombeck, and George Bernard Shaw are succinctly sketched. And, in the final pair of essays, Cooke pays moving tribute to two of the men he admired the most: Winston Churchill and golfing legend Bobby Jones.

Genres: Biography, History, Memoir, Nonfiction, Essays, Journalism, Historical

281 pages, Paperback

First published October 14, 1999

About the author

Books of British-American journalist and broadcaster Alfred Alistair Cooke include Around the World in 50 Years (1966) and Alistair Cooke's America (1973).

After the University of Cambridge graduated him, the British Broadcasting Corporation hired him. This legendary television host rose to prominence for his reports on London Letter on radio of National Broadcasting Corporation during the 1930s. Cooke immigrated to the United States in 1937. In 1946, he began his radio appearances on Letter from America on the British Broadcasting Corporation; this tradition that lasted nearly six decades.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alistai...

Reviews

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

A biographical essay says as much about the author as about the subject, and Cooke's essays speak not just of "the great and the good," but also of Cooke's insight, wit, and informed optimism about human nature. Reading these essays is like looking at the work of a master portrait painter: a little bit of paper and ink to display a lot of character.

[Robert · Rating 5 out of 5]

What we have in Memories of the Great & the Good are Cooke's personal profiles of 23 prominent persons who, for various reasons, attracted his attention. Although Cooke proudly identified himself as a journalist, I think he would not object if I prefer to characterize him as a cultural anthropologist because he had an almost insatiable curiosity about all areas of human endeavor. Consider the diversity of those whom he discusses in this book. They include George Bernard Shaw, Frank Lloyd Wright, both Franklin Delano and Eleanor Roosevelt, Harold Ross, Gary Cooper, Duke Ellington, Erma Bombeck, and Robert ("Bobby") Jones. He frequently expressed his appreciation for having "the privilege of roaming at will around every region" of the United States and in each dimension of its culture. He welcomed the "chance of acquiring what Theodore Roosevelt called `the sense of the continent'... It is the opportunity to meet all sorts and classes of humanity in their native habitat...soldiers and sailors of every rank, small businessmen of great imagination and comicality, a minor gangster forging U.S. graded beef, a burlesque stripper, a Texas sheep slicer, a modest, illiterate boy from the Carolinas with a genius for leadership in deadly situations in the Second World War."

[Ernie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed that impeccable style of AListair Cooke: having heard him on radio and television, I can easily hear his voice in the prose. It was good to read of great and well known Americans such as Eisenhower, whom I admired when he shut down the Suez crisis but also lesser known people (although only three of 14 are women) such as Senator George Aiken of Vermont.

[Jeff Clausen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good mix of profiles, from Erma Bombeck to Winston Churchill. Cooke isn’t shy with his opinions and while all these subjects are either Great or Good, he does touch on other folks or trends that don’t measure up, in his opinion. I like his ability to understand both the British and the American ways of doing things, and compare them when needed. A nice collection of essays from someone who’s been there.

[Stephen Hoffman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not Cooke's finest work, but still a good read with lively anecdotes and insights in to the character of human beings, all done with good use of language.

It could have done with being a bit more lively and was a bit old fashioned in some of its observations to me, but then I'm not sure I was the target audience and its not fair to judge him by my generation.

[Krystie Herndon · Rating 4 out of 5]

While this book was well-written, I would have found it a bit more interesting if more of the bios had been about people other than White men. Again, I read this book on suggestion of 1,000 Books to Read Before You Die; it was okay.

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of essays, memorial and otherwise, written by Cooke over a span of years. Some seem dated; others stand the test of time well. Cooke is a fine writer.

[John Waldrip · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very interesting and light read comprised of short biographical sketches of individuals the author knew. Just the right length chapters for good vacation or travel reading.

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book of essays of great and good ( but not necessarily both) people by Alistair Cook. From the “1000 books to read”.

[Pam Strachan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just dipped into this book. Great essays, but not interested in most of his subjects

[Glen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I recall my enjoyment of the Saturday morning "Letters from America" that I often listened to on BBC. The command of imagery that Cooke possessed was so evocative that you enjoyed the challenge of unpacking all his subtle references.

This book was a delight to read not only for his literary giftedness but because it contains insights on the lives of iconic personalities. Each chapter seeks to give a glimpse that is not preoccupied solely with the facts of the individual but with a keen interpretation of their lives in conjunction with the times in which they lived. The individuals discussed span a long career in which Cooke was a highly respected reporter based in the USA for the Guardian and BBC agencies.

For those who love history from an insightful mind, this is a good read for you. It does not exhaust the subject because of the brevity of each chapter, however, it makes the figures in question come alive and leaves memories in your mind that give you an interesting sense of intimacy with people you would never have had the privilege to meet in life

[robyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a sort of taster menu, an assortment of short essays on the great and the good people Cooke has known and perhaps interviewed over the course of his long career. I only knew some of them, and those the ones that everyone knows; Churchill, Erma Bombeck, George Bernard Shaw. Whether you know anything about them is another question. Aside from the more widely known names, there were lots of people I obviously SHOULD know of, because they did important things politically and historically (the two things might be interchangeable).

I enjoyed the writing. I enjoyed, surprisingly, reading about this collection of mostly strangers. The shortness of the essays, combined with their easy, very intelligent style, presented me with a series of windows into the lives of extra-ordinary people.

It makes me want to look out more of Cooke's writing, and also to look for books on and by these people that he found so interesting. The book is a quick, easy read, and worth picking up.

[Michelle]

the host of Masterpiece Theater interviews many of the most influential men and women on the twentieth century. Rec. in Honey

[Gina · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the stories. They give you brief glimpses of various people that are names you have heard usually, but Cooke adds these human touches that are interesting, and generally fond.

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

Entertaining enough, but the sketches are too brief to have much weight. Not sure how/why this made Mustich's list.