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A review by kikiandarrowsfishshelf
The American Home Front: 1941-1942 by Alistair Cooke
5.0
I have loved Alistair Cooke ever since he introduced me to George Elliot. It was wonderful when my local NPR channel started playing the BBC World Service, and I could hear his letters from America.
So I had to read this.
Cooke’s travelogue was written during the start of America’s entry into the Second World War. It starts with Pearl Harbor and while the actually journey is roughly a year; the afterword extends it to the death of Roosevelt.
Loosely divided into regional sections, the book captures the Northern maple sugaring, the coast of West, the heat of the deserts, and the beauty of the south. Cooke drives and flies across America, the place of howling instead of grumbling. Cooke’s observations, as always, are part humor, part reportage, and all thought provoking.
A good portion of the travelogue is about the changes occurring because of the build up to the war. It isn’t just the industrialization but also the effect on farming and hospitably industry. For instance, he studies the hotels on the Florida coast and how they react to the housing of the Armed Forces. Or the worries about farming or the rubber deals.
And then there is the man who curses about the Japanese, and then Cooke discovers the man’s son was killed in the Pacific. There is the trip and interviews at the Japanese internment camps. Cooke’s view is nuanced, and far more revealing than what is taught in American history classes about the shameful episode.
If you have listened to Cooke speak, whether it be his Letter program or when he was hosting Masterpiece Theatre, this travelogue is just like that. In many ways, this book makes you realize just how much you miss his voice.
Booklikes.
So I had to read this.
Cooke’s travelogue was written during the start of America’s entry into the Second World War. It starts with Pearl Harbor and while the actually journey is roughly a year; the afterword extends it to the death of Roosevelt.
Loosely divided into regional sections, the book captures the Northern maple sugaring, the coast of West, the heat of the deserts, and the beauty of the south. Cooke drives and flies across America, the place of howling instead of grumbling. Cooke’s observations, as always, are part humor, part reportage, and all thought provoking.
A good portion of the travelogue is about the changes occurring because of the build up to the war. It isn’t just the industrialization but also the effect on farming and hospitably industry. For instance, he studies the hotels on the Florida coast and how they react to the housing of the Armed Forces. Or the worries about farming or the rubber deals.
And then there is the man who curses about the Japanese, and then Cooke discovers the man’s son was killed in the Pacific. There is the trip and interviews at the Japanese internment camps. Cooke’s view is nuanced, and far more revealing than what is taught in American history classes about the shameful episode.
If you have listened to Cooke speak, whether it be his Letter program or when he was hosting Masterpiece Theatre, this travelogue is just like that. In many ways, this book makes you realize just how much you miss his voice.
Booklikes.