The American Home Front, 1941-1942 by Alistair Cooke (2006, Unabridged, Compact Disc)

Most Americans living today who remember Alistair Cooke at all conjure up a sophisticated, avuncular presence who, casually seated in a Victorian armchair, introduced more than a generation of Americans to the very best of BBC television programming. But before the British-born, Cambridge-educated, naturalized American citizen began hosting Masterpiece Theatre he’d been an accomplished freelance journalist. This book, the result of an American odyssey Cooke embarked upon as a 33-year old roving BBC correspondent assigned to Washington, D.C. at the time of the bombing of Pearl Harbor, looks at our nation to report on what the war is doing to its people. FDR spoke of success through “Equality of Effort.” As Cooke goes from city to town, from farm to resorts and from coast to coast and back, he watches, listens and learns, then sketches how differently Washington policies resonate in the disparate climates, cultures, and communities across America. Much has changed since 1941, but much has not. Our topography and vastness still render each part of the nation curiously insular from the rest. Cooke’s son, John, narrates with warmth and boasts a remarkable flair for regional accents.