BEFORE the days when Alistair Cooke began his long-running Letter from America each week, he was the Washington correspondent for The Guardian. And The Guardian being The Guardian his reporter s beat was virtually the whole of the US. Shortly after the at

BEFORE the days when Alistair Cooke began his long-running Letter from America each week, he was the Washington correspondent for The Guardian.

And The Guardian being The Guardian his reporter's beat was virtually the whole of the US.

Shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor, Cooke decided to make a journey around the country to witness the changes to the ordinary lives of ordinary people.

It is, as with all of Cooke's work, a stylish look at the life and times of a country that suddenly had to adjust to war. The book gives a clue, too, to his decision to remain in a country which gave him so much inspiration.