Six Men

About this book

During his broadcasting career Alistair Cooke met and knew some of the twentieth centurys most fascinating and legendary figures in journalism politics public life sport and film. This is his highly personal and revealing account of six remarkable men who crossed Cookes path during his lifetime and who each in their own way made a lasting impression on him.Here are candid portraits of the lovable yet unreliable Charlie Chaplin who when asked to be Cookes best man mysteriously vanished on the day; the complex and private man behind Humphrey Bogarts tough guy image; and the charming yet childlike golden boy Edward VIII. Cooke also recalls his friend and mentor the flawed contrarian and satirist H.L. Mencken the larger-than-life liberal politician Adlai Stevenson and the heroic social reformer Bertrand Russell. Each superbly realized portrait gives us an insight into a golden age of great men and is a masterpiece of observation warmth and humour.