Oh Dear Christ!
This was one of several wonderful Christmas books (2011 was a profoundly good year for the Christmas books).
A brief look through the photographs and I saw a style worth following. A brief look through the essays and I recalled a long lost friend.
The earliest essays dated from 1946. They were poignant, funny and true. That pattern continued for the next 60 odd years. The essays cover a wide range of topics, almost every aspect of American life, society and government.
These essays made February feel like a homesick month, a rich, textured form of homesickness, an aspirational feeling, a good feeling.
Thank you Mr Cooke.
nb. The image is not that of the book in question. I have taken the rare step of choosing an image I like as opposed to an image the publishers like.
