Six Men
Charles Chaplin, H.L. Mencken, Humphrey Bogard, Adlai Stevenson, Bertrand Russell, Edward VIII
by Alistair Cooke
Overview
From BookCloseouts.com:
As a writer and a journalist, Alistair Cooke has provided commentary on people and events in both Britain and the United States for over half a century. In this book he shares impressions of six great men whom he has known and admired: Charlie Chaplin, King Edward VIII, H. L. Mencken, Humphrey Bogart, Adlai Stevenson, and Bertrand Russell. With the keen eye of a reporter and the candor of an intimate friend, Cooke gives us a warm and frank view of these legendary figures - a personal perspective on the men behind the fame and public personae.
My Thoughts
I bought this book based on the credentials of Alistair Cooke, who is a fantastic author and historian. I didn't know much about any of the 6 men he wrote about, so I chose this book for an educational read.
It was interesting reading and I enjoyed each of the six stories, but I wasn't on the edge of my chair. I think I enjoyed the story on Edward VIII the most, a story that was totally unknown to me and filled with shock as I compared his circumstances to those of royalty in recent years. Edward VIII was before his time!
I think this book may appeal more to Europeans than Americans, though I could be way off base on that thought. There was much history that Mr. Cooke assumed the reader would know, an assumption that didn't always pan out for someone like me who never cared for history until recent years. Still, a very well-written book on six influential men, told by an amazing author who got up close and personal with each of the six men.
Favorite Passage
...during its four or five days, Chaplin opened himself up in the most natural and revealing way, and very little that happened afterward was much of a surprise to me. The impression I picked up then, confirmed later by other close friends - Frank Reicher, John Steinbeck, and more than any other Dr. Reynolds - was that when Chaplin took to anyone, he was wide open from the start, spontaneous, generous, gabby, confidential, as if taking up again where he had left off with a favorite, long-lost brother. I could see how, if it were a woman who attracted him, he would soon be as deep in intimacy as Macbeth was in blood and find "returning as tedious as go o'er."
