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by Robert MacNeil (Author)
Respected journalist Robert MacNeil did not receive a personal response from President Franklin Delano Roosevelt when he wrote to him in 1942 as an eleven-year-old boy living in Nova Scotia. He did, however, receive a personal letter and a large gift from the American consul. This gesture of generosity is the departure point for MacNeil's exploration of nationality, loyalty, and one of the reasons he eventually became an American citizen in 1997. Born in Canada and witness to many pivotal moments in history as a journalist in England and America, MacNeil's memoir integrates historical events from the past seventy years with his own personal story to provide an intimate glance at one man who became inseparably connected with America and her people. With a reporter's sharp analysis and an autobiographer's introspection, Looking for My Country delivers a story that is both touching and thought-provoking.
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From his start at Reuters News Agency in London to his position as longtime coanchor of the highly acclaimed MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour, Robert MacNeil was witness to many of the events that shaped the last century-the construction of the Berlin Wall, Kennedy's election and assassination, the Cuban Missile Crisis, Watergate. In this insightful memoir he chronicles his life's path, from a Canadian upbringing to his career as a world-class journalist.With charm and warmth, but also with a piercing eye on the century, MacNeil looks at the meaning of patriotism, nationalism, and home, and explains why he made the decision finally to become an American citizen.
"An unassuming, nicely qualified valentine to his adopted country, a book that feels Canadian in tone and like a New Yorker's in spirit. Which makes perhaps the best argument for one of MacNeil's points-that there are, after all, many ways to be American."--Newsday
Robert MacNeil is the author of two volumes of nonfiction and three novels, including, most recently, Breaking News, and the coauthor of The Story of English. MacNeil grew up in Nova Scotia, the setting for his bestselling memoir Wordstruck. He now divides his time between Halifax and New York City.
