The unique power of single issue groups in American presidential elections and President Clinton's stance on gay marriage are discussed by Alistair Cooke.

The preparations for the upcoming presidential elections, and the resurgence of the legal and moral debate over assisted suicide in the US, as considered by Alistair Cooke.

The diplomacies of Wilson and Roosevelt, Ronald Reagan's Star Wars defence programme, and the American response to international elections, as detailed by Alistair Cooke.

The sale of President Kennedy's rocking chair, JFK's ailments and the discreetness of the press, as discussed by Alistair Cooke.

The life and work of columnist Erma Bombeck, "America's only woman humourist", and writer of "At Wit's End", is remembered by Alistair Cooke.

The University of South Florida's reaction to a bomb threat leads Alistair Cooke to consider the emergence and nature of America's new anti-terrorism laws.

The rise of Montana's armed insurgents, their historical inheritance and their opposition in the FBI, as chronicled by Alistair Cooke.

Euthanasia, and the right to die for the terminally ill, the case of Karen Ann Quinlan, and Dr Jack Kevorkian, the Michigan doctor who has helped 27 dying people.

Ross Perot and Pat Buchanan's challenge to Bob Dole in the race for the Republican presidential nomination and how a thief in the night may yet undo Bill Clinton.

On the 50th anniversary of his Letter from America broadcasts Alistair Cooke re-presents the first talk, describing his return from an austere Britain to a bountiful New York.