Rating: 
Summary: A Reporter's War
Review: "My War"
Andy Rooney
ISBN 1-58648-010-3As well as being a humorist, Andy Rooney is an iconoclast, and independent thinkers are rarely plentiful. When Tom Brokaw characterized Rooney's WWII age group as "The Greatest Generation", Rooney wrote that it was probably no more special than the current generation, which had not found the occasion for identifying the same qualities in itself. Mr. Brokaw, however, has written the foreword of "My War" and speaks there of Andy Rooney's book as a gift to those who did not come home. This book is the best work I have read by Andy Rooney. I admire Mr. Rooney's self-effacing approach to writing. For example, he characterizes his assignment as a reporter for the "Stars and Stripes" as a "bungled assignment" by the army that put him in the midst of reporters who had written for papers such as "The New York Times" while his own experience was as sub-editor of "The Thirteenth Field Artillery Brigade Bulletin". One of the WWII-era personalities Rooney criticizes in this book is General George Patton, whom he views as overrated. Rooney slyly claims people who admire Patton are confusing him with George C. Scott. To Rooney's credit, he quotes a letter received, after unfavorable Patton comments on television, from the general's daughter in which she wrote that the general would not have liked him either. Ernest Hemingway and Charles De Gaulle are also singled out as pompous egomaniacs. General Eisenhower, on the other hand, Rooney praises for allowing "The Stars and Stripes" to have the editorial freedom of regular American newspapers. Those who know Andy Rooney mainly from his "Sixty Minutes" segments, once caricatured on "Saturday Night Live", may be surprised at the extent to which he saw action as a reporter in WWII. For example, he flew on a B17 raid over enemy territory and won the bronze star for battlefield reporting in Germany. At one point, he even managed to capture a German prisoner. Much of what Rooney writes in this book is not pretty, such as seeing dead soldiers whose bodies had been crushed by tanks, watching the revenge that some of the citizens of Paris took on the German prisoners when the city was liberated, and coming upon the charred bodies of the Thekla concentration camp inmates that the SS had massacred as the Americans approached. There are some light touches in this book apropos to human goodness as well. In France, Rooney writes "every wandering dog was adopted and fed by some GI". Rooney's books always mix humor and candid observation. The same is true here. However, Rooney has a more serious purpose in mind this time. The young men that he knew, killed in the war, he writes, did not give their lives, but rather those lives were taken. It would seem that this book is a way of reconciling the deaths of so many friends and fellow soldiers with Rooney's own relatively long and comfortable life. The book is dedicated to some of those close friends.
Rating: 
Summary: WWII Done Best by the Greatest Curmudgeon of Them All
Review: A highly personal work by Mr Rooney, as he delves into his past to exercise old ghosts, bearing his sins and his heart. He also spends a good amount of time on WWII heroes, which while it seems a trendy thing to do thes days, is understandable for Rooney given that he is descended of WWII vets. Once you read this you'll understand why we owe those soldiers so much thanks and why they'd rather not hear about those times. And what is amazing is that Roney delivers this historical feast in his usual direct and caustic style we've gotten used to on TV. You'll laugh and cry throughout.
Rating:
Summary: My War by Andy Rooney
Review: A interesting account by this extraordinary man who comes across a little grumpy and little disillusioned about life these days... But,"My War" as a young man tells the truth and is honest about his feelings(not saying that he is not today)...funny thought.. when you read his book you can actually
hear Mr Rooney's voice!...
Rating: 
Summary: HOW MUCH TRUTH IT IN THIS BOOK?
Review: After reading this book I have to ask myself how much of what I have read is true. This book seems to be the work of a highly opinionated mean old man, who in the 1940's was a highly opinionated mean young man. The book is not bad, but I don't know how much to believe. There is no way that Rooney would ever praise someone who he did not like. In other words, I do not think he is any great respecter of truth when personal spite is involved. Andy Rooney is not mad at the world, just anyone who has crossed him in the last eighty odd years.
Rating:
Summary: Above and beyond truth
Review: Andy above and beyond potrayed his position in WW2 if anything played down. Yes he was a private that lucked out as many do in the service,but it seems he is able to tell the truth about it and feels no lesser for the facts. He tells of several heroes and some not so good officers. We have all known those. All in all I found the book very enjoyable and would highly reccomend it to all.
Rating:
Summary: Better than expected...
Review: Andy Rooney has never been more to me than the nagging, faintly humorous, mildly eccentric curmudgeon that caps each 60 Minutes program. I've seen his newspaper column, but never read it. Indeed, had I not seen this book at a closeout bookseller, I wouldn't own it. But, the bargain price and my interest in WWII convinced me to give it a chance. I'm glad I did. An enlisted reporter for The Stars and Stripes during the war, Rooney flew missions over Germany, accompanied the allies shortly after D-Day, and continued reporting until victory. In the contemporary catalog of WWII books, his vantage point as a reporter is unique, insightful, and conducive to extended durations of page turning pleasure. As the title announces, this isn't a book about "the" war. It's about "his" war, his experiences, his opinion. And, in a departure from his 60 Minutes routine, he manages to avoid complaints about matters of trifling importance. Perhaps, this is because there is little of trifling importance associated with WWII. Nevertheless, Rooney faithfully relates the awe of having witnessed, first-hand, an epic period in human history. In the end, I put down the book and realized, after all these years, that I like Andy Rooney. I like his honesty and I like his pragmatism, (even though I doubt this is the effect he was aiming for). I was also thankful that, like author's before him, Rooney introduced the general reader to many Americans who didn't come home. His was a generation of sacrifice unlike anything those who came after are likely to see. Rooney believes them not special, but people involved in special circumstances. This provides hope that every generation will rise with comparable bravery and commitment whenever liberty is seriously threatened. 4 stars.
Rating:
Summary: Better than expected...
Review: Andy Rooney has never been more to me than the nagging, faintly humorous, mildly eccentric curmudgeon that caps each 60 Minutes program. I've seen his newspaper column, but never read it. Indeed, had I not seen this book at a closeout bookseller, I wouldn't own it. But, the bargain price and my interest in WWII convinced me to give it a chance. I'm glad I did. An enlisted reporter for The Stars and Stripes during the war, Rooney flew missions over Germany, accompanied the allies shortly after D-Day, and continued reporting until victory. In the contemporary catalog of WWII books, his vantage point as a reporter is unique, insightful, and conducive to extended durations of page turning pleasure. As the title announces, this isn't a book about "the" war. It's about "his" war, his experiences, his opinion. And, in a departure from his 60 Minutes routine, he manages to avoid complaints about matters of trifling importance. Perhaps, this is because there is little of trifling importance associated with WWII. Nevertheless, Rooney faithfully relates the awe of having witnessed, first-hand, an epic period in human history. In the end, I put down the book and realized, after all these years, that I like Andy Rooney. I like his honesty and I like his pragmatism, (even though I doubt this is the effect he was aiming for). I was also thankful that, like author's before him, Rooney introduced the general reader to many Americans who didn't come home. His was a generation of sacrifice unlike anything those who came after are likely to see. Rooney believes them not special, but people involved in special circumstances. This provides hope that every generation will rise with comparable bravery and commitment whenever liberty is seriously threatened. 4 stars.
Rating:
Summary: Personal stories, but often lacking
Review: Andy Rooney occasionally scores hits on 60 Minutes, but this book hits less frequently. Readers will hear about his dislike for things Army, especially his training days, and his frequent lucky run-ins with notable media reporters of the day that helped him fine-tune his career as a journalist. It's not bad; but the stories that show his comapssion such as those where he has been flying with bomber groups only to lose friends, or those where he is at the front and writing about people to send back home to their hometown papers are too rare.
Rooney is honest in his writing, and that is welcome, but we see more of his opinions than we do the better-known war story compendiums now available. My War is defintiely about his.
Rating:
Summary: A Unique Perspective on the War
Review: Andy's "War" was a new and unique view of a subject we've all heard so much about over the past half century. His tour of duty as a war correspondent for the Stars and Stripes gave him unique first-hand experiences, and his maturity as a commentator gives him a special ability to relate those experiences to us in a way that is both informative and entertaining. I had no prior knowledge of Andy's WWII experience, so this book was quite a surprise. I've enjoyed Andy for many years on the "60 Minutes" show, and now this book gave me a new way to enjoy his astute observations. His ego-deflating stories about General Patton were particularly revealing about a WWII icon. The book was very enjoyable, and a good read for anyone with a historical interest in the way Americans performed during this horrific war. Highly recommended!
Rating:
Summary: An interesting insight into Andy Rooney and War Reporters
Review: As a soldier, I'm always interested in well-written war books (call it professional development). Andy Rooney's book was well written, which is to be expected from someone who has been writing for the last 60 years. Basically, The book is an Autobiography lightly covering his early years up until he got drafted for WWII. Then the book shifts into very descriptive, and it tells how he lucked into Stars and Stripes, and the reporting that he did during WWII. He tells his story honestly without blowing his role out of perportion or representing himself as more than he was. A great book and an entertaining read.
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