My War

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: Andy Rooney In World War II
Review: Didya ever wonder how the US Army -- that bureaucratic bungle of millions that made recruits do things they wouldn't do in peacetime, retained some officers who were jerks, took four days of paperwork to release men from the service at the end of the war and stupidly assigned a private whose only prior journalistic experience was a few weeks work on his high school yearbook to the post of reporter at "Stars and Stripes" -- didyaever wonder how these guys won the war?

They were fighting other country's armies, that's how.

Ok, enough of my attempt to parody Andy Rooney's style above. The guy who lampoons makers of personal care products for a few minutes ever Sunday night does sometimes lend his "what kind of idiot would do this" attitude toward the US Army, WWII version. In those moments, this book sometimes grates -- the same voice that illuminates follies with instant cereal advertising and electric tooth brushes sounds somewhat tinny applied against what was a great undertaking.

Fortunately for this book, those moments are few enough that an interesting picture of the war as seen through Rooney's eyes is not subsumed with his sarcasm and general crankiness. In fact, he keeps those traits generally in check in what reads like an honest look at his service as a front line reporter during the war in Europe.

Rooney's book "My War" is a collection of anecdotes. Fortunately, his travels over German skies in American B-17's, with advancing armor and infantry in France and Germany and to newly (as in a few hours ago) liberated nazi work and concentration camps makes for fascinating anecdotes.

A sergeant in rank, Rooney was afforded the opportunity to meet with personalities and troops of all ranks as he covered the war for what I am sure was the largest circulation American daily newspaper during the early 1940's. His travel made great anecdotes and good stories.

Rooney is poignant in this book. He has a great reverence for lives lost and is very honest about himself and his changing appreciation for war as a sometimes necessary thing (he entered the war with the words "any peace is better than any war" from a college professor ringing in his ears and came to learn after reflecting upon Nazi warfare that "any peace is not better than any war"). This book is somewhat a chronicle of Rooney's maturation as well as his war stories.

The stories are for the most part entertaining and worth reading. His assignment as a reporter gave him a somewhat Zelig-like ability to be near many major events in the war. The reader benefits from these interesting first person accounts.

Rating:
Summary: Andy¿s Account
Review: I have long been an Andy Rooney fan and this was an interesting look at his war time experience. As others have said, Andy had a unique perspective in the Army by being assigned to the Stars and Stripes. His primary assignments were England covering the 8th Air force then Western Europe after the invasion. I find it strange that people would disparage him because he was "only" a reporter. The fact of the matter is that the majority of veterans, past and present, were/are rarely in harms way. Andy in no way embellishes his experience and pays due respect to those who fought and died in the war. His observations of the sometimes pettiness of military life ring true even to this 80s peace time vet.

Note this book does read more like a column or a series of essays and Andy is not afraid of blatantly revealing his own opinion. Keep it up Andy!

Rating:
Summary: Brutally Honest View from a Reporter at Stars & Stripes
Review: I'm not a big fan of Andy's 60 Minute spots although I do enjoy them. I was drawn to this book because so many other soldiers and writers mentioned that Andy was in the B-17s and on the front lines of Europe all through the war. I thought his impressions would be unique and I was not disappointed. Interstingly, he is quick to point out that he was not at the front lines (even when he was). He makes sure we understand that it was the soldiers doing the fighting and dying. Like most people I imagine, we are so consumed with all of the major battles of WWII that we overlook the newspaper carrying news to the troops. His accounting of how the paper was to be run via Ike's directive, the day to day operations, striving not to be biased or give away too much information, and the unknown leaders who won the war as well as the pompous leaders (look out Patton lovers), all make this a fascinating read. I was particularly interested in the stories they didn't tell - no soldier wants to read about other soldiers dying, etc. This book is all the more interesting because Andy was nearly a conscientious objector - a significant fact when he arrives at the concentration camps. Good stuff told with great wit.

Rating:
Summary: Interesting book, narrow-minded at times
Review: This is an interesting book to read, for the tangential impressions of life in London, and with the Allied invasion of Europe, and even brief stays in India and China, during World War II by former Stars and Stripes reporter Andy Rooney.
The title, "My War," does not indicate possession as another reviewer thought, but indicates that this is a memoir. The book is full of anecdotal, and broader, observations of the war effort and those involved in it.
However, Rooney's opinion seems a bit too self-important at times, considering his own personal judgment of a situation or person as the final and authoritative word on the subject. He tends to paint those he meets and hears about as totally "good" or "bad."
It could be that, in print, Rooney can't convey the wry "just kidding" tone he verbally communicates in his TV commentaries. Rooney's inability to convey tone leaves the reader puzzled after reading such truly bizarre Rooney statements as "Let me assure you the state of the helicopter art, even the best there is, to this day is primitive. The big Sikorsky, for instance, had that small propeller mounted on the tail.... This small mechanical necessity alone leaves helicopters in the class of Mickey Mouse inventions."
You'll find this an interesting, and somewhat quick, read, but not on your "must read" list.