In this fine and wholeheartedly irreverent memoir, Rooney--the 60 Minutes commentator--recounts what happened as a war correspondent while honing his craft alongside fellow chroniclers Ernie Pyle and Bill Mauldin. What he witnessed will perhaps not please some survivors and students of the war, especially those who revere Gen. George S. Patton--whom Rooney charges with having committed improprieties, injustices, and even war crimes in the quest to secure personal fame.

My War is a blunt, funny, idiosyncratic account of Andy Rooney's World War II. As a young, naive correspondent for The Stars and Stripes, Rooney flew bomber missions, arrived in France during the D-Day invasion, crossed the Rhine with the Allied forces, traveled to Paris for the Liberation, and was one of the first reporters into Buchenwald. Like so many of his generation, Rooney's life was changed forever by the war. He saw life at the extremes of human experience, and wrote about what he observed, making it real to millions of men and women. My War is the story of an inexperienced kid learning the craft of journalism. It is by turns moving, suspenseful, and reflective. And Rooney's unmistakable voice shines through on every page.