On letters from charities, Rooney observed, ". This collection of essays, some of which are taken directly from the television series, will take readers back to an era when criticism and political commentary were expressed with originality and wit. After listening to stories of political corruption and exposure of lowlife scams, viewers could enjoy a few minutes of Rooney's unique and insightful humor. I suspect the man himself would have considered this his best work.įor years CBS's award-winning journalism program "60 Minutes" closed with a short but always memorable commentary by a gnomish, wild eyebrowed curmudgeon named Andy Rooney. If you're a Rooney fan, this is a must-own collection. Rooney quit, and promptly went to PBS to deliver the essay himself on a comedy show, "The Great American Dream Machine." The essay is actually a pretty powerful one, examining the dual nature of human beings-we all want peace, and yet, war seems to bring out our best qualities. The Washington documentary is a VERY funny indictment of government waste, chronicling Rooney's efforts to identify the nearly 3 million employees of the federal government and figure out exactly what they do (among the highlights are a list of incomprehensible and redundant job titles for employees in one department, and an exasperating phone call to illustrate how much red tape Rooney had to deal with while producing the documentary).Īnother gem found in the book is "An Essay on War," a commentary that Rooney wrote in 1971 for Harry Reasoner that CBS refused to air. Rooney Goes to Dinner." The documentaries about work and dinner can adequately be described as really, really long versions of his "60 Minutes" pieces. I'm sure it doesn't make any difference but it left me curious.)īut in addition to essays, I was delighted to find that the book contains complete transcripts of three of his documentaries, "Mr. (My one and only gripe with this book is that he doesn't note which essays are which. This book is a collection of essays that he wrote for himself and for Reasoner. Before delivering essays himself, he wrote them for Harry Reasoner to deliver. I stumbled upon this book in a used book shop it's relatively early into his tenure on "60 Minutes" (only about three years or so into the gig) but consists of most of what he had written for television to that point. I had no idea he had ever done such a gig. And he said that it bothered him that he was going to be remembered for his "60 Minutes" commentaries when the best work that he did was a series of documentaries he made for CBS in the 1970s. I originally sought this book out after the first time I read Andy's much later book, "Years of Minutes." He made a curious complaint about his life and reputation, talking about how a person's fame is rarely in sync with their best work. Rooney is no Studs Terkel, but of the various interviews the ones that come across as the most satisfied and self-confident are those that gave up stressful, rewarding careers to make less money and earn more joy: a beachcomber, one that left the city, one that works with horses - the last two were not chasing dreams they left what they knew behind to jump into something new and unknown. He seems to be trying to make it about union versus capital and finding honor in workers even while they lean on their shovels. This longest piece toward the end is about work in America and is not particularly insightful. This is is an avuncular fogey with a considered opinion on all: fences, chairs, menus, etc. These brief essays are abbreviated transcripts of this TV talks and maybe it is in front of the camera that his real talent emerged. If anything, it was a quick read - I breezed right through it. His curmudgeonly wit has not aged well and was maybe never incisive. I've seen so many of these Rooney readers at flea markets, etc., that I just had to read one to see if I was missing anything.
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