Arthur Gelb was hired by the New York Times in 1944 as a night copyboy-the papers lowliest position. 45 years later, he retired as its managing editor. Along the way, he exposed crooked cops and politicians, mentored a generation of talented journalists, was the first to praise the as-yet-undiscovered Woody Allen and Barbara Streisand, and brought Joe Papp instant recognition. From D-Day to the liberation of the concentration camps, from the agony of Vietnam to the resignation of a President, from the fall of Joe McCarthy to the rise of the Woodstock Nation, Gelb gives an insiders take on the great events of the past fifty years-what he calls the happiest days of my life.