Tuesday 5 April 2011

Two great books about Disney

Disneywar: The Battle for the Magic Kingdom

A few weeks ago I finished the Bob Thomas biography about Walt Disney, which I thought was a fascinating read about how one man (well two, he couldn't have done it without his lifetime partner and brother Roy O Disney) took his garage business and turned it into a billion dollar empire, which was purely down to his willingness to take great risks, which obviously reaped great rewards.

Obviously the Disney story didn't end with Walt's death and it went on to have a second golden age in the early 90's, which I would say started with the Little Mermaid, hit it peak with The Lion King and probably ended with Hercules (Maybe before, though I think that is a better film than it was credited for). So I found a second book called Disney War which I am half way through, which I think is a brilliant read also. A little slow to start, mainly because in a corporate board ran company there are a lot of people to get familiar with but once you understand who the main players are, and how they all pretty much stab each other in the back like medieval royalty, it makes for another fascinating read.

In the beginning I was just looking to read good books about animation, but the story behind this power company has kept me enthralled and I highly recommend both books


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