First published 2014
This biography examines Walter Elias Disney, the artist and entrepreneur who created a vast entertainment empire that endures more than fifty years after his 1966 death. The authors explore Disney as one of the American Century's most paradoxical titans. They reveal a ninth-grade dropout whose genius transformed Hollywood, a successful executive who avoided social gatherings but played polo on weekends, driving his Packard roadster home each evening to spend time with his children. The book contrasts Disney's public persona as the gentle, mustached television host who introduced wholesome Sunday programming with the demanding perfectionist his employees knew. It shows how Disney's insistence that everything be done his way shaped both his creative output and business relationships. The authors present Disney as a complex figure whose contradictions were as remarkable as his achievements, offering readers insight into the man behind the entertainment legacy that remains unmatched in American culture.
Genres: biography, 20th-century, business, american, 21st-century
Vibes: complex, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: complex-protagonist, rags-to-riches
Setting: Hollywood
Period: 20th-Century, 21st-Century
78 pages · Kindle Edition · New Word City, Inc.