I bought a copy last week. I returned it the same day.
It's just not worth the money.
About 40% of the material has been recycled from other books about Disney like Kim Masters' The Keys to the Kingdom, some parts almost word for word.
It's got interesting information on the company money-wise and I guess if you're into executive dirt and gossip (not that I'm not, but not for thirty bucks) you'd like this book. Stewart supposadly had tons of access to the company, Eisner and Roy, but there's not much here that's really new.
What I mean is there are no new insights on what we already know (as well as things we didn't know) It's all just fluff on Eisner did this, that and the other to so-and-so, Roy objected, blah blah blah. Stanley Gold and Roy resigned (like we didn't already know that). Just more stuff on how he betrayed Ovitz, or Ovitz betrayed him, etc...etc....As one review said, there is no overall context or perspective on WHY exactly Eisner's fall is a tradgedy or "Shakespearian" (Despite the fact that Stewart just SAYS it is, mentioning Lear and Richard III on the back cover. That's about as close as he comes to evoking Shakespeare, or any kind of literary subtext.)
It amazes me that writers actually get paid to write books like this, books that have nothing different to contribute and just reproduce, parrot and occasionally dig up things that are not a shock to anyone.
If Stewart wanted to write a different kind of book, he could have focused more on Eisner, the kind of person he is, and his interactions with people like Katzenberg. What kind of person is Eisner? What might have led him to make the decisons that he did? How has his background/upbringing shaped him? The writer can't be bothered to explore any of these topics; like Kim Masters' chronicle The Rise of Michael Eisner and the Fall of Everyone Else, the emphasis is on details, details and more details, but facts without insight or context are merely facts. And that's BORING. The problem is, however, that writing a really original book about Disney would be a lot harder, and most of these media writers are just not up to the effort.
If you want to read some really great theorizing/reflection on Disney Eisner et. al, go to
www.nymag.com and search for articles by Michael Wolff. He's really knowledgable about Disney and Eisner, and he KNOWS how to write.
*Forgot to say that for the animation fan, this book is DEFINETELY not worth it. Very little space is devoted to their production/creation, even the really big films like Lion King/Aladdin. Hello? Uh, where do these writers think all that money the studio made CAME from in the first place?
You can’t just have your characters announce how they feel! That makes me feel angry!
My apologies.
