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Sales rank 250,114
Customers rating (based on 107 reviews)
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"When You Wish Upon a Star," "Whistle While You Work," "The Happiest Place on Earth"—these are lyrics indelibly linked to Disney, one of the most admired and best-known companies in the world. So when Roy Disney, chairman of Walt Disney Animation and nephew of founder Walt Disney, abruptly resigned in November 2003 and declared war on chairman and chief executive Michael Eisner, he sent shock waves through the entertainment industry, corporate boardrooms, theme parks, and living rooms around the world—everywhere Disney does business and its products are cherished. DisneyWar is the breathtaking, dramatic inside story of what drove America’s best-known entertainment company to civil war, told by one of our most acclaimed writers and reporters. Drawing on unprecedented access to both Eisner and Roy Disney, current and former Disney executives and board members, as well as thousands of pages of never-before-seen letters, memos, transcripts, and other documents, James B. Stewart gets to the bottom of mysteries that have enveloped Disney for years: What really caused the rupture with studio chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg, a man who once regarded Eisner as a father but who became his fiercest rival? How could Eisner have so misjudged Michael Ovitz, a man who was not only "the most powerful man in Hollywood" but also his friend, whom he appointed as Disney president and immediately wanted to fire? What caused the break between Eisner and Pixar chairman Steve Jobs, and why did Pixar abruptly abandon its partnership with Disney? Why did Eisner so mistrust Roy Disney that he assigned Disney company executives to spy on him? How did Eisner control the Disney board for so long, and what really happened in the fateful board meeting in September 2004, when Eisner played his last cards? Here, too, is the creative process that lies at the heart of Disney—from the making of The Lion King to Pirates of the Caribbean. Even as the executive suite has been engulfed in turmoil, Disney has worked—and sometimes clashed—with a glittering array of stars, directors, designers, artists, and producers, many of whom tell their stories here for the first time. Stewart describes how Eisner lost his chairmanship and why he felt obliged to resign as CEO, effective 2006. No other book so thoroughly penetrates the secretive world of the corporate boardroom. DisneyWar is an enthralling tale of one of America’s most powerful media and entertainment companies, the people who control it, and those trying to overthrow them. DisneyWar is an epic achievement. It tells a story that—in its sudden twists, vivid, larger-than-life characters, and thrilling climax—might itself have been the subject of a Disney animated classic—except that it’s all true.
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| Publisher | Simon & Schuster | | Release date | 02/2005 | | Availability | | | Edition | Hardcover |
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Emperor Eisner: The juicy details about bad behavior at the Magic Kingdom are astonishing and at times engrossing. (@ Business Week)
How Much Damage Can One Book Do? [Answer: A Lot]: There are no heroes in DisneyWar, James B. Stewart's behind-the-scenes account of Michael Eisner's reign atop the Walt Disney Co. Eisner comes across as smart, creative, committed to excellence, impetuous, thoroughly untrustworthy, paranoid, and a ho (@ Fortune)
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 Good Book
I was surprised how glued I became with this book. I usually don't read books more then 300 pages but this keep my entertained and interested. I never knew how much was going within Disney. I would recommend this book.
What would Walt Disney say?
Part corporate behind the scenes, part soap opera, this book is a really enjoyable read. The book centers on Disney's former megalomaniac CEO and all the dysfunctional behavior going on in the company.
Image was everything
James Stewart's book is a fantastic overview of the Disney history but especially the detailing of Michael Eisner's rise to power and how he stayed there. I was especially taken by the descriptions of all the TV shows and movies I either watched or heard about through the years and hearing the intense history behind the scenes, the personalities and creative ideas and how decisions were made. The creative people at Disney are amazing but you can see that there were clear collaborative efforts made between different teams. It is also amazing how political the whole organization became and how everyone seemed to fear Eisner. If anyone desires to manage creative, energetic people this book will detail how *not* to do it with many examples from the 80s through 2005. This book will also instruct you on how it is important to nurture a corporate culture that asks questions of upper management and encourages dissenting opinions at different stages of the creative process. The book also teaches us how to be very aware of what Daniel Goleman calls the "glitter factor" when we look at people at the top. Giving upper management a blank cheque is a dangerous trap for employees who have responsibilities...especially in a public company.
Ultimately, Eisner was his worst enemy and hopefully managers and CEOs like him will find that humility goes a long way when you want to lead well.
Well-researched, Well-written Book That May Be Too Detailed for Most
This 4 and 1/2-star book is a wonderfully detailed account of the rise and fall of Michael Eisner within the Disney company. It is very well written but needs some editing--most of the accounts are so detailed that at times you want to say to the author: "Just summarize it for me!" His access to the major players allowed him to have minute inside information that includes physical gestures, specific meals eaten, and phone conversations.
In the end Eisner and Jeffrey Katzenberg look like spoiled brats that use Disney as their playground. You will be disgusted as you read page after page of lying and cheating people, while lower-level executives are just yes-men that say anything to keep their jobs. There are few heroes here. Roy Disney is certainly criticized throughout (even called "idiot" and other bad names) but he seems like the sensible one, whereas the highly-paid guys that run the company seem totally blind to the real world (Eisner had never seen an animated Disney movie until the year before he took over!?!). Ironically, it is Eisner who comes across as the idiot when he fights the pre-production of some of the company's biggest successes while championing some of its largest flops. Eisner also never seems to shake his rich-kid persona and is only attracted to hiring young male rich kids who carry his same style of bravado.
The book does skip over major of the major events in the Disney company history by just mentioning a movie or devoting only a couple paragraphs to a company-altering film. If you are looking for a history of Disney films from the past two decades, this isn't the book. They are glossed over to instead focus on the business aspects and behind-the-scenes leadership fights.
Another problem is that the book often states as fact things that are actually opinions the author gleaned from conversations with one of the major players. The writer will state conversations as fact but not attribute who reported that version of the discussion.
The book also has a couple of really big factual errors, simple things that a fact checker should have picked up. At one point the author calls the TV show "Friends" a "drama" and the hit Disney Channel show is called "She's So Raven" instead of the correct title "That's So Raven."
In the end it's all about Eisner. He is a total, complete, egomaniacal fake. A born liar who appears to have no ethics. Anything to make a buck and make himself look good, always worrying about how every tiny move in the company will impact him. How in the world did Eisner get away with all of this for so many years and then make multiple millions on top of it? The one person who tried to stop him, Michael Ovitz, was out of the company faster than Katzenberg. And for the notorious jerk Ovitz to look like a hero means Eisner was really a terrible human being!
It's a great inside look into how Hollywood operates and the dysfunctional people who run the companies. The lessons learned can apply to anyone who works for any hierarchy, proving that you should never believe anything those in charge say and the more they praise you the greater chance they really hate you! The Disney culture ends up being untruthful, anti-family and one of the worst companies on the planet. It will make you never want to spend a penny on a Disney item again.
 Rambling but fun expose
Rambling but fun expose of Disney's run under the leadership of Michael Eisner, this book ultimately is more a series of anecdotes about Eisner than a serious history of Disney.
But Steward keeps it moving with interesting facts and human-interest accounts from the inside of Disney that movie and park patrons never see. For example, when Eisner took over in 1984, Disney owned only 3 hotels, one at Disney Land and two (Contemporary and Polynesian) at Disney World. They were at the time in negotiations with Marriott to build and run more, but unbeknown to Disney execs, Marriott was using the relationship to see if they wanted to buy Disney! Eisner stepped in and said "why can't Disney build hotels that aren't just concrete boxes, but are part of the park experience." So they did, and found a source of new revenue and extended the park experience. But Marriott, angered by what they thought was a breach of contract, threatened to sue, so Disney allowed them to have a design competition for two hotels which would be selected by Disney but built, owned, and run by Marriott. The Swan and Dolphin hotels in Orlando were the result.
On the movie/TV side, it is interesting to learn that Eisner passed on Lord of the Rings, CSI, and Survivor, sold the rights to The Sixth Sense, and hated Lost, Desperate Housewives, Pirates of the Caribbean, and Finding Nemo.
Obviously while Disney grew under his tutelage, it wasn't perfect, and the final section of the book traces the stockholder revolt that still isn't resolved as Eisner remains at the helm.
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