The Keys to the Kingdom: How Michael Eisner Lost His Grip | 
 enlarge | Author: Kim Masters
Publisher: William Morrow
Category: Book
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Avg. Customer Rating:  21 reviews
Sales Rank: 1127119
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 480
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.7
Dimensions (in): 9.4 x 5.9 x 1.7
ISBN: 0688174493
Dewey Decimal Number: 384.8092
EAN: 9780688174491
ASIN: 0688174493
Publication Date: April 1, 2000
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Condition: Publisher: William Morrow & CompanyDate of Publication: 2000Binding: Hard CoverCondition: Very GoodDescription: 0688174493 A former library book with the usual identifiers in a protective glossy dust jacket covering. Dust Jacket has some edgewear present. 2000 William Morrow & Company Hard Cover
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Book Description
A riveting account of Michael Eisner's outrageous, thrilling, and often self-destructive tenure as head of the Walt Disney Company Kim Masters, coauthor of the New York Times bestseller Hit & Run, has written a page-turning account of Michael Eisner's ascent at The Magic Kingdom. Based on hundreds of interviews with Hollywood's power players, she weaves Eisner's story together with those who have crossed his path: Barry Diller, Jeffrey Katzenberg, and Michael Ovitz. Masters traces Eisner's rivalry with Diller at ABC and Paramount and shows how at Disney, Eisner and Frank Wells rejuvenated the company. Masters also details the fallout between Eisner and Katzenberg (who was responsible for hits like Aladdin and The Lion King) after Wells's untimely death, and traces the move of uber-agent Michael Ovitz from CAA to an executive position at Disney, one of Hollywood's most spectacular failures.Kim Masters, coauthor of the New York Times bestseller Hit & Run, has written a page-turning account of Michael Eisner's ascent at The Magic Kingdom. Based on hundreds of interviews with Hollywood's power players, she weaves Eisner's story together with those who have crossed his path: Barry Diller, Jeffrey Katzenberg, and Michael Ovitz. Masters traces Eisner's rivalry with Diller at ABC and Paramount and shows how at Disney, Eisner and Frank Wells rejuvenated the company. Masters also details the fallout between Eisner and Katzenberg (who was responsible for hits like Aladdin and The Lion King) after Wells's untimely death, and traces the move of uber-agent Michael Ovitz from CAA to an executive position at Disney, one of Hollywood's most spectacular failures. The Keys to the Kingdom climaxes with the shocking and incredibly personal court battle between Eisner and Katzenberg, involving hundreds of millions of dollars.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 16 more reviews...
 digging into disney March 26, 2005
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
A very well written account of the movie business--detailing a lot of the major players. Discussion how decisions are made and how grown men act like little boys most of the time. This industry is ruthless and this book gives the reader on all the inside scoop about how that happens. A fascinating read. The pictures stink but thats ok.
Prescient Book April 12, 2004
2 out of 4 found this review helpful
Keys to the Kingdom predicted the current situation at Disney with remarkable accuracy. The insights about Michael Eisner turned out to be right on the mark.
 pretty terrible February 25, 2004
8 out of 17 found this review helpful
Oh Lord, this book is so unbelievably frustrating....more than any book I've ever read. Eisner, his life and his actions are so completely fascinating and Masters somehow manages to take all this great material and make it mind-numbingly boring...what was she thinking? That you could write a "nuanced" portrait of someone by throwing in hot gossip, sound bites, bits of articles from Time and Newsweek, as well as a bunch of stories that don't remotely relate to the main subject but are "dishy"? There was so much I wanted to know as I read this book, so many questions I had and she didn't answer any of them. Masters discusses Eisner's charm vs. his ruthlessness, she brings up provacative examples of his relationship to his family, his friends and his colleagues, and then steamrolls all of them by emphasizing how "aloof" he is and "imperial." Doesn't she know that when sketching a complicated portrait of someone, you can't just throw a bunch of facts around but you have to maintain interest by putting them TOGETHER to form a PERSPECTIVE, a CONTEXT. Much more time should have been spent on Eisner's days at Disney (rather than the completely gratuitous tales of his time at Paramount, and Star Trek, and Nimoy, and Gene Roddenberry, and Don Simpson, and Barry Diller, and...well you get the picture). I liked the parts about his childhood and his relationship to his parents, they should have been given much more space...but the biggest flaw of this book is the lack of info on the Eisner-Katzenberg relationship. Sure, Masters give plenty of space to financial issues about Katzenberg's bonus, but aside from Wall Street enthusiasts, who the hell cares? She COMPLETELY glosses over the roots of the Eisner-Katzenberg bond, and we never get an idea of WHY IN THE WORLD DID THESE TWO PEOPLE REMAIN TOGETHER FOR 19 YEARS IF THEY WERE SUCH ENEMIES? What held them together? How exactly did they meet? She talks about how Katzenberg was won over, like others, by Eisner's self-deprecating charm and his (Eisner's) confidence in him, about Katzenberg's not-so-great childhood and his problems with his own parents (very vague descriptions there as well) and how Katzenberg constantly "sought Eisner's approval". Why? What did Eisner offer him that no one else did? Why did Katzenberg follow Eisner from Paramount to Disney? She spends a whole lot of time talking (in a dry, Variety-kind-of-way) about the break-up, but the real question she (and other writers) have often missed is NOT why this relationship crashed and burned but why it was born in the first place. Why did Eisner need Katzenberg? Why did Katzenberg become so enamoured with animation, with his role at Disney, with a potential role as Eisner's number 2? These people are not carbon cut-outs, they are people. They are fascinating, complex characters and Masters gives them with about as much focus as subjects of an obituary. She seems more interested in how much money Captain EO lost, how much money Eisner allegedly cheated certain people out of, how much money Eisner paid Michael Ovitz, how much money Katzenberg wanted, how pissed Leonard Nimoy was at Paramount, what a disaster Star Trek: The Motion Picture was to produce. I don't know about you, but I didn't pick that book up to learn about this stuff. It's SO DIFFICULT to really learn about these people (Eisner and Katzenberg) despite their famous "relationship" or "feud" extremely little is really written about their interactions together as people...you have to research a ton of articles to even find out anything...this is such an interesting subject but whatever Master's knows that the rest of us don't, she isn't sharing. Her book (like many articles) unfortunately is pervaded with the "Everyone knows this" kind of tone that drives me nuts...well, I'm not a Hollywood producer, or director, or actor. I've never met either of these people, but that's why I'm interested! People buy books on Spielberg because they're interested, why the hypocricy? Masters book is slanted, glib, gossipy, disorganized, unfocused,and worst of all, insulting to the reader.
Not a full view of the man -- which proves the point! October 11, 2002
Some may say that Masters' book is biased against Eisner, but she does nothing except reiterate the feelings about him that have been voiced by many others in other forums. Maybe you want to give him the benefit of the doubt, but the duplicity, wishy-washiness, undercutting, second-guessing, micro-management and all around malevolence that is evidenced shows that's pretty much impossible. What we can't figure out is just why he is the way he is? Why does he casually cast aside decades-long friendships? Why doesn't he cultivate relationships with valuable talent instead of alienating them? What is most important to him that would cause him to make some the decisions he does? Eisner seems to be capable of cutting off his nose to spite his face--he fails to do things that would be beneficial to the company's bottom line which is what he claims to be most interested in. It doesn't add up. Still, it is fun reading about the Paramount years, the Katzenberg trial, etc. At this point in time (summer of 2002) when many believe Eisner is in danger of losing his job, this book gives us as much insight as possible as to the inner workings of Eisner's brain.
instead of burning
Masters Paints a Grim Picture of Disney's Inner Sanctum September 24, 2001
5 out of 6 found this review helpful
After reading Hit and Run and an excerpt from the this book in Vanity Fair, I couldn't wait to read "Keys to the Kingdom." I was not disappointed. Masters does a fine job of telling Eisner's (and the stories of those around him--Katzenberg, Diller, etc)story. Something about Eisner has always bit a bit unreal--even smarmy at times--and Masters holds nothing back. It isn't always balanced, but overall is fair. The details and stories are terrific--until the last 1/5th of the book. I was engrossed until the story turned the Katzenberg trial--where Masters drowned us in the details. I love details, but at times one needed a road map to keep. Masters is to be commended for a journalistic/insiders account of that dark time for Disney, but wow...I just had a time staying focused. However, on the whole the book is well worth the paper back price. You'll learn how Disney has never really gotten over the death of Frank Wells and why all those executives keep leaving. It is indeed a grim place; Eisner's inner sanctum. It is also another fascinating book.
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