|
The Animated Man: A Life of Walt Disney | 
 enlarge | Author: Michael Barrier
Publisher: University of California Press
Category: Book
List Price: $18.95
Buy New: $12.22
You Save: $6.73 (36%)
New (23) Used (5) from $12.22
Avg. Customer Rating:  17 reviews
Sales Rank: 38644
Media: Paperback
Edition: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 416
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.3
Dimensions (in): 8.9 x 6 x 1.2
ISBN: 0520256190
Dewey Decimal Number: 790
EAN: 9780520256194
ASIN: 0520256190
Publication Date: April 7, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Condition: SHIPS from 5 locations based on your Zip Code and availability! (PA TN IN OR SC) *-* Gift Quality *-* Orders Processed Immediately! - We get your book to you Very Quickly! -L2354.86322
|
| Also Available In:
|
| Similar Items:
|
| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
Walt Disney (1901-1966) was one of the most significant creative forces of the twentieth century, a man who made a lasting impact on the art of the animated film, the history of American business, and the evolution of twentieth-century American culture. He was both a creative visionary and a dynamic entrepreneur, roles whose demands he often could not reconcile.
In his compelling new biography, noted animation historian Michael Barrier avoids the well-traveled paths of previous biographers, who have tended to portray a blemish-free Disney or to indulge in lurid speculation. Instead, he takes the full measure of the man in his many aspects. A consummate storyteller, Barrier describes how Disney transformed himself from Midwestern farm boy to scrambling young businessman to pioneering artist and, finally, to entrepreneur on a grand scale. Barrier describes in absorbing detail how Disney synchronized sound with animation in Steamboat Willie; created in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs sympathetic cartoon characters whose appeal rivaled that of the best live-action performers; grasped television's true potential as an unparalleled promotional device; and--not least--parlayed a backyard railroad into the Disneyland juggernaut.
Based on decades of painstaking research in the Disney studio's archives and dozens of public and private archives in the United States and Europe, The Animated Man offers freshly documented and illuminating accounts of Disney's childhood and young adulthood in rural Missouri and Kansas City. It sheds new light on such crucial episodes in Disney's life as the devastating 1941 strike at his studio, when his ambitions as artist and entrepreneur first came into serious conflict.
Beginning in 1969, two and a half years after Disney's death, Barrier recorded long interviews with more than 150 people who worked alongside Disney, some as early as 1922. Now almost all deceased, only a few were ever interviewed for other books. Barrier juxtaposes Disney's own recollections against the memories of those other players to great effect. What emerges is a portrait of Walt Disney as a flawed but fascinating artist, one whose imaginative leaps allowed him to vault ahead of the competition and produce work that even today commands the attention of audiences worldwide.
|
| Customer Reviews: Read 12 more reviews...
 fair and balanced June 20, 2008
In preparation for a recent trip to WDW, I wanted to read a biography the man himself. I spent a good hour looking around on amazon at different bios and what sold me on this one was that it was the most recently published bio and it seemed to be written from a more scholarly standpoint by someone who had done significant research. Also, the page count told me that it was not the standard 200 page fluff bio.
Having read the book leading up to my trip (finishing it sitting by the pool at my resort in Disney), I really felt like I had a better understanding of what went into making a place like Disney. The visionary nature of this guy was clearly explained.
If you prefer longer, more in depth bios, this is the one for you. If you are looking for a shorter, more populist treatment, buy something else.
My one complaint would be that when the author starts explaining the process Walt used for the creation and release of each film, he seems to go into extreme detail that goes beyond what is needed in bio of a man and would fit better in a history of the company. But, I tended to just skip over 3-10 pages when I realized he was geeking out on that. The author's other book is on something about animation history or something, and this probably gave him a larger than normal interest in film history.
All in all, I loved reading this book especially leading up to and during a trip to Disney World.
 One of the Best February 2, 2008
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
Mike Barrier has been the dean of Disney scholars for many years and this book ranks with the best of Walt Disney biographies. His thoroughness and professionalism as well as his devotion to animation history and particularly to Walt Disney make any of his books required reading for anyone interested in this subject matter.
An Absolute Pleasure January 23, 2008
4 out of 5 found this review helpful
I have been fascinated with animation since childhood, and have avidly read animation history books for over twenty years. I discovered Michael Barrier relatively recently, and he has quickly become my favorite writer on the subject. The Animated Man and Hollywood Cartoons are two of the most enjoyable, compelling books on the subject of animation that have been written.
Barrier writes with an academic thoroughness, yet his prose style is a pleasure to read. He analyzes the merits and faults of Disney's body of work, and his conclusions are always compelling, well-researched and well-supported. Even when I do not agree with Barrier's opinions, I always find them riveting.
The Animated Man had the misfortune to see print not long after Neal Gabler's widely publicized Disney biography. Barrier's is the superior book. Among professional animators, it is already the Disney biography of choice. I am convinced that in years to come, it will be regarded as the definitive book on Walt Disney.
Exceptional! January 22, 2008
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
Michael Barrier has written an interesting, honest and enjoyable account of the life of Walt Disney. Even if you've read a LOT about Walt, this book will still surprise you with new anecdotes and details. The coverage of Walt's 1920's and 30's successes is especially comprehensive. There's not quite as much attention paid to, say, the theme park or the live-action films. But you won't miss it. Pick this one up--one of the best books I've read in the last year.
Simply the best available resource on the life and work of a genius January 19, 2008
5 out of 6 found this review helpful
Although it had the misfortune of being released after another biography of the same man, written by a much more famous/mainstream author, this is without doubt the better of the two books about Walt Disney. As a matter of fact Barrier's "The Animated Man" is the best book yet written on Disney and his times--and most crucially, his profession.
Michael Barrier has impeccable credentials in the area of animation history and appreciation. He's written, studied published about and personally interviewed dozens of the key figures who worked at the Disney studio; virtually all long dead now--but Barrier got to them starting decades ago before many memories were dulled by time and age.
Of all the studios he's an authority on, his knowlege of the Disney studio takes precedence. He's a stickler for facts, truth and detail--not the dull, irrelevant sort but the kind that give the reader the comfort of feeling that the author really knows what he's writing about. That in particular is the biggest distinction this title has over the other current Disney biography. That, and the lack of any sort of tired agenda--the huckster's need to make Walt into some sort of symbol or postmodern neurotic flawed god--there's none of that nonsense here. Just a well-written, incisive, fascinating tracing of the life journey of a remarkable but not infallible creative genius.
Here you'll find the Disney that you can imagine knowing (or trying to know) as a real person: the struggling artist and businessman, the innovator, the dreamer, the midwestern striver who never gave up and held his own in the tough world of sophisticated Hollywood. And who by sheer determination and a vision no one else in the entertainment industry shared made a new kind of entertainment: the (commercial) animated feature film. He also made art. He did all this by trying to find the best stories, the best artists and technicians, and the best way to tell those stories. Money was secondary to him--not unimportant, just a reward he felt would certainly come IF he made great quality entertainment that topped whatever else was being made. He gambled--and won.
All of it's here, in this book, told with candor but no malice, with wit but no sarcasm, with clarity and with style.
A superb biography.
|
|
|
Powered by Associate-O-Matic
| |
