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DisneyWar
Book

DisneyWar

James B. Stewart
Simon & Schuster, 2005

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Editorial Rating

7

Recommendation

Pulitzer prize winner James B. Stewart paints a portrait of Michael Eisner that has more in common with a totalitarian dictator than with most CEOs. Stewart is careful, though, to trace the Walt Disney Company’s growth and success under Eisner, even though he was really running Disney for the benefit of just a handful of people - including himself. And, just as carefully, Stewart traces the company’s spiraling internal chaos. The pluses: the author tells an instructive, intricate corporate saga in intriguing detail. Minuses: He is no expert on the film industry and the narrative doesn’t build much momentum. Frustratingly, although no doubt for sound reportorial reasons, he also mostly refuses to draw conclusions until the short final chapter. getAbstract.com recommends this troubling portrait of corporate excess and misbehavior to all managers and to students of entertainment and media as a lesson on the pitfalls of untamed corporate politics and unbridled CEO power.

Take-Aways

  • Michael Eisner, Frank Wells and Jeffrey Katzenberg led a revival of the Walt Disney Company that turned it into a global media giant.
  • Much of Eisner’s success came during the early part of his Disney tenure.
  • Eisner turned his "partner" Katzenberg into an enemy, as he had done with others.

About the Author

James B. Stewart is a regular contributor to SmartMoney and The New Yorker, and a former Page-One editor for The Wall Street Journal. He won a Pulitzer Prize for his reporting on the stock market crash and insider trading. He is the author of Den of Thieves, Blind Eye and Blood Sport.

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