Rating: 
Summary: Walt Disney is trashed by a hack
Review: The positive reviews of this book have amazed me. This book is more than 300 pages of personal attacks and insults on everything Disney as ever produced or written. The author seems intent on personally insulting Disney and portraying him as a small-town idiot savante with no taste and no talent. He has dug up critical reviews of every Disney feature and manages to insult everything from Donald Duck to Bambi. The pretentiousness is laughable, and it seems as if every statement he makes ends with '... of course" to say that anyone with any intelligence obviously agrees with his every statement. An example of the laughable prose in this book: "Strategic bombing has, possibly, a special appeal to people of a midwestern background, for whom it may be the reverse coin of the region's traditional isolationism." (???) I expected this book to be critical of Disney; I have no problem with that. This book, however, portrays the man as an idiot with no taste and little talent and descends to such a low level of insults that it can only be considered a hatchet job.
Rating: 
Summary: Important but tedious academic muck-raking
Review: This was the first book to peer behind the Disney PR curtain and poke a stick at the 'magic' of Walt Disney, the company, the man, and the myth. An eye-opening expose of a modern day 'saint'. Unfortunately, the book drags, is way too academic and clinical, and has a definite hateful negative slant. Disney was no saint, but he wasn't the ... either.
Rating: 
Summary: Walt Disney is critiqued by someone who appreciates him.
Review: Unauthorized biographies are usually excuses to disembowel people whom the author doesn't like, but not this time. Schickel examines Walt Disney's virtues and vices, but sees them as a reflection of the virtues and vices of America. And like America, Disney is misunderstood by both his supporters and detractors.While Schickel finds fault in some of Disney's decisions and creations, he recognizes that Disney understood the American soul better than most self-styled intellectuals.
The book details the world in which Disney grew up, including cruelties usually glossed over in official Disney biographies. It examines Disney's films, theme park attractions and creations as both American myths and glimpses into Disney's worldview.
Within recent years paperback reprintings of the book have added an update chapter, "Disney Without Walt". The update reviews the financial problems and creative missteps of the Disney organization that almost resulted in an unfriendly takeover, and how Disney's spirit still affects the corporation's works. Schickel also took the opportunity to revise some judgements in the original book; it's a rare media critic that admits that he can make a mistake.
Rating:
Summary: a negative bio of a very positive man
Review: Walt Disney died in 1966, only a few months after being disgnosed with cancer. In 1968, Richard Schickel rushed his book "The Disney Version" to the press as as some kind of "revealing" obituary that would supposedly enlighten us all on the myth and legend of this 'terrible' man. The overall tone of the book was that now he would tell everyone the "truth" about what a fraud Disney was. In reality, the book is full of opinions and assumptions and untruths.
He claims in the beginning of the book that, when asked, Walt couldn't even write his name in the style of his famous trademark signature. Mr. Schickel claims that Walt hired a special "signature man" to sign things for him, because in reality he had no talent and ability to do anything on his own... not even write his own name. I had to ask myself... even if he couldn't write his famous signature, does it even matter in comparision to his incredible lifetime achievements? It seems the author could have strayed away from such petty things, but as I continued to read I found that sadly, the pettyness only worsened. I suppose if you HATE Walt Disney, you'll find something slightly entertaining in this tabloid style of writing, but even considering that... the writing is not really that intelligent or interesting at all.
Rating:
Summary: a negative bio of a very positive man
Review: Walt Disney died in 1966, only a few months after being disgnosed with cancer. In 1968, Richard Schickel rushed his book "The Disney Version" to the press as as some kind of "revealing" obituary that would supposedly enlighten us all on the myth and legend of this 'terrible' man. The overall tone of the book was that now he would tell everyone the "truth" about what a fraud Disney was. In reality, the book is full of opinions and assumptions and untruths. He claims in the beginning of the book that, when asked, Walt couldn't even write his name in the style of his famous trademark signature. Mr. Schickel claims that Walt hired a special "signature man" to sign things for him, because in reality he had no talent and ability to do anything on his own... not even write his own name. I had to ask myself... even if he couldn't write his famous signature, does it even matter in comparision to his incredible lifetime achievements? It seems the author could have strayed away from such petty things, but as I continued to read I found that sadly, the pettyness only worsened. I suppose if you HATE Walt Disney, you'll find something slightly entertaining in this tabloid style of writing, but even considering that... the writing is not really that intelligent or interesting at all.
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