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Rating: 
Summary: It's A Wonderful Life
Review: A great reader containing interviews conducted through the years with the great Charles Schulz. Schulz always gives a great interview and is always interesting. The centerpiece of this book is a lengthy interview with Gary Groth for the Comics Journal, which touched upon almost every topic you can think of. Highly recommended for fans of Peanuts and is another reminder of how much the man has contributed to our lives.
Rating: 
Summary: Some Good Insights Into Schulz
Review: I picked up this book of various interviews that Charles Schulz did from the mid-1950's to the late -1990's to get a better feel for the creator of the world's greatest comic strip, Peanuts. There are some interesting insights here, particularly into Schulz's personality. You really see that the lonliness and feelings of defeat suffered by Charlie Brown for almost 50 years were what Schulz felt for his childhood and a great deal of his adult life.A lot of the questions asked by the various interviewers dealt with Schulz's religious beliefs, given the fact that many of the Peanuts comics had a religious tone to them. I found some of Schulz's comments interesting, but I never cared that much for those particular Peanuts strips, so a significant portion of this book didn't hold much interest for me. It was interesting to see how the interviews conducted by writers employed by comic book magazines seemed very critical of Schulz related to the commercialization of Peanuts (i.e. Ford Motor ads in the 1960's, MetLife, etc.) I think Schulz handled these queries very well and also shows how tough he could be when pressed. I think if you've read Rheta Johnson's terrific biography of Schulz and seen thegreat documentary on A&E, you'll have the best background of Schulz. This book is best served as a "fill in the blanks" supplement to those media.
Rating:
Summary: Inside a pop culture icon
Review: Not the usual skimpy biography or comic compilation, this is a lengthy (300-plus pages) and thoughtful Q&A session between Schulz and well-prepared and insightful interviewers. Schulz' modesty, thoughts on life and humor, and love of his craft are easy to discern, and the details of the history of "Peanuts" and the creative process are, quite obviously, as "inside" as they come. Amply illustrated with comic strips. A fitting tribute.
Rating:
Summary: Inside a pop culture icon
Review: Not the usual skimpy biography or comic compilation, this is a lengthy (300-plus pages) and thoughtful Q&A session between Schulz and well-prepared and insightful interviewers. Schulz' modesty, thoughts on life and humor, and love of his craft are easy to discern, and the details of the history of "Peanuts" and the creative process are, quite obviously, as "inside" as they come. Amply illustrated with comic strips. A fitting tribute.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting insights
Review: This interesting book which consist of about 16 interviews done by Charles M. Schulz (out of nearly 300) which Schulz revealed his backgrounds, motives and understanding of his works. Reading the interviews from the 1950s to the 1990s, it revealed an interesting evolution of Schulz's character, insights and his development as a cartoonist as he grow older and his "Peanut" empire got bigger. While you can't considered this as a biography, reader will definitely get a clear understanding of Schulz's personality from these interviews. I was surprised that there was no mentioned of how Schulz and NASA got involved since Apollo 10 used Charlie Brown and Snoopy as code names. Such absolute faith in NASA probably needed further review. Overall though, an excellent book that probably should be read by all fans of Charlie Brown and Snoopy strip.
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