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spencyrrh's review against another edition
2.0
Michael Eisner sucks. Many other corporate executives also suck. This book made me snooze. Little of it concerns cartoons.
mcc's review
4.0
I would think I would absolutely hate a book about yet another egomaniacal white man who gets totally unearned power and privilege and then wreaking havoc without any repercussions. And while, yes, I obviously do hate that this is the way the world works, it was written in a very journalistic way to try to give this feeling of detachment and objectivity - although all the facts quote to him being an egomaniac so the author absolutely does not NEED to add any coloring, just present what happens and the story tells itself. I just finished the Wolf Hall series and the parallels between Eisner and Henry VII for me were uncanny. CEOs/Billionaires are really just the modern version of Kings - they have basically unlimited power - even if there are 'laws' that are supposed to keep them in check, they intimidate the people who make or enforce the laws into bending them or being too scared to call them out or otherwise lose everything. So while it was infuriating, something about this 'all of this has been going on since the existence of mankind' aspect also helped me not get too hot under-the-collar, because it's not something I can change, so I just have to accept it and live my life.
matthewosborne's review against another edition
informative
reflective
slow-paced
4.0
I enjoyed this book but found it a tad long. I think some of it could have been cut and still retained the same story of Michael Eisner’s tenure as Disney ceo.
I much preferred the sections of the book prior to the author’s shadowing of Eisner.
I much preferred the sections of the book prior to the author’s shadowing of Eisner.
pichu0331's review against another edition
informative
medium-paced
5.0
The best book I’ve read in years
william_sg's review against another edition
3.0
First half is strong but once it gets to the ABC Family deal, it squanders all of its time on a series of he said/he said and executive backroom drama. Creatives get short shrift as the book becomes more focused on Eisner’s behavior with the board and less on his influence on projects. I wish this was a bit more focused on the creative/entertainment side all the way through. Author is a business/government historian. It shows. Bit of a bummer. Somewhat of a difficult recommend.