Gabler also offered me something slightly unusual: a reading experience where I frequently found myself slowing my pace in order to more fully savor the literary journey.įrom an engrossing introduction to coverage of the early days of the Disney Brothers Studio to a surprisingly interesting exploration of motion picture technology and, finally, to the consummation of Disney’s dream of building a theme park, Gabler’s book offers an impressive balance of insight, erudition and accessibility.īut fastidious detail and insight is not just one of this book’s great gifts, it is also the biography’s primary vice.

Like many talented and highly-driven individuals, Walt Disney was a far more complex person than is generally appreciated and this biography adroitly captures his multifaceted (and occasionally unpleasant) personality. Every important moment of Walt’s early life appears to have been uncovered and, at times, it seems certain Gabler must have followed Disney through his entire life…and interviewed everyone who ever knew him. To suggest this book is built upon a foundation of impressive research seems an understatement. This biography of Walt Disney is one of two recent, compelling works reviewing the life of a man whose lasting impression on American culture is indisputable (the other being Michael Barrier’s 2007 “ The Animated Man.”) Biography aficionados will quickly discover that Gabler’s hefty book – with 633 pages of text and about 200 pages of notes and bibliography – provides much to enjoy. He is currently working on a biography of Edward Kennedy. Gabler is an author, journalist and former film critic whose previous books include a biography of Barbra Streisand and a behind-the-scenes look at Hollywood. “ Walt Disney: The Triumph of the American Imagination” by Neal Gabler was published in 2006 and won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Biography. Walt Disney: The Triumph of the American Imagination

Walt Disney by Neal Gabler