Hey Guys ! I received a few gift cards for Xmas, and would like to invest in a few books. I would like your recommendations - what are some of your favourite reads about our favourite place ?
Thanks in advance for any suggestions of titles or authors !
âWalt Disney: The Triumph of the American Imaginationâ by Neal Gabler is an AWESOME biography of Walt. Also gives a very good history of the studios and the construction of Disneyland. One of the best biographies I have read.
âThe Art of Walt Disneyâ by Christopher Finch is a âlavishlyâ illustrated âcoffee tableâ book that gives a solid, if not overly detailed, history of the Disney Studios. I have the original 1973 hard cover edition, but Finch has more recently done an updated version (that I want to get). Also of the âcoffee tableâ variety is âDisney Animation: The Illusion of Lifeâ by Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnson. This is an amazing âtextbookâ on how âDisneyâ animation is done; gives an amazing insight to what it really took to bring the classic, hand-drawn, animated films to the screen. Currently out of print, but try to find a hard cover copy on Amazon or ebay (the paperback was seriously abridged - as was the paperback release of the original âArt of Disneyâ).
You can also read Carl Hiaasonâs book Rat Race. It details how Disney set up shell corporations to buy land in Florida. If they came in as Disney, they most likely would have hit price gouging.
I fully agree with @bswan26 about Frank and Ollieâs âDisney Animation: The Illusion of Lifeâ. It is essentially the animatorâs Bible, but even if you are not interested in the technical detail it is full of beautiful artwork.As he mentions, you want to look for an original edition of it (1981 Abbeville Press ISBN 0896592332) - if I recall correctly the subsequent editions were made from scans of the original, so the quality of the artwork suffered significantly.