Animated Man

Walt Disney (1901-1966) was one of the most significant creative forces of the twentieth century, a man who made a lasting impact on the art of the animated film, the history of American business, and the evolution of twentieth-century American culture. He was both a creative visionary and a dynamic entrepreneur, roles whose demands he often could not reconcile. In his compelling new biography, noted animation historian Michael Barrier takes the full measure of the man in all his many aspects. In a storyteller's lively prose, Barrier describes how Disney transformed himself from Midwestern farm boy to scrambling young businessman to pioneering artist and finally to entrepreneur on a grand scale. Based on decades of painstaking research in the Disney studio's archives and dozens of public and private archives in the United States and Europe, "The Animated Man "offers a portrait of Walt Disney as a flawed but fascinating artist, one whose imaginative leaps allowed him to vault ahead of the competition and produce work that even today commands the attention of audiences worldwide.