''DisneyWar'' is a book that serves as an exposé of

Michael Eisner Michael Dammann Eisner (born March 7, 1942) is an American businessman and former chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of The Walt Disney Company from September 1984 to September 2005. Prior to Disney, Eisner was president of rival film st ...

's 20-year tenure as chairman and CEO at

The Walt Disney Company The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Disney Stud ...

by James B. Stewart. The book chronicles the careers and interactions of executives at Disney, including

Card Walker Esmond Cardon Walker (January 9, 1916 – November 28, 2005), commonly known as E. Cardon Walker or Card Walker, was an American businessman who served as a top executive at Walt Disney Productions during the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. He was born in ...

, Ron W. Miller,

Roy E. Disney Roy Edward Disney KCSG (January 10, 1930 – December 16, 2009) was an American businessman. He was the longtime senior executive for the Walt Disney Company, which was founded by his father, Roy O. Disney, and his uncle, Walt Disney. At the ti ...

Frank Wells Franklin G. Wells (March 4, 1932 – April 3, 1994) was an American businessman who served as president of The Walt Disney Company from 1984 until his death in 1994. Life and career Wells was born in Coronado, California and traced his ancestry ...

Jeffrey Katzenberg Jeffrey Katzenberg (; born December 21, 1950) is an American filmmaker, animator, and media proprietor. He became well known for his tenure as chairman of Walt Disney Studios from 1984 to 1994. After departing Disney, he was a co-founder and C ...

Michael Ovitz Michael Steven Ovitz (born December 14, 1946) is an American businessman, investor, and philanthropist. He was a talent agent who co-founded Creative Artists Agency (CAA) in 1975 and served as its chairman until 1995. Ovitz later served as preside ...

Joe Roth Joseph Emanuel Roth is an American film executive, producer and director. He co-founded Morgan Creek Productions in 1988 and was chairman of 20th Century Fox (1989–1993), Caravan Pictures (1993–1994), and Walt Disney Studios (1994–20 ...

, Bob Iger and

Stan Kinsey Stan Kinsey is a former Disney executive and co-founder of Iwerks Entertainment, along with Oscar winner and Disney Legend Don Iwerks. Kinsey is best known as a visionary who sought to take The Walt Disney Company in the direction of computer an ...

. The book was released in 2005, and was published by

Simon & Schuster Simon & Schuster () is an American publishing company and a subsidiary of Paramount Global. It was founded in New York City on January 2, 1924 by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. As of 2016, Simon & Schuster was the third largest pu ...

. Its uniqueness was attributed to the large amount of access allowed to Stewart in putting the book together.

Content

Stewart's book describes some of the following: *

and

Stanley Gold Stanley Phillip Gold (born September 10, 1942) is the former president and CEO of Shamrock Holdings, Roy E. Disney's private investment company, from 1985 to 2013, and is currently serving as chairman of its board of directors. He was on the Wal ...

's removal of Disney CEO Ron W. Miller in 1984. *

's clash with

over creating films using computer animation. * The struggle to get ''

Who Framed Roger Rabbit ''Who Framed Roger Rabbit'' is a 1988 American live-action/animated comedy mystery film directed by Robert Zemeckis, produced by Frank Marshall and Robert Watts, and loosely adapted by Jeffrey Price and Peter S. Seaman from Gary K. Wolf's 19 ...

'' made in time and on budget despite the ambitions of Robert Zemeckis and Richard Williams to make the film bigger and bolder. * Eisner's tension with

before Wells's death. * Eisner's friendship-turned-rivalry with

. * Eisner's tension with

during Ovitz's short-lived presidency. * The purchase of the ABC Family channel and content, and the fallout resulting from Disney's inability to revive it. * Eisner attempting to shut down the first ''Pirates of the Caribbean'' movie. *

's abrupt resignation on November 30, 2003. * The Comcast hostile takeover attempt. *

Hilary Duff Hilary Erhard Duff (born September 28, 1987) is an American actress and singer. She is the recipient of various accolades, including seven Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards, four Teen Choice Awards and two Young Artist Awards. She began her acti ...

's decision to quit Disney Channel because of low salary. *

Pixar Pixar Animation Studios (commonly known as Pixar () and stylized as P I X A R) is an American computer animation studio known for its critically and commercially successful computer animated feature films. It is based in Emeryville, Californ ...

's decision not to renew its relationship with Disney. * Financing of the 2004 documentary film '' Fahrenheit 9/11''. * The 2004 shareholders' meeting that led to Eisner's resignation as chairman.

Reviews

A ''

USA Today ''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virgi ...

'' article by journalist David Lieberman stated that the story "may not sound like a page turner, but ''DisneyWar'' is." He referred to Stewart as an "accomplished storyteller who had the luck or foresight to stake out a company filled with colorful executives in a glamorous business—at the moment investors decided they had had enough".

Editions

References

2005 non-fiction books Books about Disney Simon & Schuster books Books by James B. Stewart Michael Eisner Jeffrey Katzenberg {{Disney-stub