Format: ebook
Published: September 17th, 2021
Age: Adult
Genre: Non-Fiction – Biography – History
Rating: 4/5 Stars
Let’s start here: I’m a Disney fangirl. I’m not the biggest, by any stretch. I don’t make regular pilgrimages to any of the parks, but if I could, I absolutely would. When I was 4, my family were involved in a pretty bad car accident which, somehow, we all walked away from. We were on our way to the airport for the biggest holiday of our lives; a trip to Florida. I was a bit poorly when we were out there – the aftereffect of the crash – and had to utilize the pushchairs available at each of the parks. But I celebrated my 5th birthday by going to Disney World and making my family ride It’s a Small World again, and my experience was incredibly positive, even if I spent a whole 24 hours passed out asleep after being given some medication. It’s hard to fully explain the impact going to the most Magical Place on Earth had after that kind of experience, but I think it made me a Disney fan for life. Since then, I’ve been to Disney Paris twice – once on a school trip, and once for my 30th when my partner took me.
That’s not to say I can’t also be critical of Disney and aware of their many faults! But like a lot of things, I am fascinated by Disney, and by Disney history. I love watching the documentaries about the parks, and recently I found myself listening to the BBC’s series telling Walt Disney’s life through the films he helmed. And I am definitely fascinated by Walt Disney himself, and though a lot of the early days of Disney the company have been covered, I don’t come across as much exploring the earlier years, and this book definitely plugs a gap.
It gives a lot of context to the world Disney grew up in, and doesn’t just start with Walt himself, but goes back, tracing his family right back to the Norman invasion of England. And as we move on and get closer to Walt’s parents, we start to get more of the context, the wider history, and this works really well to add that extra layer, to give additional understanding to the lives of the Disney family and the way Walt was shaped growing up, his relationships with his parents, siblings and wider family against a backdrop of various environments. Kiste ensures we get a full picture of this historical context, too, seeing how local crime or business or culture impacted the Disney family.
It’s a really interesting read from both a history and biography perspective, and really provides the cultural context for the forming of entertainment’s biggest company. What’s also striking is how often Walt got knocked back; he didn’t come from a family with money, but was taught early on the value of hard work. It’s the kind of story that can only take place, really, in the early 20th Century, as Walt’s family move from place to place, and Walt himself follows a similar pattern, even crossing over to France as part of the war effort post-WWI. I will admit, there’s a lot of underlying “American Dream” elements to this (but isn’t there so much of that naturally in Walt’s story?), and the WWI discussion really had a tinge “isn’t America just so great in helping the poor Europeans”. There’s also a line regarding Walt’s relationship with his future wife, which started when he was her boss, that kind of irked me slightly – it makes it clear there was nothing ‘inappropriate’ in the way Walt approached Lillian, who was, at the time, an ink and paint girl. And I get it – things were very different back then, but I think the line itself would have been better left out, as all it really does is draw attention to how inappropriate this would be, especially to more modern audiences who have a clear understanding of dynamics!
Nitpicks aside, overall I found this to be an interesting, informative read with lots of insight and a clear love for the subject, though definitely not one to pick up if you want something more objective.
Reading Challenge
Be curious – Non-Fiction Challenge 2025
Prompt: Biography – The retelling of the lives of other people
Progress: 8/12
Unwrapping Words 