Inside the Dream

by Richard Harris Greene, Katherine Barrett Greene

A stunning, elaborately illustrated biography of the man who had an immeasurable impact upon American culture. This timely biography, told through the captivating and vivid words of those who knew, and studied Walt Disney, provides the most revelatory protrait to date of the man who has become an icon of American culture. More than 70 men and women were interviewed, including friends, employees, and historians, adversaries and rivals, and, most especially, family members, who add a special "private" contest to a very public work.

Genres: Biography, Nonfiction

192 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 2001

About the author

Richard H. Greene, a principal in Barrett and Greene, Inc., along with his wife and collaborator Katherine Barrett, is known nationally for his work on state and local government. He has done extensive work for the Pew Center on the States and has remained involved with the Government Performance Project, which he and Barrett helped develop ten years ago. In addition, Greene is a correspondent and management columnist for Governing magazine and a founding editor of the B&G Report, a monthly e-newsletter about state and local government management. He is also co-author of Powering Up, a Governing Management Series book about information technology in the public sector and has served on advisory panels for a number of groups including the Governmental Accounting Standards Board, the Urban Institute, the Auburn University Center for Governmental Services and ASPA's Center for Accountability and Performance.

The husband and wife writing team are also known nationally for their journalistic writing and for their series of projects about Walt Disney which include two biographies, a CD of Disney, and the ABC Television documentary entitled Walt: the Man Behind the Myth. They are the authors of hundreds of magazine articles and have written five books, as a team. The couple presently manage the virtual Walt Disney Family Museum and run a blog about the stimulus act for the IBM Center for the Business of Government.

Reviews

[Kim Irmen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved learning more about the man behind the Disney empire. My favorite parts were about him as a father and grandfather. His love for children and play and imagination are why he was so successful and still a legend today.

[Jenelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every Disney fanatic must own this book!

[Mark Clarkson · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fascinating read

[Doug · Rating 5 out of 5]

And bam, just like that that. I'm in the middle of one of the biggest book challenges of my life, challenging myself to read seventy-five books within the calendar year of 2012 when I pick up a book that's been on my "Currently-Reading" shelf on goodreads for about two years, a book that I haven't really been avoiding, but that I just needed a nudge in the right direction to finally get around to reading. I got that nudge and with that, I got what is currently my favorite book that I've read so far this year, nearly halfway through the year and I'm sitting at thirty-six books read, almost halfway complete on my challenge.

Here's the thing, there's almost no way I wasn't going to love this book. I'm a huge Disney fan and I'm a big believer in living my personal life in ways that Walt Disney described. Which sounds kinda creepy/cultish and while I'm no where close to worshipping at the Altar of Walt, he has some choice quotes that I think are good philosophies to live your life by. Trust in your fellow man. Having a bad day? Smile, it'll make everything better. Do your best to accomplish your dreams, don't let anything stand in the way of your dreams. All good ideas to live by and all of those things weigh on my mind and remind of how I should be living, when I'm at my favorite place in the world, Walt Disney World.

But Doug, you say. All of this is just what the Disney marketers want you to believe, want you to think, so you'll buy tickets to their very expensive theme park and go to every movie they release within the year. Could you be right? Maybe, probably even. All I know, whether this book is factual and accurate of the man Walt Disney was, doesn't even really matter to me. What I loved about this book, was that yeah, it was pretty sugary about the man, though I don't think it hid all of his flaws and in those chapters and paragraphs, I loved the book even more. But none of it matters, because whoever Walt was, he's inspired people to live their lives a certain way and to do their best to be better and happier people. I've never been happier in my life than when I was standing on the breezeway at the Contemporary resort, proposing to my now fiancee, or standing with her, her sister and my younger sister in front of Cinderella's Castle, watching the fireworks show Wishes. Walt has given me, through his creations and the creations of artists and Imagineers inspired by his work, some of the best memories of my life. So I loved that I got to honor him, in some small way, by reading about his life.

[Nicole Gudeman · Rating 5 out of 5]

From cover to cover this book is packed in with information on Walt Disney. Although at a college reading level and quite lengthy, it discusses life events that many people don't know. As someone who has been reading about Walt for years, I was shocked at how much I learned. The author of the book does a great job establishing facts and statistics and building a great sense of ethos by sharing that his source is Diane Disney Miller, Walt's daughter. The purpose of the book, as revealed in the last section "Walt's Legacy", is to share all of Walt's hard work with the world and understand the great impact he made. Despite a rough childhood, Walt and his brother Roy grew up to create and work with others and establish great things. The targeted audience is mainly adults looking for a good book to read. I would not recommend this book to kids in Elementary and Middle school due to the length, language, and level of reading. The tone of the book focuses on the positive side mostly, revealing all the accomplishments Walt had, although at times the tone is negative while learning about some of the obstacles Walt had on his way to success. Overall I truly enjoyed this book and recommend it to anyone who has a passion to learn about Walt Disney and his accomplishments, and to anyone who wants a more in depth analysis of his life.

[Peter Bosson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought I knew a lot about Walt Disney's life but this book taught me a great deal. An absolutely wonderful book full of memories and anecdotes about Walt and his creations. A great read that I think would appeal even to non Disney fans.

[Madison Chapan · Rating 4 out of 5]

well the walt disney's personal life was something more tragic but satisfying to know what he went through like every one else in this world he had his ups and downs but had a lot more downs then every thing like hi's first comic failing, his strike at his company, and many other things.

[Kristin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read on 1/5.