I have just read the book for the second time. Very interesting insight into the psychology of all parties involved, including the author. I feel the author had a love/hate relationship with the Duchess of York. When she was good, she was very good: when she was bad she was very bad. It must have been a nightmare trying to "organise" two shambolic personalities. At the same time, I get the feeling it was very attractive to be "an inside player" rather than an outside observer.Well written.

I cannot say enough about this book of ALLAN STARKIE'S....FERGIE: HER SECRET LIFE!!! It's like he was a mind-reader, or psychic when it came to him (Allan Starkie) getting into the thoughts and feelings of SARAH FERGUSON! Truly amazing insight....he is to be commended....and perhaps the QUEEN will KNIGHT him...NOT!!! (Perhaps in his next life?) Good show my man. I can't wait to see his next book....and who's the SUBJECT MATTER???

At first, I thought this was going to be another one of those books written by someone who saw the Duchess of York from a distance and figured that gave them the right to capitalize on the experience. I was very wrong! This author has a captivatingly twisted tale to tell about his daily dealings with Sarah and her toe-sucking "financial advisor" John Bryan. This stuff is so incredibly bizarre, that it couldn't be fictionalized. It is the story of one man--John Bryan--who was so greedy, sleezy, arrogant, self-absorbed, and insecure--and the married woman he shamelessly pursued, she having her own set of faults, weaknesses and standards, such as indecisiveness, stupidity, selfishness and extreme insecurity--to name only a few. Their relationship was so destructive and emotionally and physically abusive, that they almost destroyed each other, but not until they had basically destroyed themselves, first. The author stuck with both of them as a best friend until he was driven to unsuccessful suicide and prison, before he finally came to his senses. After reading this book, one would think twice about having the Duchess of York on one's list of friends.

Jeffrey Epstein and Eddie Shapiro have a very entertaining writing style giving snappy remarks and one liners every now and again. It spices up a book that any reader of previous guides will need to keep them interested. Although all the rides, hotels and areas of the parks are covered there's just not that much specifically 'gay' to write about. For gays who are going to one of the parks for the first time, this book might be helpful in choosing a hotel to stay at, but only in conjuction with another guide as the reviews are very brief.

My favorite part of the book is the Compare & Contract appendix which describes the similarties and/or differencees between rides that are at more than one park. But like most features in this book, I wish it went in to more depth.

Also fun are the 'Fairy Facts' that are sprinkled thoughout the book. Did you know that Big Thunder Mountain Railroad in Disneyland was originally supposed to be where Pirates of the Caribbean is located now? Long time Disney enthusiats and triva buffs will get off on 'Fairy Facts'.

It's obvious that Epstein & Shapiro throughly enjoy the Disney parks, yet they're not timid in saying what they think of an attraction. Example: they quite accurately re-name Superstar Limo (from California Adventure) Supersucky Lame-o.

All in all the book has something to offer most Disney visitors (gay or not), but not enough to cater to any specific segment. Newbies will be frustrated at the lack of depth, but appreciate the authors honest opinions. Long time guests will have to make due with triva and a snappy sense of humor. The book is best enjoyed in conjunction with another more comprehensive guide.

The collaborative effort of Jeffrey Epstein and Eddie Shapiro, Queens In The Kingdom: The Ultimate Gay And Lesbian Guide To The Disney Theme Parks is a unique travel and vacation companion. It covers general information about vacations in the Disneyland Resort in California, and the Walt Disney World Resort in Florida, with an especial focus on issues particularly relevant to gay and lesbian visitors, including the top ten places to share a special moment with one's same-sex significant other. Queens In The Kingdom is an informed and informative travel planning guide filed from cover to cover with ratings, tips, recommendations, price estimates and much, much more.

Why shouldn't the Happiest Place on Earth not also be the Gayest?! This audacious little guidebook puts the Disney parks in a whole new light. Reverent with a touch of irreverence, Jeffrey and Eddie take their hapless readers on a hilarious romp around each theme park, citing the best and the worst of every ride, show, and restaurant. Each review however is tinged with a love of all things Disney, an underlying respect for the sheer childlike glee most people feel when running down Main Street. Quippish sarcasm marks a good chunk of this tome, leading to numerous laughs while weighing the differences of the California Space Mountain and it's Florida counterpart. And let's not forget the Fairy Facts! Trivial tidbits that are proof positive that these queens reign in their research efforts. Whether you've been to the parks before or are treading through the castles as a new-comer, whether you're gay, straight, or bi, this is one guide that's worth the price of admission.

From mods to rastafarians this books covers the history and social significance of them all. Although heavy at the start the book levels out at a nice factual tempo providing meaning to every subculture youth movent interlinking them and weaving them with the music scene. There are a few gaps, perhaps due to lack of knowledge, which I believe are significant but have been left out. Worth a read if you are intrested in fasion, youth, sociological research or music.

I've read other books in the same vein like Neil Nehring's "Flowers in the Dustbin", but this book deserves respect as one of the first books to deal with punk seriously as a social phenomenon. The last few paragraphs also privide much insight into the mind of a "radical" academic.

This book is fundmentally the the bases for anyone who is studying art theory. This books goes into how subcultures like the punk movement to hip hop and gang cultures got started and why they are important to understanding diverse social structures.

Althought this book is small it is not an easy read. I read this book four or five time before things started to sink in. After finishing this book I felt more prepared for the art going experience.

I have been a fan of Phil's since 1980 and have gone to many concerts. His talent is beyond belief, leaving me in awe after every show. I nearly fainted when he almost touched my hand at a Great Woods concert. From this book, I wanted to learn more about Phil Collins the incredibly talented and driven individual. The book spent too much time on the struggle and strife in his life and not enough on the triumphs of a man who saw his star in the sky and never stopped, even after surpassing it. I seek to find out more about my musical hero because this book did not satisfy me. Phil, can we hear "Both Sides" of the story?

This was such a great book and I know that any Phil Collins fan would enjoy reading it as much as I did. It shows Phil as a real person, even though we all look up to him in awe because of his great artistic talents. I know that after reading this book, I still feel the same way I did about Phil. That is, if someone asked me, Dalia, if you could meet anyone, I mean anyone and just spend the evening chatting, who would it be? My answer would still be Phil Collins,of course! I write poetry and would love to make them into songs and would love Phils' advice and maybe he could give me some pointers. The one thing that suprised me though, was what his mom said about his current wife, Orianne. "I hope she doesn't change, and if she does, I hope I'm not around to pick up the pieces." Phil is a big boy and his choices in his life, were his choices, some good, some bad and maybe he just grew apart from his first wife and his second wife lived too much for him and never developed any interest outside their marriage. But Orianne and Phil, I wish you the best and hope for you two, a long life together.

After being a fan of Phil Collins for many years I was pleased to discover the biography of this highly talented man. The book delved into his personal and public life in a very thorough manner and unveiled many personal and professional qualities of Phil, from his upbringing, through his times with Genesis, the birth of his controversional solo career through to the current day. I was enthralled by the very precise way in which all aspects of his life were covered especially that of his marriages, his relationships with his wives, children,& co-workers and his dedication to his art. This book gave me great insight into what has made Phil the astute performer and person that he is today. Not all of the aspects of the biography were in Phil's favour (for example,incidences where he revealed his fiery temperament) but I credit the author for this as it allows for the reader to gain his own insight and opinion on who the real Phil Collins is as a person. This biography enlightened me on the life and times of a wonderful person who is a credit to the music industry, a dedicated man who revealed his most personal life to his fans through his art. I believe that this is a must read for any Phil Collins fan. It is not one sided, nor does it intend to influence your opinion. Read it for yourself, allow yourself the oppurtunity to learn more on this remarkable man.

I did too. I read this book with an amazement on how basic Bible priniples can me misused to the detriment of oneself and others around them. Please read this book to understand the confusion that enslaves so many Christians. If you truly seeking God, you that they way they tried to find it in this book is not the way to find him.

In this work, Paul Johnson has taken a relatively small and unknown event and used it to illustrate not only an interesting event but also an interesting perspective on the Burned-Over District as a whole. It touches on everything from sexual corruption to radical doctrinal innovations. The Burned-Over district saw the beginning of numerous religious movements such as Mormonism, Adventism, Christian Scientists, numerous smaller religions that did not survive, and even significant political movements such as Antimasonry.

This book is the story of one of those movements. The prologue introduces Matthias as he went to Kirtland to visit with the Mormon Prophet, Joseph Smith. While this event occurred near the end of Matthias’ activity, it is obvious that he stole many of his ideas from Joseph Smith. Matthias initiated the practice of the washing of feet which was common to both the followers of Joseph Smith and Ellen White. He also believed that the truth of the Gospel had fallen from the earth shortly after the time of Christ another Mormon belief. In addition, he had a sword which he claimed was ancient similar to Smith’s sword of Laban, as well as naming the Priesthood after the order of Melchezidek. Likewise, his early mentor Mordecai Noah taught that the Indians were actually a branch of the Israelites which is a central idea found in the Book of Mormon. All of these ideas came out before 1830 when Matthias began his activity.

The most humorous part of this history is the anecdotes that relate to Matthias’ enemies trying to shave off his beard. Johnson has done an excellent job condensing all the most relevant information in this short work. The Kingdom of Matthias is an enjoyable read and a must for anyone interested in this interesting period in American religious history.

This is one of the exquisite books that I have read about this time. And to the writer "Orrin Judd", how dare you be such a anti-intellectual dunce? Just by holding on to the case of the Lewinsky/Clinton trial (which by the way Wilentz and Berman wrote before this happened) and other inane right-winged republican comments, if they are even worty of any name other than trash. They remark on this book as something it is far from being, a peice of garbage that can merely be thrown away as litter. As for the book itself, this is a masterpeice with pen and ink, wonderfully capturing the era. It goes behind the mind of this engrossing man and period, and includes people, such as Soujourner Truth, that were known later on, after the period the book was written. It just so awefully captures all the details and facts behind this, but still making it enjoyable. I reccomend this book highly, and give it 5 out of 5 stars. And to any creep, such as Orrin Judd, who thinks otherwise, then just consider this book one more time, the brilliance of it and the fabulous authors (Paul Berman and Sean Wilentz) who made the making of this book possible.

Having just finished Anne Somersets more definitive bio on Elizabeth I have to agree with previous reviewers that the author seems to have it in for his subject. Does he even like her?. He portrays her more as vindictive, vascillating, procrastinating,vain and downright bloodthirsty. Most notably in her relations with the english puritans, the protestant rebels in the Netherlands and especially her close relatives. The latter being her treatment of Katherine Grey, sister of the beheaded Jane for whom there was no love lost. He does not give her any credit for being a woman in a mans world and having the guts and wisdom to choose some very bright men as ministers and councillors and not yes-men at that. Walshingham and William Cecil openly disagreed with her on many issues but at no time did she contemplate dismissing them. He also appears to be saying that Elizabeth's foreign policy was based on the divine right of princes to rule their own kingdoms, and that rebels against their rightful lords be they protestant or catholic deserve to be severely punished hence her sympathetic correspondence with Philip of Spain. Ridley also has a penchant for drawing out in unnecessary detail execution and torture scenes. When the assassin of William of Orange is submitted to all kinds of horrific torture before his eventual execution, smiling the whole time the reader finds himself squirming uncomfortably. Despite the authors elegant prose I prefer the Sommerset or even Antonia Fraser biographies. They may not deify the woman but at least they dont vilify her.

What a refreshingly well-written, concise and historically well-researched book! Ridley is a master of the historic biography, and every book I have read so far (having started off with his account of Henry VIII) is a riveting read and impossible to put away.

May Royal Tunbridge Wells continue to serve as an inspiration to this gifted writer and connaisseur of the depth of the English language.

Jasper Ridley's biography of Elizabeth is well-written and coherent, broken into chapters that examine pivotal events during the reign in foreign and domestic policy. Ridley's work differs from most Elizabethan biographies in its focus on political and military aspects rather than personal studies of the queen. While at times the text drags, for the most part it is crisp and solid reading, and paints a fascinating picture. What makes the book stand out, however, is the quality of its documentation and use of primary sources, and its tremendous value as a research tool. Mr. Ridley has made assiduous use of archived state papers and contemporary commentaries that depict events as they were actually experienced and grasped by the people in the 16th and early 17th centuries. A student partaking in research on this period or studying the European Renaissance in general would benefit tremendously from a consultation of the bibliography, since the author essentially gives an index of the calendars of state publications that detail various decisions and military planning of the late 1500s. Furthermore, Mr. Ridley is careful to delve deeply into foreign sources as well; he makes extensive use of the archives in Simancas, Spain, as well as archival resources in Italy, to furnish shades of detail often overlooked. The overall result is that Mr. Ridley's biography has an unparalleled "real-time" feel to it. And, the author covers territory that too often is neglected in Elizabethan biographies, especially in regard to military affairs that are difficult to research elsewhere. He examines the English defeat and expulsion from Le Havre in France that resulted in the permanent loss of Calais in 1563; the long Anglo-Spanish war of the 1590s that crippled the finances of both countries, and (with Spanish victories at sea) frustrated English attempts at colonization in the Western Hemisphere while preserving Spain's foothold; and also at the bitter Anglo-Irish guerrilla war of the century's last decade, which devastated the Irish countryside and drained England's resources to the limit. For a detailed biography, Jasper Ridley's biography (along with that of Anne Somerset) is top-notch, and as a research tool it is of inestimable help.

It's been a while since I've read it but the preceding reviews seem to tell it like I remember the book being. You read some reporters reminiscing about Diana, especially towards the last, and you see some good photos.

This book is filled with many large color photos showing the happy times in the life of the Princess of Wales. For true blue Diana fans the pictures have all been seen before but are of high quality and worth seeing again. The text is done so that every part of her life is looked at ( even her final resting place ). None of the writtings are very long and all done by different writters who knew and liked her. The book ends with qutoes about Diana, some even made by herself. Overall this a good book, one that any Diana fan would like to own. It should also be noted that all royalties from the book go to the Diana Memorial Appeal which helps victims of anti-personnel mines( a cause she loved to help).

This is a book which I truly liked for many, many reasons. First, for all die-hard Diana fans, like myself, it covers every aspect of her life. Second, there are are selections about Diana, Princess of Wales, which are not long, but get to the point. Third, each story is accompanied by beautiful pictures of Diana. Last, but probably best of all, the book was put together by people who covered her services and, unlike so many others, donated all royalties from the sales of the book to the DIANA MEMORIAL APPEAL.

"W. F. Deedes has had a long association with the DAILY TELEGRAPH as writer, columnist and former editor, and was a personal friend of the Princess."

"The contributors of this book Sandra Barwick, Caroline Davies, Elizabeth Grice and Colin Randall are all senior staff journalists on the DAILY TELEGRAPH and were part of the reporting team covering the events in the aftermath of the death of Diana, Princess of Wales."

I shall close with a few of my favorite quotaions from the book. "Her beauty was her triumph, her mark of courage and her ability to accommodate her own sorrows. That, instinctively and perhaps subconciously, is why people loved her: because she had come throught and in the process had grown into someone quite different and much larger than the person she had been before. In some ways some of us have never recognised before, we loved her." ADAM NICHOLSON in the TELEGRAPH. page 117.

"You could not do my work and I could not do yours. We are both working for God. Let us both do something beautiful for Him." MOTHER TERESA page 118.

"I want to walk into a room, be it a hospital for the dying or a hospital for sick children and feel that I am needed. I want to do, not just to be." DIANA, PRINCESS OF WALES, page 118.

"If I should die and leave you here awhile,/ Be not like others, sore undone who keep/ Long vigils by the silent dust and weep./ For my sake - turn again to life and smile,/ Nerving thy heart and trembling hand to do/ Something to comfort other hearts than thine/ Complete those dear unfinished tasks of mine/ And I, perchance, may therein comfort you."/ A poem by A. PRICE HUGHES which was read at Diana's funeral by her sister LADY SARAH McCORQUODALE. page 120.

This is a hardback book which consist of 120 pages and measures 9"x111/4".

This book is well worth reading, but only to broaden a perspective on past books this Author has written. Although, wrapped in a 3 week trip to Scotland, this is really an auto-biography. The Author's life both fascinating and full of sadness. I have read The Road Less Traveled, People of the Lie and several other books Dr. Peck has written. Piercing books of the human condition.

In my view there is a contrast and ambiguity to his personel life and the main tenets and themes of The Road Less Traveled. It makes one want to re-visit those themes, from a broadened perspective of the Author's own paradigm.

Without question the man is brilliant with pen in hand. Provocative and probing in life's more serious problems.

One difficult observation, is the anger beneath the surface directed towards the man's closest relationships. The relationships seem loving on the surface, but the actions portray a darker side. The serial infidelities, his wife has had to endure. The resentment of his parents. The estrangement of his children. In addition to his own physical self destructive habits of alcohol, and tobacco. Unfortunately, one could take the totality, and conclude, the man really doesn't care for himself or others close to him.

I will continue to buy Peck's books and presently have "Golf and the Spirit" purchased and ready to begin reading.

If you're a Scott Peck fan just buy this and read it - it's great. Here Scott Peck blends the story of his and Lily Peck's three week journey through Wales, England and Scotland looking for ancient megalithic stones, with profound insights on life and living and enough stories from his life to make it semi- autobiographical. Each chapter covers a day of their journey (the outward search for meaning and mystery) interwoven with a discussion on various aspects of life (the inward search) after which each chapter is named. These include Reason, Romance, Ageing, Death, Parenthood, Money, and Peace to name but a few (20 in all). For those familiar with Sott Peck, this intimate sharing of his life should prove most rewarding. In fact, with startling honesty and humility Scotty unequivocally removes himself from any pedestal on which many may have placed him. Still he emerges as a gifted man of great insight, his sharing of which, really is a gift to us. I found these triple aspects masterfully blended - a tribute to Scott Peck's considerable talent as a writer. Thoroughly enjoyable and highly educational. Congratulations M. Scott Peck - an excellent book.

I first read this book some five years ago. It was my first Scott Peck book. I have since read the entire Road Less Traveled series, and others, and I found In Search of Stones to be his best. Frankly, I am quite surprised at some of the negative reviews appearing on this page. A reviewer suggested that Dr. Peck should feel shamed at his infidelity. It takes a great deal of courage to openly admit our mistakes, as Dr. Peck has done. He made willing changes in his behavior, and therefore deserves forgiveness. Perhaps other couples experiencing similar difficulties could take a lesson from him. His honesty makes the work all the more endearing. The book could easily be considered an authoritative work on the megalithic sites of Great Britain--a facinating subject. The journey through Great Britain and Dr. Peck's observations parallel beautifully with the journey of life. I recommended this book to a friend as she wanted something to read during a two week trip to Turkey--she loved it! The first 20 or so pages sing of ego--but right after he admits his infidelity, the book glides along beautifully.

I wanted to like this book, for the simple reason that in reading it, it is abundantly clear that the thesis is one the author feels passionately about. However, that does not necessarily make for good history and in this case it makes for a deeply flawed book. Great War buffs seem to be divided into two camps in recent times - those who seek to defend, or at least understand and contextualise the actions of First World War generals and those who believe that there can be no justification for the casualty numbers of the conflict. It takes no more than a glance at the title of this book for it to be abundantly clear that Dr Laffin belongs to the latter camp.

I could write a very lengthy critique of the book in minute detail but you wouldn't read it all (I know I wouldn't!) and anyway I don't think amazon will allow me enough words so I'll try to sum up the book's more glaring flaws in a concise form...

- The book is incredibly badly sourced. In some chapters it borders on shameful. I have read hastily cobbled together undergraduate essays that have more comprehensive footnotes. A student submitting chapter 3 in essay form would almost certainly have had his wrists slapped.

- The entire text is incredibly subjective and riddled with unsourced assertions. The author shows an ill concealed bias in favour of Australian troops and staff officers. If taken at face value, a newcomer to WW1 history who had only read this book would be forgiven for thinking that the ANZACS won the war while Tommy Atkins put the kettle on. Dr Laffin also wheels out that hoary old chestnut about Sir John Monash being the greatest leader the BEF never had. Outside Australian military history circles it is now widely accepted that while Monash was a brilliant tactician and trainer of men, he was less capable in an operational role and posessed nowhere near the seniority to assume command of the BEF in France. Even if he did, as at that level of planning he was an unknown quantity. The idea that he should have got the post is ludicrous.

- The author is deeply selective when choosing which historians to quote. Most of the most highly regarded of Great War historians are significant in their abscence. He instead quotes historians, often Antipodean historians, who have trodden similar ground before him and a number of social historians while conveiently ignoring military historians and members of the war studies/strategic studies community who have looked at the conflict in the MILITARY context of the time.

- The book is littered with factual inaccuracies. Some of these are obvious only to the First World War junkie (eg. Sir Ian Hamilton sailed for the Dardanelles with a copy of the 1912 handbook on the Turkish Army, not a 1905 edition) but some of them are glaring and really should not have been made in the first place. An example of this is that General Rawlinson is stated to have attained the rank of Field Marshal, which he never did - in a book on British generals it would be assumed that the author had looked more closely into his subjects' biographical details than this. The fact that the book is not especially long, coupled with the very dubious sourcing makes it hard to pass over these mistakes and helps to undermine the author's central argument.

On a final note, the author devotes a chapter of the book to quotes from soldiers (overwhelmingly Australian) condemning British generalship. Again, this is highly selective and for every quote Laffin uses to "prove" his argument I could provide two that undermines it. Such quotes, while emotional, do not constitute a satisfactory closing argument. I have spoken to veterans who feel that the generals are a much maligned group as a whole and resent academics such as the author rubbishing men whom they never met, who had to command in conditions they have no experience of.

Frankly I find the positive reception with which it has been received by many of the other reviewers alarming. On every measure of historical rigour, thorough research and academic objectivity this book fails miserably. If readers can't accept the idea that the great war generals (oh, sorry, only the British Great War Generals...) weren't just a bunch of "Butchers and Bunglers" I would suggest I would suggest they read the books of Tim Travers (a Canadian historian) and Robin Prior and Trevor Wilson (Australians) who, while critical of the performance of Haig and his ilk, at least source their works, spend some time in the archives and don't write books simply to indulge in character assassination and cheerleading.

This book does have it's place, but I'm afraid that, for me at least, it's place is as an example of how studies of the Great War should not be written. If you only ever read one study of Great War generalship, don't make it this one. If you do wish to read it, try to put the work in some sort of context within the historiography of the war and handle it with very great care indeed.

There seem to be commentators who will go to great lengths to prove that Haig and those staff around him were really not bad generals: we wern't there, we don't have enough information, we're colonials who couldn't possibly understand and anyway, their actions saved us from an evil fate so all is forgiven.

Haig's people-grinder can be masked by sophistry and the belittling of arguments through the many stings of petty facts; however, I'm sorry to say but the book was a superb contribution to righting the many wrongs of a myopic and severly parochial cadre of historians that simply can't see, refuse to see or prefer to maintain the myth that these fools knew their job.

How can any person with a modicum of intelligence accept casualty figures of 250,000 for a five mile dent in German lines at Passchendaele and this was only one example of Haig's military "brilliance"-Laffin has an entire book full of facts like these.

Again, I am sorry for writing such a bad comment-I'm sure I'd get the cuts for composing such a sorry couple of paragraphs. The point however is salient because that was, perhaps still is, the soft under belly of the British military-its refusal to accept criticism and that refusal leading to the covering up of unbelievable military horrors committed by its military elite. They seemed to be awash in "form"-function be damned-the soldiers attacking the ineffectual, in Haig's view, machine guns will get through if they walk and not run in clean uniforms.

This book goes into great detail of the incompetence of the British high command in World War I. It tells of the sufferings of the British troops in the muddy trenches and the indifference of the British generals to their own troops fate. Situated 40 to 50 miles behind the front lines, the British generals above the level of a division never came to see what the conditions were like in the trenches or what type terrain the troops would have to go through in a major attack. This is why the death count was so high. There were over 1,100,000 deaths to the British and Commonwealth forces in World War I. In World War II this would have been unacceptible. Sir John French and Sir Douglas Haig, the two men mainly resposible for this carnage, should have not only been court-martialed, but shot for destroying a generation of the best men that Britain had to offer. Instead, after the war they were created Earls and given high pensions for their bloody work. This book stikes you right in the heart and makes you wonder how could this have happened in a civilized society. It's unimaginable that generals in high command could have had such callous regard for their men, but they did.

After reading Hit and Run and an excerpt from the this book in Vanity Fair, I couldn't wait to read "Keys to the Kingdom." I was not disappointed. Masters does a fine job of telling Eisner's (and the stories of those around him--Katzenberg, Diller, etc)story. Something about Eisner has always bit a bit unreal--even smarmy at times--and Masters holds nothing back. It isn't always balanced, but overall is fair. The details and stories are terrific--until the last 1/5th of the book. I was engrossed until the story turned the Katzenberg trial--where Masters drowned us in the details. I love details, but at times one needed a road map to keep. Masters is to be commended for a journalistic/insiders account of that dark time for Disney, but wow...I just had a time staying focused. However, on the whole the book is well worth the paper back price. You'll learn how Disney has never really gotten over the death of Frank Wells and why all those executives keep leaving. It is indeed a grim place; Eisner's inner sanctum. It is also another fascinating book.

Michael Eisner is routinely credited (and has been handsomely rewarded) with the great Disney turnaround. Was it genius or luck? Kim Master's Key's to the Kingdom-How Michael Eisner Lost His Grip is a well researched and thoroughly entertaining look into the Hollywood scene and the Walt Disney Company in particular from 1984 to 1999. We are given a rare unfiltered peek over the burm and into the inner sanctum of the Magic Kingdom. In the end, one comes away with the intended impression that Bravado, Ego and Greed are the three horseman of Hollywood. We are left with an unflattering portrait of Michael Eisner as a parsimonious and deeply flawed leader clearly out of touch with the world around him.

So how did such a flawed leader turn a Two Billion Dollar company into a Sixty Billion Dollar juggernaut of American industry? Frank Well's summed up the situation best when shortly after the Eisner/Wells team ascended to the leadership of Disney, Well's noted "Every time I open a door at this company, there's money behind it."

What is glossed over and unappreciated in Kim Master's book is the fact that when Walt Disney died in 1966 he left the Disney organization without a well groomed leader. From 1966 to 1984 Walt literally ruled Disney from the grave and no one in the incestuous leadership of the company dared peek into the cupboard or look behind any door.

The two to sixty billion dollar story, weaved by Kim Masters leaves the reader with the clear impression that it was Michael Eisner's luck rather than his talent which was at the core of this success. Michael's early failure to appreciate the value of animation, his obsession with paying the minimum for talent, the lost movie opportunities, the personal vendetta against Jeffrey Katzenberg, the hiring and firing of Michael Ovitz, the yet to pay off acquisition of ABC/CapitalCities are all fascinating vignette's in a passion play which could easily be called "As the Mouse Turns."

Despite the negative tone of the book in general, Master's paints a flattering picture of Frank Well's insightful decision making and tactful backroom smoothing of feathers, leaving the reader to conclude that it was perhaps Well's talents and not Eisner's that were in fact were the real Keys to the Kingdom.

With fewer doors to look behind and all the cupboards bare, it is interesting to note that since Well's death in 1994 Disney stock has grown only at about the same rate as the S&P 500.

While insisting that most talent work for the minimum, we are told that Eisner in 1996 signed a long term employment contract with Disney which provided in addition to a $750,000 base salary, annual bonus participation and options for an additional 24,000,000 shares of Disney stock.

In fairness to Michael Eisner the shareholders of Disney have profited handsomely during his tenure at the Company. Nevertheless even as Eisner himself might say "Yes, but could we have made the deal without giving up so much money?"

I found this book to be an interesting read. I have also read Michael Eisner's autobiography and was looking forward to reading more about his tenure at Disney.

I appreciated the way that Kim Masters brought a different perspective to the events leading up to Eisner's taking the helm at Disney as well as the time since Eisner took over. There certainly were many things that Masters discussed that Eisner did not cover very well or at all in his book. I think it is important to get more of the total picture on events such as these and not just one point of view. I felt that Masters presented a point of view that was much more broad than the view presented by Eisner.

Now for some of the things I did not like about this book. There is many times in this book that Masters' tone seemed almost gossipy which is something I do not like. Also, Masters seemed to dwell on the negative aspects of Eisner as well as other people that held or continue to hold power in the entertainment industry. She seemed very critical of anyone holding that power and said very little positive about them. There is (hopefully) good and bad in everyone, I would have liked to get a more balanced story from an author with Master's talent.

Overall, I recommend this book. It is a good source of information that I have not found elsewhere. However, I too felt this book left me unconvinced that Eisner has "Lost His Grip."