The Magic Kingdom: Walt Disney and the American Way of Life

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University of Missouri Press, 2001 - 526 pages
The Magic Kingdom sheds new light on the cultural icon of "Uncle Walt." Watts digs deeply into Disney's private life, investigating his roles as husband, father, and brother and providing fresh insight into his peculiar psyche-his genuine folksiness and warmth, his domineering treatment of colleagues and friends, his deepest prejudices and passions. Full of colorful sketches of daily life at the Disney Studio and tales about the creation of Disneyland and Disney World, The Magic Kingdom offers a definitive view of one of the most influential Americans of the twentieth century.

 

Selected pages

Contents

Disney and the Rural Romance
xxi
Man Disney and Mickey Mouse
20
Entertainer as Success Icon
38
The Disney Golden Age
57
Disney and the Depression Sentimental Populism
59
Disney and the Depression Populist Parables
79
The Entertainer as Artist Sentimental Modernism
97
Of Mice and Men Art Critics and Animators
116
The Search for Direction
259
Disney and the American Century
277
Cold War Fantasies
279
Disney Notional Security
299
Disney Domestic Security
319
Citizen Disney
342
Disney and the Culture Industry
357
the Happiest Place on Earth
379

Disney and American Culture
139
The Fantasy Factory
160
Engineering of Enchantment
179
Trouble in Fantasyland
197
Animation and Its Discontents
199
Disney and the Good War
224
Disneys Descent
239
Pax Disneyana
400
Its a World After All
421
Epilogue
442
Notes
451
Bibliographic Essay
505
Index
509
Copyright

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About the author (2001)

Steven Watts is Chairman of the History Department at the University of Missouri-Columbia. He is the author of several books, including The Republic Reborn: War and the Making of Liberal America, 1790-1820.

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