Magician of the Movies: The Life of Walt Disney

From Marceline to the Magic Kingdom

Award-winning Associated Press reporter Bob Thomas' original biography of Walt Disney is fast-moving and insightful—the perfect introduction to Walt for readers of all ages.

The stories told in Magician of the Movies unravel the man who fascinates us to this day. Thomas puts us in the wagon with young Walt making the rounds with Doc Sherwood in Marceline, Missouri. He makes us feel Walt's despair at the loss of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit—and Walt's jubilance not long after with the creation of Mickey Mouse.

We follow Walt to France during World War I, sit alongside him at the premiere of Snow White, and weather with him the dark days of World War II. We watch as orange groves give way to magic and pixie dust. Even if you've heard these stories before, Thomas brings them—and many others—to vivid life, with wit and charm, and deepens your admiration for Walt Disney.

Bob Thomas wrote two biographies of Walt (and one of Walt's brother, Roy), and he counted the Disneys among his many Hollywood friends. Walt himself gave his future biographer a personal tour of Disneyland when the park was still under construction—driving Thomas to the site in a convertible! No other biographer writes of Walt Disney with such authority and authenticity.

COME ON, EVERYBODY, HERE WE GO!