More reviews （and no fluff） on the blog http://surrealtalvi。wordpress。com/This was a well researched and informative book about the big Disney strike of 1941 - an event that Walt Disney never forgot or forgave and which set standards and examples in the labor industry at the time。 What I appreciated most here is that the author uses facts， not recollections， from documentation at the time。 He resists the temptation to either demonize or lionize the key figures like Walt Disney and instead g More reviews （and no fluff） on the blog http://surrealtalvi。wordpress。com/This was a well researched and informative book about the big Disney strike of 1941 - an event that Walt Disney never forgot or forgave and which set standards and examples in the labor industry at the time。 What I appreciated most here is that the author uses facts， not recollections， from documentation at the time。 He resists the temptation to either demonize or lionize the key figures like Walt Disney and instead gives us a perspective on the needs and desires of both sides of the picket line。The author gives background information on all the key players - where they grew up and how events in their life likely influenced the decisions they made before and during the strike。 At its heart， the key players are striker Art Babbitt， Walt Disney， and Disney's obstreperous chief counsel/lawyer。 But there were many fascinating characters influencing either directly or peripherally: from mob bosses， various unions and their leaders， and animators at other studios （such as Chuck Jones）。 Indeed， much of the book is about those people and the focus here is not on Babbitt or Disney as a result。There were many fascinating insights of the time （1930s/1940s）: corrupt unions， the creation of unions within the burgeoning movie industry， Disney paying their workers far less than other studios and reneging on bonus promises， growing fears of communism taking over Hollywood， the sudden viability of cartoons as a profitable venture， the rise of World War II and how it affected the studios。 The author did an excellent job of capturing the time and place of 1940s America。We have a lot of lead up to the strike and then quite a bit of information of the aftermath。 Since the focus is not on Walt Disney or Babbitt， the author explores the ramifications on the industry， labor unions， and the government attempting to both clean up the unions but also come to peace with the American work force。 All this while rising fears of communism were beginning to raise their ugly heads。In all， I highly recommend this well researched and written book。 It has all the information you need to understand the situation of the strike， gives very balanced viewpoints to the parties involved， and is concise enough to keep interest and not go off on unnecessary tangents。 Reviewed from an advance reader copy provided by the publisher。 。。。more