Description: The first major biography of the influential, visionary Disney animator
Brief description: Todd James Pierce is professor of literature at California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, California. He is author of Newsworld, which won the Drue Heinz Literature Prize; Making Mary Poppins: The Sherman Brothers, Walt Disney, and the Creation of the Classic Film; The Life and Times of Ward Kimball: Maverick of Disney Animation; and Three Years in Wonderland: The Disney Brothers, C. V. Wood, and the Making of the Great American Theme Park, the latter two published by University Press of Mississippi. His work has appeared in over seventy magazines and journals. He has contributed to and appeared in documentaries focused on the history of the Disney Company, including those presented on ABC, PBS, BBC, the History Channel, and Hulu.
Review Quotes: In straightforward, objective prose, Pierce reconstructs the emergent America in which Kimball was born, grew up, and, through unsurpassed mastery of his pencil yoked to a delicate balance of subservience and friendship, ascended to a position of influence with one of the twentieth century's most powerful influencers. While he documents Kimball's life and times panoramically, Pierce shows keen appreciation of Kimball's very complex art, generally focusing on the development of creative solutions to technical and aesthetic problems.--James Earp "Witness"