kusandra's review
5.0
A truly amazing and at times astonishing book. Sam Gennawey weaves together history, urban planning and the Disney of it all. Sam was moved as a child by the model of Progress City you got a look at upon exiting the Carousel of Progress when it was installed at Disneyland, just like I was. I saw that model at the age of four and never forgot it. That model was more than just a cool miniature. It was a vision of the world as you expected it to be/become. Gennawey was so moved, he grew up to be an urban planner himself!
In this book you get a look at the urban planner and visionary who was a large part of Walt Disney, the man. There are tales of what is, was and what might have been presented with well-researched anecdotes and facts. The book is informed by interviews with the people actually involved as well as the contemporary writing and articles. I learned more than expected about urban planning and architecture philosophy. Along the way there many gems that even person who is well read in Disney related non-fiction found to be new.
In this book you get a look at the urban planner and visionary who was a large part of Walt Disney, the man. There are tales of what is, was and what might have been presented with well-researched anecdotes and facts. The book is informed by interviews with the people actually involved as well as the contemporary writing and articles. I learned more than expected about urban planning and architecture philosophy. Along the way there many gems that even person who is well read in Disney related non-fiction found to be new.
robconner88's review
1.0
Boy oh boy was this book a chore. It was completely schizophrenic in it's approach and, while I learned a thing or two, I found myself jumping between interesting chapters and meandering chapters on the most boring subjects possible. This is absolutely a book which you can jump from section to section or chapter to chapter and suffer no ill effects.
This book is many things, it is a book about Walt Disney and Progress City yes, it is also a book on the history of architecture, a book on city government, and a speculative book on what EPCOT might have looked like. These things do not blend as well as they seem or could have been. One minute we are talking about Disney History, then we take a hard right into the various theories of New Urbanism or on Rural development theory, then we go back to Disney, then talk about various municipal organizational structures. It is just all over the place.
This book also references several better books, biographies on Disney, Married to the Mouse (a book on government that operates at Disney), and Disney History Books like DisneyWar or Marty Sklar's biographies. However it never surpasses them to make it's own mark. If it does, I would say what this book does uniquely is create a comprehensive understanding of what EPCOT as Walt planned it would have been like, but even that was so married to concepts I found boring and uninteresting that I put the book down several times.
It is an ambitious book and I think it could have been done well, however the organization and structuring of the book's "narrative" was so haphazard and random that I found it really unappealing. It was like a half peanut-butter & jelly, half tuna fish and cheese sandwich. They don't go together and the minute you are getting used to the taste of one, you are hit with the other so jarringly you have to readjust.
I would not recommend this book unless you are morbidly curious about Walt's vision of EPCOT. If not, then use this book as a bibliography of much better books to read since he sources pretty much every decent book on Disney and Walt Disney World I have read.
This book is many things, it is a book about Walt Disney and Progress City yes, it is also a book on the history of architecture, a book on city government, and a speculative book on what EPCOT might have looked like. These things do not blend as well as they seem or could have been. One minute we are talking about Disney History, then we take a hard right into the various theories of New Urbanism or on Rural development theory, then we go back to Disney, then talk about various municipal organizational structures. It is just all over the place.
This book also references several better books, biographies on Disney, Married to the Mouse (a book on government that operates at Disney), and Disney History Books like DisneyWar or Marty Sklar's biographies. However it never surpasses them to make it's own mark. If it does, I would say what this book does uniquely is create a comprehensive understanding of what EPCOT as Walt planned it would have been like, but even that was so married to concepts I found boring and uninteresting that I put the book down several times.
It is an ambitious book and I think it could have been done well, however the organization and structuring of the book's "narrative" was so haphazard and random that I found it really unappealing. It was like a half peanut-butter & jelly, half tuna fish and cheese sandwich. They don't go together and the minute you are getting used to the taste of one, you are hit with the other so jarringly you have to readjust.
I would not recommend this book unless you are morbidly curious about Walt's vision of EPCOT. If not, then use this book as a bibliography of much better books to read since he sources pretty much every decent book on Disney and Walt Disney World I have read.
kmccubbin's review
challenging
hopeful
informative
reflective
sad
slow-paced
4.0
"Walt Disney and the Promise of Progress City" is not really what you think it is. Luckily I'd heard an interview with the author, Sam Gennaway, and knew what I was getting into. This is fascinating book that dives deep into urban planning philosophies and frameworks, using those ideas to inform the story of the creation of Disney's famous theme park experience as well as his design for an actual, residential, city of tomorrow.
The thing that Gennaway does remarkably successfully is that he gives weight to both the innovative wonder of the idea and the potential for changing the urban landscape for the better, as well as concerns about having to experiment with people's lives to make it work.
The thing that Gennaway does remarkably successfully is that he gives weight to both the innovative wonder of the idea and the potential for changing the urban landscape for the better, as well as concerns about having to experiment with people's lives to make it work.
walkonpooh's review
2.0
So ultimately Walt and the Promise of Progress City was disappointing to me. If the author reads this, please just discard my review, don't be offended or anything, you wrote a very well written book on city planning and what Progress City/EPCOT would have been from that aspect. It's just not what I wanted or was looking for, so maybe it was my own expectations of the book that failed, rather than what I actually ended up reading.
What I wanted, was a fun look into the EPCOT that Walt envisioned, an alternate look, however briefly, into what it was that Walt Disney wanted to create in Central Florida. That's here in this book, but that's not the focus of the book. This book is focused on the design philosophies of city planning that led Walt to designing EPCOT. From that aspect, the book is very well written and interesting. I wanted a tour of the city and become excited about the possibilites that the city held and the solutions for many of our problems that we face today that the city would have inspired.
What I wanted, was something akin to the Walt Disney World attraction, The Carousel of Progress, about EPCOT the city, in book form. That fun look at technology, that is one of my favorite attractions at WDW, where you not only learn a bit of history, but even has a fun "here's what could have/might have been" scene. That's not what this book is and it's no fault of the author. If what you're looking for is the same thing that I was looking for, I couldn't recommend this. If you're looking for a well written, academic-esque book on what EPCOT the city might have been from a city planning perspective, this is definitely for you!
What I wanted, was a fun look into the EPCOT that Walt envisioned, an alternate look, however briefly, into what it was that Walt Disney wanted to create in Central Florida. That's here in this book, but that's not the focus of the book. This book is focused on the design philosophies of city planning that led Walt to designing EPCOT. From that aspect, the book is very well written and interesting. I wanted a tour of the city and become excited about the possibilites that the city held and the solutions for many of our problems that we face today that the city would have inspired.
What I wanted, was something akin to the Walt Disney World attraction, The Carousel of Progress, about EPCOT the city, in book form. That fun look at technology, that is one of my favorite attractions at WDW, where you not only learn a bit of history, but even has a fun "here's what could have/might have been" scene. That's not what this book is and it's no fault of the author. If what you're looking for is the same thing that I was looking for, I couldn't recommend this. If you're looking for a well written, academic-esque book on what EPCOT the city might have been from a city planning perspective, this is definitely for you!
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