Reviews for Cherish Life, a Biography of Sarah Palin, Fulfilling a Destiny in God While Losing the Elect...

The average rating for Cherish Life, a Biography of Sarah Palin, Fulfilling a Destiny in God While Losing the Elect... based on 2 reviews is 3 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2017-12-25 00:00:00 Jj Bear Whether you believe that Walt Disney was a lovable storyteller, a great filmmaker and a bringer of joy or that he was a relentless purveyor of sentimental pap who was responsible for an empire that drained the U.S. of it's culture is really just a naive view of who was, and still is long after his death, a great man. Most of this audience would be of the generations who experience Disney after his death in 1966, but even I remember watching repeats of "The Wonderful World of Walt Disney" on Sunday afternoons. And as a child I loved all of his work. And being a romantic I guess I still love his work especially "Mary Poppins" and "Bedknobs and Broomsticks". But I still recognise the power that his legacy has left, which at it's heart like all businesses is to make money, and lots of it. I guess that is why his legacy is intriguing. I chose to read this biography due to it's length, the author's credentials and the fact that the author had cooperation from the current Disney corporation. Why does the book length entice me? Well if I want to read a biography I want it to be more in depth than the respective Wikipedia article. And sometimes I have read a 200-400 page biography and thought that it was no more informative than just reading a wikipedia article.So therefore I see that there is a probability of getting more depth from a longer biography. I also liked that there was 200 pages of notes at the end. It is extremely well-researched. If I'm going to invest my time in a biography I want definitive and thorough. I don't want to have to read another biography on that person. Despite having the backing of the Disney clan, it does not seem biased at all. I came away with many opinions and a greater understanding of the man and his work, but also of the feeling that Walt was an asshole. Well not completely, but you can see him becoming one over the years and you can also see what made him that way. I guess that it shows the success of the biography in that I went into it curious and with warm childhood memories and later life skepticism and came out understanding both of these aspects, but with a greater depth of understanding of what made Walt tick and how he became a messed up media mogul. But I still have the same appreciation for his work, despite knowing how calling most films produced under his name could be argued not to be his work at all, especially in the later years. And despite knowing that he did end up treating everyone around him, apart from his direct family, with mistrust and disdain. So not only was this book magnificent in that it illustrated the multidimensionality of Walt's personality, it also captured the times and locations very well. And despite it's density of information and people, it was intensely readable.

Review # 2 was written on 2021-03-11 00:00:00 Matthew Pierce I wavered between 3 and 4 stars on this book. One of the problems with writing a biography about Walt Disney is that people either see him as the lovable "Uncle Walt", or a driven and obsessive tyrant. This book does a fine job of objectively showing you all the sides of this complex man. (It also didn't hurt that the writing and research were exceptionally well done). On one hand, I loved all the details about Walt Disney, his life, family, and career. However, all that detail became weighed down in the middle of the book when the author spent too much time on Walt's legal, financial, and political troubles, and not enough on the good stuff (ie: feature animation, television/live action programs, and Disneyland). Overall, a very interesting glimpse at the man who revolutionized the film industry and changed popular culture forever.