[.ca] Team Rodent (ISBN 0345422805)

From Amazon.com:
Let's get one thing straight: Carl Hiaasen doesn't like the Walt Disney Company. Whenever the giant entertainment conglomerate stumbles, as it did with its proposed Civil War theme park in Virginia, Hiaasen cheers. When a rhinoceros mysteriously dies at Disney's new theme park, Animal Kingdom, Hiaasen secretly hopes for the worst, because, as he writes, "no scandal is so delectable as a Disney scandal." A native of Florida, author of such thrillers as Lucky You and Strip Tease, and a journalist for the Miami Herald, Hiaasen comes by his dislike for Disney honestly. He has witnessed the relentless success of the Disney machine firsthand with the development of Disney World and other properties around Orlando. In Team Rodent: How Disney Devours the World, Hiaasen paints a witty and sarcastic portrait in this nonfiction account of a company who can control the press, manipulate local governments, and because it's Disney, get away with it. Team Rodent is a quick, entertaining read that even the most loyal Disney shareholder (except maybe Michael Eisner) will find enlightening and amusing. --Harry C. Edwards

lack of research:
this book was flawed from the trashy movie covers to the insane clown posse this man clearly did not do his research. I mean draw the wash. mon. then tell me what it looks like to a perv and the insane clown posse had a large number of fans before ever going to h-wood records. tho entertaining this book lacks hardcore facts.

Tongue in cheek fun, just now it ain't fiction:
This book is just a collection of articles clubbed together as chapters (like kick-ass) with Disney the center focus. Not as entertaining as his fiction, but for as somebody who's read all of those and who loves his writing style, this is a great crutch to get you through to his next publication date. Hiaasen's writing isn't so much an attack on Disney, as it is a satire of our own foibles. If he attacks anything in this book, it's the American "sweep it under the rug and don't talk about it" philosophy of complacency. Let's face it, Disney is a world where sex doesn't exist and appearances mean everything. Hiaasen just wants people to look under that rug and get back to reality.

Save your money:
Ten bucks is a lot to pay for what is ultimately an essay. If you want to read it, get it from the library. I found it an okay read, but felt the overall feel was a bit 'snarky'. I'd compare it to an essay from a high school nerd complaining about how bad the 'cool kids' are...when his main complaint is that they are, in fact, cool. It just felts like he dislikes them because they are successful. Hey, Disney as a corporation is neither all black nor all white. So I'd say this may be worth a read if you like to get both sides of the Disney story and want to read some negatives for awhile, but really, save yourself a few bucks and get it from the library.

Nice work, Carl!:
This is a book that was begging to be written. Just because a company has a family-friendly, good citizen image, doeasn't make it so. I am highly amused by the negative reviews, especially since they so emphatically proclaim "I DON'T WORK FOR DISNEY, BUT..." But what? But it's OK to commit corporate crime? It's OK to rape the environment under the banner of a children's character? It's not OK to write about it? These Disney-drones (for who but an employee would feel the need to proclaim they didn't?)tow the company line, even against such condemning evidence.

Interesting:
I found this book interesting. As a former Floridian, and a resident of Manassas, where the proposed American Adventure Park was to be built, I do understand Hiaasen's dislike of "the mouse". The essay is from a series where authors write a critical essay of some current topic. Hiaasen's was Disney. Through opinions as a native Floridian and a journalist, and real news stories about Disney, Hiaasen attempts to give readers a better look at Disney, that it isn't all it's cracked up to be.