Ted Turner Books

This book tells the history of the America's Cup sailing race. The beautiful paintings by Tim Thompson capture a key moment for each race. And each race is described in detail by Ranulf Raynor, including boat specifics -- length, beam, sail area, designer, owner, and skipper. There is even a section describing the race courses and locations.

The races painted and described include every America's Cup race from 1851 - 2000, listed below.
1851 America defeats the British Fleet
1870 Magic defeats Cambria
1871 Columbia and Sappho defeat Livonia
1876 Madeleine defeats Countess of Dufferin
1881 Mischief defeats Atalanta
1885 Puritan defeats Genesta
1886 Mayflower defeats Galatea
1887 Volunteer defeats Thistle
1893 Vigilant defeats Valkyrie II
1895 Defender defeats Valkyrie III
1899 Columbia defeats Shamrock
1901 Columbia defeats Shamrock II
1903 Reliance defeats Shamrock III
1920 Resolute defeats Shamrock IV
1930 Enterprise defeats Shamrock V
1934 Rainbow defeats Endeavor
1937 Ranger defeats Endeavor II
1958 Columbia defeats Sceptre
1962 Weatherly defeats Gretel
1964 Constellation defeats Sovereign
1967 Intrepid defeats Dame Pattie
1970 Intrepid defeats Gretel II
1974 Courageous defeats Southern Cross
1977 Courageous defeats Australia
1980 Freedom defeats Australia
1983 Australia II defeats Liberty
1987 Stars & Stripes defeats Kookaburra III
1988 Stars & Stripes defeats New Zealand
1992 America defeats Il Moro Di Venezia
1995 Black Magic defeats Young America
2000 Black Magic defeats Luna Rossa

I loved the character sketches of some of the most well-known contenders and participants, from old boat designer Captain Nat Hereshoff himself, to English Sir Thomas Lipton who was one of the most determined challengers with his Shamrock boats and well-loved by even the American competitors.

For anyone who loves sailing and follow the history of the America's Cup, this book is for you.

The last review, sounds exactly like what Turner fought against, control freak zealots. He isn't mental, he is brilliant.

In a media world where people like Rupert Murdock are put on a boat for a photo op, people like Ted Turner actually support the crew and stay onboard for the whole race, all 31,000 miles of it.

Regardless of money my friends, that separates the men from the boys.

Who would you want to be behind in the battle field?

Jane is a pretty misunderstood woman. People make judgements about her based on stories they see in the media, and based on the rhetoric of those who oppose her. I learned a lot about the real Jane Fonda in this book. Her childhood was not that pretty. Her relationship with her father was strained at best, and this book delves into that with the insight and sensitivity of a person who has learned to accept parents who are not perfect, and who has come to understand how those early years shaped her life and the decisions she made throughout.

- C.A.Wulff, author of Born Without a Tail

I "met" Jane Fonda at a book signing in Pasadena, CA. I was immediately taken with her graciousness. She appeared beautifully poised, content and unpretentious, before a packed gathering. She was irreverent, intelligent, insightful and candid. As she sat at the signing table, she immediately commented that she thought my blouse was gorgeous. While this may seem like a very minor thing, having been to countless events of this type, I was a bit taken aback by her focus on me. This was supposed to be about HER. This is a huge part of her charm; the ability to look outward, instead of being obsessed with herself, the way that so many of today's celebrities seem to be.

As a child of the civil unrest, disobedience and rights movement, I had always related to what she stood for. I could always distinguish between being patriotic and simply disagreeing with the way that the government was handling things. Therefore, it was my belief that she had been demonized needlessly, and that ignorance and the inability to understand how caring for one's country, is what makes one passionate about what is happening in the first place. This is what has made it so difficult for people to look past what happened during the Viet Nam era.

There are still many people who hate her for her activism. And it is a shame that those people will miss out on what truly is, an astoundingly insightful book. Jane Fonda is not just someone who is a famous actress; she is a woman who is living a very full, informed, and turbulent life, and took the time to really learn from it. And she is sharing her experiences in such a candid, forthright, refreshing way - that anyone could benefit from reading about them.

You do not have to have been famous to have the kinds of experiences that she describes. While some celebrity autobiographies drone on and on about all of the other famous people they knew and know, very few actually tell about how they felt, and what they learned in the process. And many still have the fear of telling the truth. Because Jane Fonda is where she is in her life right now, she has the luxury and ability to be as honest as she wants to be. She has reached successful pinnacles in her career, that few rarely achieve.

As I read each chapter, I could see my own life in parallels. I did not have the privilege that she did, however, I understand the same struggles that she had, as a woman. I could even see similarities in the kinds of men that she has had in her life, yet, I have lived worlds apart from her.

This is a true, unabashedly truthful memoir, that does not scrimp on details. It is entertaining, candid, informative, while being stunningly, strikingly provocative, and enlightening. This is a book that I will always cherish. The revelations that she shares, have affected my own life, and will continue to do so. It is the most insightfully enlightening autobiography by an actor that I have read thus far. But that is not surprising, given that Ms. Fonda is much more than an actor. First and foremost, she is a human being who has always cared about humanity, and it truly shows in her life's experiences. I am so grateful that she decided to share it with us.

Different FlagsI have read Jane Fonda's Autobiography and find it a very interesting book. The parts telling about her mother's mental illness, her suicide, her brother Peter and her relationship with her stepmother are the ones I enjoyed most. I was able to relate to the things Jane Fonda should have said to her mother but didn't. Her father's depression was described in a touching and honest way. Having lived in another country myself, I really liked Jane Fonda's description of France back in the 60s. I will read it again. Eugenia Renskoff

I have so much more respect for her and the times we went through. A friend gave this book to me while on vacation. I'm not sure I would have chosen it, BUT I could not put it down. I came home and bought a copy for my 25 year old daughter. Some things in life never change. Thank you! Diane

This is one of the best-ever show biz (but any biz!) autobiographies I've ever read. Ms. Fonda has delivered her readers a real treat -- a thorough re-telling of her already familiar story with wit, pathos and a real desire to get to the truth and share them with her readers.

If life is a journey, she's taken a hell of a trip and it's to her credit that she pushes on and continues to fight the good fight.

She doesn't skirt around the controversy or try to shirk away her actions or culpability for any mistakes she made. She confronts it all -- head-on without fear or denial. She's to be commended for her honesty and for her uniquely American life and the truth she's pursued relentlessly all these years.

Many people are still mad about Vietnam (and but for her moment in the gun turret, wasn't she right about the whole sad affair?) but those are the same folks who think we're doing right by Iraq right now, so there's no winning that crowd over. They'll simply stay mad forever, even though she's the one who really shows her love for this country by trying to make it better and to hold its leaders accountable to the people who give them their power.

She's a remarkable human being and she can be extremely proud of this book.

CNN has become a dominant force in new and politics in the 21st century. The story of its founding and the battle between the author and Ted Turner is outlined here. Once you get past Schonfeld's bias there is a great story here that shows how the network grew from the ground up. The government regulators, competition and airwave rules that helped to form the network are covered in detail. This is a must read for anyone interested in the television industry.

The book is decently written though not consistently chronological throughout or organized in logical chapters. On the other hand, Reese doesn't claim it is his best but a rapidly developed version of his side of the story.

The behind-the-scenes stories, econmimc rationales, lucky breaks, clever ploys, hiring realities and nitty gritty outweigh the sometimes annoying themes: liberal-leaning Jewish boomer from New Jersey ("wrong-side of the tracks?"), occassional gratuitous name-droppping and way too much info about his own life story (not relevant in many places so it sometimes rambles). Reese doesn't take advantage of the many character assasination opportunities and shows restraint. Clearly, the man is a talented and visionary doer albeit narcissistic at times.

From a "Gen-X" business person's standpoint, mixed opinion but worth reading especially if you can get a used copy like I did.

Overall I enjoyed this book a lot, there were many great behind-the-scenes stories that were quite intriguing. The only flaw is that the author uses the book to take a jab at Ted and pat himself on the back. But, he makes no qualms about that in the book's introduction. But, I can't really blame Reese. If I worked as hard as he did creating this network and nobody knows who he is, I'd be rather bitter too.
Still, a very good read - I would recommend to anyone in the media.

It is rare that people actually truely find what they want to do. Dick Schofield did. This book recites all of the excitement of a new upstart idea turning into reality.

As quircky as Ted Turner was, the new staff was nothing short of a creative miracle. This book tracks the rise and fall of CNN. Some of the best stories were how with a smaller budget and less assets that CNN endlessly found workarounds which screwed over the larger networks.

I actually read this while I was in a makeshift navy jail, and it did more than just pass the time.

Reese Schonfeld wrote the book Me and Ted Against the World, (HarperCollins Publisher, 2001) which is described as the unauthorized story of the founding of CNN. Schonfeld writes that the time in which he was writing his book was a great period in the history of CNN because everything was in a mess. Ted Turner's deal with AOL/Time Warner was not working out the way he had planned. The numbers of viewers for CNN shows had declined. Everyone was nervous. But Schonfeld says this is a great time to be writing a book!
Reese Schonfeld was one Turner's partner for the first three years of the life of CNN. He was in the news business, and Ted turner was described as the best advertising salesman that TV had ever known. Together they worked to develop CNN. Both Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld were thrown out of their universities because they did not like authority, Schonfeld out of Harvard Law and Turner out of Brown University.
The reviewer says, "both were control freaks. CNN was their baby" (cover). However, in 1982, when CNN's ratings were at its highest, Turner fired Schonfeld and gained control of CNN. This story is told from Schonfeld's point of view. In the beginning, he writes that he will be cynical and tough when writing this book. Schonfeld says that although he did not invent 24 hour news, he did invent the idea of fluid news. This is the style he says that differentiates CNN from others. Fluid news is described as being spontaneous.
Schonfeld says that it took some time for the people he hired to understand this right away because they were used to perfect half-hour shows. Some learned and adjusted and some did not. Before he could fire the ones that did not learn, Mr. Turner fired him.
Over the years, he says that the network has become "constipated and sluggish." When CNN first started, Schonfeld says the audience was enthused about watching world news, but times have changed. He explains that people watch news that has relevance in their lives; they are turning back to watching local news more than cable news. Another problem, according to Schonfeld, is that CNN does not go into depth about any subject, and it spends more time reporting about international news than American events. The highest ratings, and the ones that made CNN the most famous, was the coverage of the Gulf War. The ratings at that time almost doubled.
There was another peak during the OJ Simpson Trial, and then a minor increase during Monica Lewinsky and the impeachment proceedings. Interestingly, although Schonfeld reports that the numbers are way down, he says that at the anniversary celebration, he was hearing over and over how much CNN had improved. He says, "This is a dangerous myth because it reverses the truth" (xvi). For those people who might want to learn about a 24 hour news station, they need to know what works and what doesn't, so the truth is good.
One of the ideas regarding CNN that made it different than other news networks was that the founders wanted to show the entire news making process, not just what appeared like magic on NBC. You could see much of the control room. The first set of CNN looked like the newsroom of a newspaper but with lights and cameras. Other television news was "romantic and mystical." But CNN wanted to show the nuts and bolts of the news. Schonfeld describes the style of CNN as deconstructionist. The philosophy of the news at CNN was bottom up news. There were 24 hours that had to be filled, and they wanted people from all bureaus to send them stories. There would be the big stories that everyone would cover, but they wanted to have some extra attractions. Schonfeld says that CNN was developed to "bear witness." It was created to make sure that all the sorrows of the world are told, and that all joys are celebrated. Of course, it was also created to make money, but the way was to present information so that people could understand current events, and place the events in historical context. It was also created so that viewers could call in and talk with commentators on CNN.
His philosophy is in order to sell news, the news has to be the best in the world. That would mean doing the news live as much as possible. It would also be to seek out the stories that everyone else is ignoring, and show why they are significant. In originality the network would find its strength. He quotes William Randolph Hearst who used to say, "there are no bad news stories, only bad reporters" (p. 12). Schonfeld says, "there are no slow news periods, only slow editors, slow producers" (p. 12). I guess this is an attitude you would have to have for 24 hour news.
Schonfeld said that it was his dream of having enough airtime and money so that stories could be told that would be seen around the world. His dream had the element that if you told the truth about what was happening, the world would be a better place. It took 23 years for technology to catch his dream. The development of satellite and cable allowed that. He learned in that time that everyone has an angle, and if you come to understand the angle, you could understand their story. Schonfeld criticized the major networks because he believed their main concern became making money, not presenting in-depth news. The networks were not in the news business; they were in the entertainment business. And all three presented the news in about the same way. Most of the stories came off the Associated Press wires or the mornings New York Times. The structure of the network was from the top down . Everybody did what they were told, and there were orders to follow that came from the top.
In 1979, Ted Turner called him as the news expert to help Turner start a new network of news. This was the first time that live news was the purpose of the network, not the obligation to fill in the news slot in between entertainment. No one was sure how it would work. Schonfeld says that he had a plan for CNN that had a lot of holes, but he knew that it would developed and be shaped into what it could become. "CNN would form itself as it found itself" (p. 15). One thing the network was going to do was tap into the news sources in cities all over the world. Then they could create a world news that was different from the conventional found in the New York Times or London Times. If they guessed about the right spot to put their cameras, Schonfeld knew the whole world would watch. They would help to set the news agenda for the world.
The book is a very interesting one to read. It is not just that the story of CNN is interesting as the first 24 all news network. That part of the book is interesting, of course. However, I think the real value of the book, especially for students of communication and journalism, is that it gives you so much detail about the life inside a news station. It describes the dynamics of this industry, the weaknesses, the strengths. It describes the lives of the personalities that are a part of the industry. It describes what the industry is, and what it could be. It is a fascinating book in this regard. It is bigger than the story of CNN, in my opinion. It is the story of news broadcasting, and Schonfeld tells it well.
I would recommend this book to anyone, but especially to those people who are interested in learning more about news and broadcast journalism. The last few years have been difficult for CNN, and you have to wonder if Schonfeld is not correct in his evaluation that the network has not reached its potential, but has become slowed down. Schonfeld did not end his career with CNN, of course. As described, he co-founded CNN, and then CNN Headline News. But he also created the first all-local news channel in 1985, News 12. And he created the Food Network in 1993. He is an interesting writer, and this was a fun book to read.

How does a guy who sells billboards create a media empire? In 2001, author Ken Auletta won a National Magazine Award for his profile of media mogul Ted Turner in `The New Yorker'. In this book, he expands this profile, giving colorful detail about the remarkable life of the colorful, outspoken and complicated business cowboy. Auletta shows that Turner is shocking, abrasive and driven, but he rarely goes more deeply into Turner's motivations than to explain his rebellion against his father. The book chronicles Turner's revolutionary, meteoric creation of a cable empire, including the nation's first cable superstation, and the founding of CNN. It follows Turner as Time Inc., gobbles up his thriving company. Auletta takes a hard look at the personalities that engineered the formation of AOL Time Warner, then the world's biggest media company. Unfortunately, at this point, Auletta becomes preoccupied with the dealmakers and - like AOL TW - places Turner on the back burner. This is just a detour, however, from his compelling portrayal of a corporate superstar who ran his business from his gut. We recommend this fascinating read.

He was a visionary, wanting to conquer the world like his first hero, Alexander the Great. He conquered the media world with CNN and TNT. My hero was General MacArthur; he too conquered the world with his determination and fighting spirit. His "I shall return" was a war cry and a promise.

I was drawn to this book because I appreciate his sponsoring GODS & GENERALS, a Civil War movie with the South's viewpoint in which there were many generals, but God let us down. He spent $55 million of his own money to produce this masterpiece.

Ted's grandfather was a sharecropper in Mississippi, and yet Ted was born in Cincinnati, Ohio (Nick Clooney's town). His father was a dictator, which caused Ted to have mood swings and a ferocious temper.

When married to Jane Fonda (1991-2001), he secluded himself in an efficiency apartment "penthouse" atop the CNN Center Building in Atlanta. Previously, he had slept in his office. She was window dressing and traveling companion. He owned at that time an 8,000-acre Florida estate, cattle and sheep ranches in Montana, New Mexico and Argentina. Who knows what else? Anyway, he kept her 'in style' and it was observed that she was his "equal" -- she was different. He treated her with a lot of respect. She had been an anti-war activist, movie star, and daughter of Henry Fonda. What else could he ask for? But, every cloud sooner or later bursts and a thunderstorm ensues.

His motto is "You cannot give up hope... The situation is hopeless -- but I might be wrong." He's had an exciting life, but not much luck in the marriage department, like Peter Fonda. Now, he can rest on his laurels. I enjoyed seeing the photo of the young Ted Turner with "no perfect teeth" and in the straw bowler hat. He was a dandy back then. Thank you, TT for GODS AND GENERALS. Thank you, Ken A. for a good bio. He overcame all odds and he is "somebody of stature."

This book provides a short but insightful biography of Ted Turner, the southern businessman known for his business acquisitions, media influence, sports franchises, and Jane Fonda. The book lays out the private and public life of Ted Turner from his birth to his recent donation of $10 billion US to the UN. Included in it are chapters on his schooling, his relationship with his father, his marriage to Jane Fonda, his entry into the media market culminating with CNN, and his later entry into progressive politics.

The book is easy to read and filled with colorful insights into his life. Major financial and business ventures are covered in detail, with analysis of both legal and money aspects. The book is well referenced, drawing info from interviews with Mr. Turner, his friends and family, and secondary sources such as other books and newspaper articles. The book can be read in 1 day or less, and I recommend reading it.

I picked this book up at a competing brick and mortar book store. I did so mainly to learn why CNN had been dethroned by FoxNews, and also because I had an interest in the man credited with the invention of 24-hour news.

Overall, the book was satisfying. Turner's life is covered rather well, but the details are missing. Every chapter seems more of a summary of something larger than a fact-filled chapter that it is intended to be. Then again, I wasn't expecting a thorough biography given its scant 180 pages.

Regardless, this book will give you a good idea of the man that is Turner. Why did he strive for greatness? Why did he create CNN? How and why did he lose CNN and his fortune? Why is his heart set on world peace? These questions - and others - are neatly answered.

Media Man by noted media journalist Ken Auletta gives the casual media novice a fine overview of the personality, passions, and career highlights of Ted Turner, a man who transformed television by making 24-hour cable news a force with which to be reckoned and helping make cable per se almost a household necessity.

An interesting point of his business personality as depicted in this book is that he's not afraid to take risks, yet is supposedly very uncomfortable with debt. So why did he practically mortgage his company in an effort to acquire CBS? The reasoning isn't really fleshed out to a satisfying degree. All we really take away from this account is how he desperately wanted to expand into broadcast network television; not on how such a massive and high-profile acquisition would benefit viewers, shareholders, and employees. Taken in context with the entirety of the book, one concludes that the move was as much ego-driven as Turner would maintain that it was driven to create cost-efficiencies.
We also don't get a clear sense of what's behind his fervent anti-unionism and vaunted parsimony, only that they were definitely traits of his.

While getting a taste of his upbringing and subsequent family life is interesting as background, probably the most compelling part of this book is Turner's boardroom battles as part of Time Warner, and later AOL-Time Warner. Here we get a true sense of the personalities and motivations at work, and at odds, within the changing paradigms of corporate media. It's this that made the book worth reading and where Auletta shines as a writer--the kind of writing that made Three Blind Mice so noteworthy and memorable.

At only about 180 pages, it's difficult to recommend this book at full list price, or even Amazon's substantially discounted price, but a used or library copy is definitely worth the time to get to know a little more of this broadcasting and entertainment pioneer.

Just some business details and too much sailing and private things.

Ted Turner's life story would make a better movie than many of the old classics he bought the rights to broadcast on his stations. From allegedly giving a sales pitch in the nude (among other things), to wild speeches in hotel lobbies, winning an incredible number of sailing races, and even his own "Alistair Cooke" style film intros, this guy is full of antics.

I was impressed by the depth of research Mr. Bibb brought to this book. I wish their was a little more of Ted quoted in the book, but this is an excellent amount of info on the man's life.

- Julia Wilkinson, author, "My Life at AOL"

This book was an insult to my intelligence. Instead of an objective biography, it comes across as a paid P.R piece written by a Ted Turner sycophant. Don't waste your money on this trash. Too bad there isn't a "zero stars" rating!!!

This long, intricately constructed, infinitely documented biography reads like a film script, which is the only appropriate format for a biography of this larger than life subject. Ted Turner has led a life only a Hollywood screenwriter could concoct, but Porter Bibb has packed it all between two covers.

There is hardly a more colorful person in the history of twentieth century media than Ted Turner. He is mad, visionary, obsessed, gutsy, bi-polar, swash-buckling, touching and very likeable. Ted's CCN inspired me to push ahead with my own small technology company. After touring the early CNN headquarters in Atlanta, I brought back colorful CNN souvenir caps for my staff; and we wore them for a time in our office whenever we brain-stormed. This is a great and detailed account of Ted's adult years from family billboard company executive to AOL Time Warner vice chairman.

You'll rout for this multi-billionaire after reading the book.

There was a time when CNN was a channel I watched regularly. Because they're so desperate for ratings, they've decided to ape Fox News. They have the drunk, psycho blowhard Nancy Disgrace. They have airheads like Robin Meade, who wears WAY TOO MUCH makeup and is as phony as the day is long ("Good Morning, Sunshine!" - she's talking to a REMOTE, UNMANNED TELEVISION CAMERA!) and Erica Hill (who wears her hair like as a stiff, UGLY helmet) who try and act like they're actually "there with you"; like they're your "friends". Very deceptive. To their credit, they did fire the bow-tied moron and Bill Hemmer. Thank God Judy Woodruff is gone (Hey, Larry King: FOLLOW HER LEAD!) They never should have hired Soledad O'Brien. It was a horrible mistake booting the sexy Paula Zahn from mornings. CNN and other 24 hr news channels are only at their best when providing live, unscripted coverage, where they don't have a chance to can their comments. Instead of providing REAL news, viewers are subjected to "human interest stories" like young blondes who go missing, exploiting them for all their worth. CNN is the equivalent of "reality" tv - which is to say: GARBAGE. If you want some real news visit Democracy Now - THAT'S worth watching.

See first hand as CNN struggles to be objective in reporting, not as easy as one may think. There are many great stories in the book about the personalities which make up the news. There are lessons in reporting that are very applicable today. I found many parallels to the radio business. I recommend this book to any news reporter who cares about details.


A radio news reporter from Wisconsin

This is an absolutely great book for fans of CNN or anyone in the media. It contains tons of inspiring quotes and great behind-the-scenes stories.
I wouuld highly recommend it.

Since there is no hardcover addition and this is a cheap destined to break paperback I must give it one star.
Please Gemstone and Dark Horse rerelease your titles in hardback. The quality is unacceptable. Please don't buy the product until you see a hardback edition is offered. As for me I"m trying to collect the Gladstone comic books instead. And now I have a real tacky looking magazine holders on my bookcase. Thank-you Gemstone and Dark Horse!

First of all, I did not expect the book to be so small...but then I figured it was made to be the size of an actual comic book page, so I was able to live with that. The contents of the book are excellent, and while I would have appreciated more pages dedicated to discussing the history of the Disney comics, the selections, though random, do provide a nice overall essay of all the different characters that became popular in the comic book format.

With 75 years and probably thousands of stories to choose from, it couldn't have been easy to select the stories that made it into this volume. The folks at Gemstone did an admirable job, though, with a wonderful sampling of rarely reprinted comics from the US and Disney's foreign publishers -- some being reprinted in English for the first time. Most of the legendary Disney comic creators are represented here, from Floyd Gottfredson to William Van Horn to Don Rosa to the immortal Carl Barks. Even Walt Kelly has a short story in this volume.

In addition to a great sampling of creators, this book also has a good sampling of characters. You get the expected stories of Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Uncle Scrooge and Goofy, but you also see Lil' Bad Wolf, Brer Rabbit, Bucky Bug, Gremlins, Fethry Duck and Launchpad McQuack taking the helm of their own adventures.

Gemstone has replicated the DVD format, from the cover (including nice art by Don Rosa) to essays by David Gerstein (taking the Leonard Maltin role for the book). The only real weakness to this book is that the stories seem to have been selected solely for their rarity, with no real common theme or thread to hold the book together. Hopefully future volumes in the series will address this issue. As it is, this is a fine sampling, one that any Disney comic fan will enjoy.

Comics were made to sell for 5 or 10 cents, but the modern comic, even full of distracting ads, runs two or three dollars. Gladstone/ Another Rainbow Publishing came up with a great idea. In the '90s they presented Carl Barks' duck comics in graphic novel format, which they called comic albums, for between six and ten dollars.

Absolutely great, what? You bet, until in one of a string of bloomers the proprietary Disney Company snatched back the license and made a botched effort at doing its own comics (this sort of thing was legion at that time and stirred Roy Disney to make a website called Save Disney). Now for the good news: the entire Gladstone run is still available, and some have even been combined into larger albums including two to four of the original oversize full-color comic albums.

"Disney Treasures", of course, refers to the lavishly packaged metal-boxed DVD sets of cartoons and other retro Disney shows. It's a brainstorm to lay this book out in that format and it holds up quite well, since this brief overview samples the American and European comics from the 1930s to the present.

David Gerstein contributes an invaluable two page essay for this book in which the comics are otherwise presented without comment. He alludes, ever so briefly, to the '50s book, Seduction of the Innocents, which started a crusade against comic books on the grounds that they were too violent and graphic in the gory sense. The result of that was the Comics Code, which was on every Gold Key and thus Disney comic. Dell had its own version of the code, and assured parents that "Dell Comics are Good Comics," thus assuring free access for kids.

Gerstein repeats the old saw that until then comics weren't for kids, and that graphic novels have brought back the pre-code days with a vengeance. I merely retort that the very idea of comics in this era fashioned them for youth and that this innocence brought out the best in Disney and other artists and made Gold Key comics the good part of being sick, since you'd inevitably get the latest adventures of the Junior Woodchucks or Mickey VS the Phantom Blot.

When the license went from Dell to Western Publishing the printing quality declined, but Gladstone later lifted it to a level of archival quality with its beautiful volumes. The general view is that in terms of the silver screen cartoon shorts, Donald was a much more interesting protagonist than Mickey, but in the comics, I think fans of Carl Barks' duck comics (translated well to TV in DuckTales) will enjoy discovering Floyd Gottfredson's Mickey Mouse.

So what is the relation of Gemstone to Gladstone? Gerstein assures me that it's the same crew. Whatever the reason for the name change, Steve Geppi, a close friend of the late Bruce Hamilton, founder of Gladstone, is now carrying the torch. The many great cartoons now available on DVD make this a new Golden Age for animation, and more good news: Gladstone/ Gemstone are now leading a comics revival.

Plenty of great comics put together with mediocre ones.

Why not more Carl Barks'and Fred Gottfredson's creations ? The more recent titles (with one or two honorable exceptions)are well below Bark's and Godfredson's levels.

From the very start, it is plain the Goldbergs lack any primary sources for their book, since there the exploration of Turner's character and personal decisions tend to be more conjecture than anything else. This book seems to do a good job of listing each of the various public decisions and people in Turner's life, but the important decisions and events are glossed over. For instance: The Goldbergs repeatedly note how Turner micromanaged his companies, only promoted from within, and didn't allow his senior managers and board to make major decisions. Yet, by the time CNN was created, Turner was clearly ignoring his billboard company, and TBS seemed to be cranking along fine. What did Turner think of these people, and what were they doing that made the cash flow possible for Turner to lose so much money while CNN was started up?

The book also has a facination with the chronology of his womanizing. While distaining his extramarital sexual adventures, the Goldbergs seem to do little more than count the notches in Turner's bedpost. Sure they do some pop-psychological analysis, but has no discussion of how his womanizing may have affected other parts of his life, family, and businesses -- especially when the affairs became so blatently open in the 70's and 80's.

Read this book if you want to know what happened in Turner's life up until the First Gulf War (the book was written before Turner's empire was bought by Time Warner), but don't expect a whole lot of insight to his personal life and business genius.

The Goldbergs tie Ted Turner into such a tight package that the reader is left with the impression that their impression is one-sided. But his monomorphism seems to naturally follow his fascinating upbringing and the shaping of an incredible domineering father. And then, when one hears post-Citizen Turner interviews and follows the news about Ted, the authors are vindicated. They've got him pegged! Very easily readable

Rupert vs. Ted! Ted vs. Rupert! Great, easy to read narrative of the most modern media battle. If you want to know about the ideology and shenanigans behind Mr. Fair & BalancedTM, this is the book.