Back in the early 1950s, Walt Disney had a crazy idea to build an amusement park. No one really bought into his crazy scheme except for a Texas businessman named C. V. Wood, known as Woody. Woody was Disney's right hand man for years, helping design the park that would become Disneyland in Anaheim and getting much needed sponsorships when Disney ran short on funds. Woody was also instrumental in getting the land for the park, making some shady side deals in order to get it done. Miraculously the park opened on time (although not without a few issues) and Woody's days were numbered. Disney had his brother Roy fire him a few months later, and Woody went on to create other theme parks around the country, as well as Lake Havasu in Arizona. Woody's name has been pretty much erased from all official Disneyland history by the company, longtime employees who knew him refuse to discuss it. It was very interesting, and Pierce did a great job of researching.
I'm always a little leery of reading short story collections because I usually don't enjoy them, but this one appealed to me because of the Faulkner connection, so I read it and I actually really enjoyed it. Most of the stories were pretty decent, but there were a few that were really, really good.
I read Archie and Peyton's autobiography about a decade ago, but of course a lot has happened since then. Peyton's won two Super Bowls and retired, youngest brother Eli has also had his share of success in the NFL, winning two Super Bowls too. It's impossible to read this book and not feel sorry for Archie, although I'm sure he doesn't feel sorry for himself. To never once be on a team with a winning season--man, that's a heartbreaker. You gotta wonder what he could have done in the NFL if he'd been on a decent team like his sons were.
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