I really enjoy Tim Foster's series of books about Disney attractions.

The new one about Jungle Cruise is no exception: excellent layout, full of fun facts and the best possible starting point to get acquainted with the history of the attraction.

This is not a book about the in-depth history of the attraction but it is definitely a solid addition to a good Disney history library.

I just discovered this book a few days ago. I have not read it yet but I suspect several of you will want to know about it.

From my standpoint, to date, those are the 5 best Disney history books of the year. A few more to come in November and December.

Ron Clements, Making Disney Magic . . . from a Mermaid to Moana

Didier Ghez, The Wonderful Worlds of Disney: The Scenic Art of Walt Disney Animation Studios 

Joe Rohde, Floating Mountains: The Art of Imagining the Impossible 

David Lesjak, Award Winning Walt: The Personal Awards of Walt Disney

JB Kaufman, Kaufman at the Movies: Articles & Essays 1987-2021, Volume 1

 

 Upcoming book just announced.

After close to 40 years researching Disney history and Disneyana, few things in that realm still really surprise me. When that happens, though, it is pure joy.

Getting this Danish book by Lars Jakobsen was not easy. It was sold out and it had to be shipped to the US (no small matter these days).

To say that it was worth the wait is the understatement of the century. The illustrations it contains are mind-blowing: so many Danish Disney items from the 1930s and 1940s that I had never seen before; so many amazing Disney store windows from the 1930s to the 1950s that were totally new to me; and so many great photos of Walt visiting Denmark which had never appeared in book form.

I am afraid that you will have to visit me in Coral Gables to look at this book. For those of you interested in these subject matters, you will not be disappointed. 

I am still on cloud nine after getting it and still making discoveries by looking at its gorgeous pages.

I just received a copy of Ron Clements' new book. It is massive, and there is no doubt in my mind: this is, hands-down, the best Disney history book of 2026. Go get it, now, if you have not done so already. 

 At long last the Disney Books Network has been updated. 45 released books added!!

 

I just learned that this book is about to be released thanks to a post by my friend Sebastien Durand and I am very much looking forward to reading it.

Around 1935, the British chocolate company George Payne & Co. issued a series of 25 cards titled Mickey Mouse Pleasure Cruise.

I would love to get high-resolution scans of as many of them as possible for a book I am currently working on.

If you happen to own some of them (or know collectors who do), could you please email me at Didier.ghez@gmail.com ?

To give you a sense of the exciting Disney history discoveries that can be made when one digs really deep and why I am so eager to find volunteers in London...

A few days ago, one of my many volunteers in New York stumbled upon the first issue of Mickey's News, a newsletter that Disney's European representative, George Kamen, began sending to British licensees in November 1937. I only have one full issue for now and -- among other things -- I am trying to locate the others which are likely to really "move the needle" from a historical standpoint.

This is fun!

VOLUNTEERS STILL NEEDED IN LONDON

I am still looking for a few committed volunteers in London as a few who had reached out were eventually unable to work on the project for personal reasons.

Research for my future book about Disney's international expansion in the world in the 1930s and 1940s has really been progressing by leaps and bounds over the past few weeks thanks to volunteers all around the world.

The project at the British Library is larger than I originally thought, though, and I would welcome a second volunteer to help me with the research.

If you are in London and are able and willing to conduct two days of research at the British Library over the next few days / weeks, could you please email me at didier.ghez@gmail.com ?

Of course I immediately picked up Disney historian David Lesjak's massive new book and should get it today.
 

What a joy this morning to read that all of historian JB Kaufman's essays are now available in two physical books. If you know JB"s work (and who does not) you also know that all that he writes about classic movies and about Disney history is worth reading.

The Disney-related essays are gathered in Volume 1; the others are in Volume 2.

 

 Heads up... Imagineer Eric Robinson's book is now available on Amazon!

 

I am very much looking forward to the release of this upcoming book by Bob Weis!

As you know, my new book, The Wonderful Worlds of Disney will be released in a few weeks.

Some of you will enjoy the podcast Notably Disney in which I discuss its making as well as several other Disney-history-related matters.

I am delighted to share that Walt's People -- Volume 32 has been released today by Skyway Press.

It contains material about John Basmajian, Eric Cleworth, Anne Del Valle, Roy E. Disney, Eyvind Earle, Robert Foster, Andy Gaskill, Floyd Gottfredson, Michael Graves, Earl Hurd, David Inglish, Un Iwerks, Evelyn Kennedy, Gordon Legg, Ron Miller, Leslie Nielsen, Bill Peet, Parry Ray, Herb Ryman, Steve Segal, Lucy Wheaton Taliaferro and Al Taliaferro, Don Taylor, Larry Tryon, and Linda Woolverton.

I think you will all really enjoy it.

Needles to say, I just bought this book!

VOLUNTEER NEEDED IN JAPAN

I recently bought the newly released book by historian Nozomi Naoi, The Land of Happiness, about Japanese department stores in the 1930s.

In it, I found this fantastic photo of Mickey Mouse in a Japanese store window in the 1930s.

It comes from the National Diet Library. 

I would like to explore the collections of that famous library to try and find more Disney-related photos. However, without speaking Japanese, it appears to be incredibly difficult to achieve.

Anyone willing to help? If so, could you please email me at didier.ghez@gmail.com ?

 

Another book that looks like a must-read this year.