In this unauthorized biography of the movie production company DreamWorks, former VARIETY writer Nicole LaPorte recounts the story of Jeffrey Katzenberg's career after he leaves Disney in 1994 and founds DreamWorks with two of the most powerful figures in the entertainment business—music mogul David Geffen and director Steven Spielberg. Narrator Stephen Hoye makes listeners feel like they’re part of the creative calamities of movie-making as LaPorte’s fly-on-the-wall reporting reveals the clashes between Spielberg’s and Katzenberg’s employees—their disasters and debacles, as well as their Oscar-winning triumphs. LaPorte goes beyond the hype to deliver a fairly evenhanded picture of DreamWorks and its founders. Hoye uses just enough vocal variation to portray the fireworks that characterized the company’s negotiations with Paramount and Disney.
Pub Date: 2010
Duration: 18 hrs
Publisher: Tantor Media
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
The readers can't compensate for the unbearably pompous prose style of this extended parable about corporate politics and strategy.
Pub Date: N/A
Duration: 3 hrs
Publisher: Random House Audio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
Golden Voice narrator Cassandra Campbell explores Mattel's dark side in this unauthorized history that exposes spying, copyright infringement, and the true origins of Barbie. Hitt's investigative reporting asserts that Barbie's creator, Ruth Handler, was often ruthless. Handler claimed that the inspiration for Barbie came from her daughter, but Barbie was a near-identical copy of a German doll that was created four years prior to Barbie's debut. Hitt argues that while Handler faced sexism herself, she chose corporate profit over supporting women and minorities. Campbell invokes emotion where appropriate, as when she uses a barbed tone for Handler's remarks about people she hated and a flat voice to capture her matter-of-fact, uncaring attitude. Campbell's pace and tone let the writing shine.
Pub Date: 2025
Duration: 12 hrs
DD ISBN: 9781797193847
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
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