The Tragic Kingdom

Stewart's take is that while a successful jerk may be forgiven all, Eisner indulged his vanity and vindictiveness to his company's harm. He cost Disney millions of dollars and vast embarrassment by letting Katzenberg's departure deteriorate into a lawsuit. He even badmouths Lost--his own network's hit--to Stewart, to rationalize having opposed it. ("Lost is terrible," he says. "Who cares about these people on a desert island?")

Last week's shareholder meeting ended quietly, but the nasty succession drama is far from over. Eisner calls the intrigue at Disney "Shakespearean," and Stewart likens the CEO to Lear and Richard III--though the literary comparison undeservedly puffs up DisneyWar and Eisner. A media leader squandering his company's worth, a tyrannical boss, a failure clinging to power--these are dog-bites-man stories that Stewart simply bundles up in a deliciously toxic, if underanalyzed, package. It's not a tragedy worthy of the Bard, but it is a lusty roll in greed and spite. In other words, a good old-fashioned Hollywood production.