Todd James Pierce is professor of literature at California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, California. He is author of Newsworld, which won the Drue Heinz Literature Prize; Making Mary Poppins: The Sherman Brothers, Walt Disney, and the Creation of the Classic Film; and Three Years in Wonderland: The Disney Brothers, C. V. Wood, and the Making of the Great American Theme Park, the latter published by University Press of Mississippi. His work has appeared in over seventy magazines and journals. He has contributed to and appeared in documentaries focused on the history of the Disney Company, including those presented on ABC, PBS, BBC, the History Channel, and Hulu.