My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher Rowan & Littlefield for an advanced copy of this new behind the scenes movie collection.

When I was in school, one of the highlights of the year was Ape Week, which was actually two weeks, which showed instead of the usual boring 4:00 O'Clock movies on WABC, two weeks of Planet of the Apes movies and televisions shows. This and Monster Week, all Godzilla for a week, were as eagerly awaited as Christmas.
So I bring a large bias to Sean Egan's Planet of the Apes: The Complete History book. I love the movies, the show and cartoons, and many of the comics, I had no idea there were so many comics until I read this book. The remakes might grow on me, but Ape Week made me a classic fan for life.

The book does not disappoint. Mr. Egan starts with the original novel, the creation and sale to the studios. From there he covers every form the Apes franchise as gone into movies, television, toys, books even computer games. The book is very interesting with many new facts and stories that I have not seen and was unfamiliar with, especially on the costuming and makeup. Mr's Egan's writing is very readable, never bogging down whether he is discussing rights issues, or comics issues, or the long drought between movies. There is a tremendous amount of information and research and Mr. Egan presents it very well and in a very engaging way.

Reading this brought me back to Ape Week and I enjoyed that. I learned a lot of new things about Planet of the Apes I found his summations for the new movies very intriguing. A great gift for Ape fans both old and new, and also a good read for people interested in the growth of merchandising in film history.