Summary
Crazy Town: The Rob Ford Story is a 2014 biography by Robyn Doolittle concerning Toronto mayor Rob Ford and his 2013 scandal of a leaked video of him using drugs.
 Cover of the first edition, February 2014 | |
| Author | Robyn Doolittle |
|---|---|
| Country | Canada |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Biography |
| Published | 3 February 2014 (Viking Canada/Penguin) |
| Media type | Print (hardcover) |
| Pages | 304 |
| ISBN | 978-0670068111 |
| OCLC | 864545657 |
Synopsis edit
The book describes the controversial political career of Rob Ford who was elected as a Toronto city councillor in 2000, then mayor in 2010. Doolittle was a Toronto Star reporter who with fellow reporter Kevin Donovan witnessed a video of Ford in which the mayor smoked crack.[1][2] The chapters describe Ford's career as a city councillor for Etobicoke, his controversial statements and actions and his election as Toronto's mayor. The latter portions of the book describe the initial reports of the crack video and the subsequent consequences, concluding with Ford's November 2013 admission that he had smoked crack cocaine.[2][3] Doolittle also describes how the Rob Ford stories developed at the Star, whose editors exercised considerable caution in these reports.[4]
Publication edit
Doolittle researched and wrote Crazy Town in a time frame of three months.[2][5] The book was released on 3 February 2014 by Viking Canada, an imprint of Penguin Press.[4][5] The book was originally scheduled to be released in March 2014.[3]
Doolittle's media appearances following the book's publication included interviews by Anderson Cooper on CNN, Jian Ghomeshi on Q and Jon Stewart on The Daily Show.[6][7] She also discussed her book on Late Night with Seth Meyers.[6]
Adaptation edit
A week after Crazy Town's release, Toronto company Blue Ice Pictures announced its purchase of the film adaptation rights to the book.[1]
Reception edit
A review from Quill & Quire noted that the book did not "engage in a serious examination of the culture of celebrity that has allowed Rob Ford to survive and, to some extent, flourish" although the review noted the merits of the book's version of how the Rob Ford story was developed at the Toronto Star.[2] The National Post review noted the book contained occasions of "wishy-washiness" and that the book seemed premature as "an attempt to pin down a man with plenty more skeletons left jiggling in his closet."[5]
The book reached the top spot of Amazon.ca's best sellers chart within a week of its release.[8] Crazy Town also topped the Globe and Mail hardcover non-fiction bestseller list and entered in fourth position on Maclean's non-fiction bestseller list.[9][10]
On July 8, 2015, online retailer Kobo honoured Doolittle with its first annual non-fiction Kobo Emerging Writer Prize for Crazy Town.[11]
See also edit
- Rob Ford conflict of interest trial
- Timeline of Rob Ford video scandal
- Run This Town, a film discussing the scandal
References edit
- ^ a b "Rob Ford book Crazy Town nets film deal". CBC News. 10 February 2014. Retrieved 11 February 2014.
- ^ a b c d Beattie, Steven W. (February 2014). "Crazy Town: The Rob Ford Story". Quill & Quire. Retrieved 12 February 2014.
- ^ a b Weisblott, Marc (16 October 2013). "Rob Ford book Crazy Town by Robyn Doolittle of the Toronto Star due in February 2014". Postmedia. Retrieved 14 February 2014.
- ^ a b Kupferman, Steve (3 February 2014). "Seven crazy things we learned from Crazy Town, Robyn Doolittle's new book about Rob Ford". Toronto Life. Retrieved 12 February 2014.
- ^ a b c Topping, David (6 February 2014). "Crazy Town, by Robyn Doolittle: Review". National Post. Archived from the original on 12 February 2014. Retrieved 12 February 2014.
- ^ a b Morden, Paul (14 February 2014). "Crazy Town author Robin Doolittle to appear on Late Night". Sarnia Observer. Retrieved 14 February 2014.
- ^ "Robyn Doolittle on Rob Ford and 'Crazy Town' Toronto". Q. CBC Radio One. 3 February 2014. Retrieved 14 February 2014.
- ^ Jancelewicz, Chris (10 February 2014). "Robyn Doolittle Book Rights: 'Crazy Town' Will Be A Movie". Huffington Post. Retrieved 12 February 2014.
- ^ "Bestsellers: Hardcover Non-fiction". The Globe and Mail. 13 February 2014. Retrieved 14 February 2014.
- ^ "Maclean's Books: We've got your weekend covered". Maclean's. 14 February 2014. Retrieved 14 February 2014.
- ^
Laura Beeston (8 July 2015). "The Globe's Robyn Doolittle wins Kobo Emerging Writer Prize". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 11 June 2019.
Doolittle was awarded the inaugural non-fiction prize for Crazy Town: The Rob Ford Story. Other winners include Claire Battershill's Circus, which was named best in literary fiction and Sam Wiebe, who won the mystery category with Last of the Independents: Vancouver Noir.
External links edit
- Crazy Town at Penguin