Crazy Town: The Rob Ford Story

{{Infobox book

| name = Crazy Town: The Rob Ford Story

| image = Crazy Town cover Feb 2014 edition.jpg

| border = yes

| caption = Cover of the first edition, February 2014

| alt = Cover

| author = Robyn Doolittle

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| country = Canada

| language = English

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| genre = Biography

| published = 3 February 2014 (Viking Canada/Penguin)

| media_type = Print (hardcover)

| pages = 304

| awards =

| isbn = 978-0670068111

| oclc = 864545657

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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.

Synopsis

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. 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. Doolittle also describes how the Rob Ford stories developed at the Star, whose editors exercised considerable caution in these reports.

Publication

Doolittle researched and wrote Crazy Town in a time frame of three months. The book was released on 3 February 2014 by Viking Canada, an imprint of Penguin Press.{{cite news | url=https://torontolife.com/city/toronto-politics/crazy-town-robyn-doolittle-rob-ford/ | title=Seven crazy things we learned from Crazy Town, Robyn Doolittle's new book about Rob Ford | first=Steve | last=Kupferman | work=Toronto Life | date=3 February 2014 | access-date=12 February 2014 }} The book was originally scheduled to be released in March 2014.{{cite news | url=http://o.canada.com/news/robyn-doolittle-ford-family-book/ | title=Rob Ford book Crazy Town by Robyn Doolittle of the Toronto Star due in February 2014 | first=Marc | last=Weisblott | date=16 October 2013 | publisher=Postmedia | access-date=14 February 2014 }}

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.{{cite news | url=http://www.theobserver.ca/2014/02/14/crazy-town-author-robin-doolittle-to-appear-on-late-night | title=Crazy Town author Robin Doolittle to appear on Late Night | first=Paul | last=Morden | newspaper=Sarnia Observer | date=14 February 2014 | access-date=14 February 2014 }}{{cite news | url=http://www.cbc.ca/q/blog/2014/02/03/robyn-doolittle-crazy-town-rob-ford/ | title=Robyn Doolittle on Rob Ford and 'Crazy Town' Toronto | date=3 February 2014 | work=Q | publisher=CBC Radio One | access-date=14 February 2014 }} She also discussed her book on Late Night with Seth Meyers.

Adaptation

A week after Crazy Town's release, Toronto company Blue Ice Pictures announced its purchase of the film adaptation rights to the book.{{cite news | url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/rob-ford-book-crazy-town-nets-film-deal-1.2530400 | title=Rob Ford book Crazy Town nets film deal | date=10 February 2014 | publisher=CBC News | access-date=11 February 2014 }}

Reception

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.{{cite news | url=http://www.quillandquire.com/reviews/review.cfm?review_id=8259 | title=Crazy Town: The Rob Ford Story | work=Quill & Quire | first=Steven W. | last=Beattie | date=February 2014 | access-date=12 February 2014 }} 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."{{cite news | url=http://arts.nationalpost.com/2014/02/06/book-review-crazy-town-by-robyn-doolittle/ | title=Crazy Town, by Robyn Doolittle: Review | newspaper=National Post | first=David | last=Topping | date=6 February 2014 | access-date=12 February 2014 | archive-url=https://archive.today/20140212233624/http://arts.nationalpost.com/2014/02/06/book-review-crazy-town-by-robyn-doolittle/ | archive-date=12 February 2014 | url-status=dead }}

The book reached the top spot of Amazon.ca's best sellers chart within a week of its release.{{cite news | url=http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2014/02/10/robyn-doolittle-book-tv-movie-rights_n_4759825.html | title= Robyn Doolittle Book Rights: 'Crazy Town' Will Be A Movie | publisher=Huffington Post | first=Chris | last=Jancelewicz | date=10 February 2014 | access-date=12 February 2014 }} 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.{{cite news | url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/bestsellers/bestsellers-hardcover-non-fiction-may-25-2013/article4226576/ | title=Bestsellers: Hardcover Non-fiction | date=13 February 2014 | newspaper=The Globe and Mail | access-date=14 February 2014 }}{{cite news | url=http://www.macleans.ca/2014/02/14/macleans-books-weve-got-your-weekend-covered/ | title=Maclean's Books: We've got your weekend covered | work=Maclean's | date=14 February 2014 | access-date=14 February 2014 }}

On July 8, 2015, online retailer Kobo honoured Doolittle with its first annual non-fiction Kobo Emerging Writer Prize for Crazy Town.

References

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{{cite news

| url = https://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/the-globes-robyn-doolittle-wins-kobo-emerging-writer-prize/article25351503/

| title = The Globe's Robyn Doolittle wins Kobo Emerging Writer Prize

| work = The Globe and Mail

| author = Laura Beeston

| date = 2015-07-08

| access-date = 2019-06-11

| quote = 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.

}}