A penetrating look at the man everyone watched but nobody could see: the real Rob Ford
TORONTO, Sept. 28, 2015 /CNW/ - Who is the real Rob Ford and what is the story behind his unsinkable popularity? Despite the thousands of words written about him, we have yet to understand both the man and the phenomenon of Rob Ford: what drives him, why he acts the way he does, what's important to him – and to us when we vote for him.
On October 27, Random House Canada will publish an insightful new portrait, The Only Average Guy: Inside the Uncommon World of Rob Ford, written by Ford's fellow city councillor John Filion. Anne Collins, Vice President and Publisher, Knopf Random House Canada, who acquired and edited the book, says "Like everyone else in the world, it seemed, I watched the unravelling of Mayor Rob Ford with fascinated, gob-smacked disbelief. The reporters could barely keep up with what was happening when it came to the Fords. I, like a lot of people, kept asking, 'How? Why?' John Filion has answered those questions, eloquently, giving us an immensely important portrait of a troubled man, an ambitious family, and a shocking political culture that is still very much with us."
For fifteen years, Filion has had an uncommon relationship with Rob Ford. Sitting two seats away from the wildly unpredictable councillor from Etobicoke, who served as mayor from 2010 to 2014, Filion formed an unlikely camaraderie that allowed him to look beyond Ford's persona, seeing a boy still longing for the approval of his father and struggling with the impossible expectations of a family that imagined itself a political dynasty.
A journalist before entering politics, Filion tells a compulsively engaging story. Even political watchers who grew numb to near-daily revelations of Ford's drug abuse and drunken escapades will find fresh perspectives on Ford and his family, gained from more than one hundred interviews with seventy-seven different people – from their beginnings in the political wilds to their feature role in the mocking glare of a Hollywood talk show.
At a time when angry voters are increasingly attracted to outspoken candidates flaunting outrageous flaws, Filion illuminates how Ford's tragic weaknesses helped propel him to power and draw hundreds of thousands of voters to treat him as a conquering hero. Relying on numerous never-before-published accounts, The Only Average Guy is an eye-opening and at times frightening portrait of a political outlier and bellwether – and a stark reflection of the society that has both championed and shunned him.
The Only Average Guy will be in bookstores and e-book retailers on October 27. John Filion will be available for interviews.
SOURCE Penguin Random House Canada Limited
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