Mitt Romney: An Inside Look At The Man And His Politics

by Ronald B. Scott

The 2012 race for the White House is racing along at full tilt. Mitt Romney is widely assumed to be the front-runner for the Republican nominee. Question is, can he hold the lead? Ron Scott provides the first independent (unauthorized) biographical profile of the possible Republican nominee. Mitt Romney takes a frank and revealing look at what makes Mitt the man tic, more human than he often appears to be on the stump: his character, convictions, his words and actions, yes his flips and his flops too, and, his triumphs and setbacks. It will also attempt to answer the question everyone is asking: Can a faithful Mormon really win his party’s nomination and then upset the popular if now struggling, incumbent President, Barack Obama? Drawing on extensive research amassed over more than two decades, including interviews with people who know him best—allies and adversaries alike—this book will paint a savvy, textured, and revealing portrait of the candidate, his history, family, religion, political beliefs, and strategy. It will put Mitt in context like no other book to date.

Genres: Biography, Politics

264 pages, Paperback

First published October 18, 2011

About the author

Ronald B. Scott is a journalist, a former staff writer and reporter for Time, Inc.'s magazines -- LIFE, Sports Illustrated, Money -- who was part of the small editorial staff that founded People Magazine. Currently,he is a regular contributor to "The Cognoscenti Group," at WBUR, Boston's National Public Radio station. He considers himself a New Englander by persuasion,inclination, and DNA although he currently lives in San Francisco. His first book, a biography of Mitt Romney, was published in 2011, followed in 2012 by his first novel, "Closing Circles: Trapped in the Everlasting Mormon Moment." His second novel -- "The Mending: A life too well remembered"-- is scheduled for release in late 2015 or early 2016.

Reviews

[Jennifer · Rating 1 out of 5]

I really did not like this book at all. I should probably preface this entire review by saying that Romney is actually not quite conservative enough for me. Now a bunch of you can run screaming away from my thread. It's OK. I understand. Anyway, what I mean is that I wasn't offended by the book because I am a Romney fan and don't want to hear bad things about him. I didn't like the book because it was not well written. The author lacks understanding of the basic operation of the LDS church, and he was snide, negative and sour grapey. Yes, grapey. He even admits in the acknowledgements at the end (6 or 8 pages of acknowledgements) that it was difficult to check facts. Really? Ptooey. Then there was the promo on the last page for his recently published novel:

In January 2012 his first novel, Closing Circles, will be published. The editor of the book has characterized it as "a big (complex, textured and sexually charged) (Phillip) Rothian account of growing up Mormon and coming to terms with its culture.

Were there enough () there for you? Double Ptooey. Sounds like he's still growing up and coming to terms. What better way to bring attention to your "authoritative" novel than to pass yourself off as an authority on a presidential candidate and his religion?

[Ronald · Rating 5 out of 5]

UPDATE 2/25/2012: Before the book was released in November of 2011, the publisher changed its title to "Mitt Romney: An Inside Look at the Man and His Politics." Since its release, the book has received favorable and frequent attention from news media around the world including: The New York Review of Books, The Boston Globe, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Toronto Star, The New York Post, The Washington Post, The Washington Times, Globo (Sao Paulo, Brazil), La Tercera (Sanitago,Chile)CNN, Fox, Al Jazeera, Deutsche Ville Television, National Public Radio, The Takeaway-American Public Radio, Time, Newsweek, FT/Deutchsland, Libération (Paris), Time, Newsweek, New York Magazine, Slate, Salon, City Weekly (SLC), The Deseret Morning New, The Provo Herald, KUER (Public Radio, Salt lake City), WGBH and WBUR (Public Radio Boston),Yahoo News,

[Scott Kuzminski · Rating 5 out of 5]

To sum, the book was beautifully written. Very nuanced and informative, with great back stories to so much, especially the Mormon heavy players in bus and gov't such as Marriott, Huntsman, and some church leaders. Makes sense of what so few know or understand, but prob will make an attempt to after early Aug. when Mitt takes the national stage he has obviously coveted for so long. I thought he were as objective as possible, regardless of the lack of access he had to MR's inner circle, and the respect he has for the man still came through as well.

Wonderful job, and I greatly enjoyed AND learned a ton about Mitt and the Mormon faith.

[Cynthia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well written and pretty well researched. Scott made an effort to stay mostly unbiased where religion is concerned. As a member of the LDS church, I wondered how he would cover this side of Romney, but I think he did a good job overall. With all the talk about Bain Capital these days, it would have been nice to read more about his tenure at Bain. That will have to be another book, I guess.

[Jim Blessing · Rating 2 out of 5]

The first part of this book was the most interesting. By the end of it, it was more of a listing of obvious points regarding Romeny.

[Joanna · Rating 2 out of 5]

I received a free copy from the Goodreads First Reads Program. Interesting. Too bad he didn't win.

[Niv · Rating 2 out of 5]

Boring.