About

Ronald B. Scott, who writes under the pen name of R.B.Scott, is the author of three books. His most recent novel, "The Mending," will be released on February 28th, 2019. An early reader wrote: "In free-flowing narratives resonant of John Irving's "A Prayer For Owen Meany," Scott merges riotously humorous storytelling with malingering regrets about half-formed relationships and missed opportunities."

Scott's independent "crash" biographical profile of Republican presidential candidate W. Mitt Romney ("Mitt Romney: An Inside Look at the Man and His Politics”) was written over 60 days over the summer of 2011 and released by Lyons Press (an imprint of Globe Pequot Press) in October of 2011. Scott’s debut novel ("Closing Circles: Trapped in the Everlasting Mormon Moment") arrived in January of 2012. Closing Circles was described by its publisher, Gray Dog Press, as “a big, complicated, ground-breaking debut novel about convoluted personal relationships and conflicts in contemporary Mormon culture.”

Scott was a staff reporter and writer for many of Time, Inc.’s magazines, including Time, Life, and Sports Illustrated. He was part of the small editorial team that founded Time’s eminently successful People Magazine in 1974. His freelance pieces have been published by many leading newspapers and magazines. He is a contributor to the “Cognoscenti” group at WBUR public radio in Boston.

In late 2005, Scott was the first journalist to note that as Mitt Romney prepared to run for president he abruptly changed his position on abortion and seemed to adjust his stance on gay rights by opposing same-sex marriage. In the run-up to the 2008 primary election season, Scott’s 2005 revealing profile of Romney in Sunstone Magazine was quoted or used as primary source material on Romney’s political history by many leading news organizations.

In the process of researching the Romney book, Scott discovered he, too, is a distant cousin to Romney and the another Mormon with presidential aspirations, Jon Huntsman. “It is a classic Mormon arrangement,” Scott laughs. “We share the same great-great-grandfather, but different great-great-grandmothers.”

Critics of Scott’s debut novel noted that his voice and approach seems heavily influenced by Philip Roth, John Cheever, and John Irving. One critic wrote: “Trouble is, [the protagonist], real or imagined, is quite amazing. I love his character; I sympathize, empathize at times with him; his storytelling is riveting; his brutal candor honest and convincing (though as hilarious as I find his discussion of Old George [the nickname for the protagonist's privates], I could get by with a little less). He has great, original language: “mind changers” is a term I have entered into my personal lexicon!”

Scott was born, raised and educated in Salt Lake City (The University of Utah), but has lived on the east coast (New York City and Boston) for more than 40 years, interrupted by a brief five-year sojourn on the downside of Russian Hill in San Francisco. In the summer of 2018, he and his wife Diana returned to Westport, Connecticut.

He is the father of four children -- two boys and two girls-- and three granddaughters so far.

Other Works

  • Closing Circles: Trapped in the everlasting Mormon moment

    2012
  • Mitt Romney: An Inside Look t the Man and His Politics

    2011