Product Description

One year ago, Sarah Palin burst onto the national political stage like a comet. Yet even now, few Americans know who this remarkable woman really is.

On September 3, 2008 Alaska Governor and vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin delivered a speech at the Republican National Convention that electrified the nation and instantly made her one of the most recognizable women in the world.

As chief executive of America's largest state, she had built a record as a reformer who cast aside politics-as-usual and pushed through changes other politicians only talked about: Energy independence. Ethics reform. And the biggest private sector infrastructure project in U.S. history. And while revitalizing public school funding and ensuring the state met its responsibilities to seniors and Alaska Native populations, Palin also beat the political "good ol' boys club" at their own game and brought Big Oil to heel.

Like her GOP running mate, John McCain, Palin wasn't a packaged and over-produced candidate. She was a Main Street American woman: a working mom, wife of a blue collar union man, and mother of five children, the eldest of whom was serving his country in a yearlong deployment in Iraq and the youngest, an infant with special needs. Palin's hometown story touched a populist nerve, rallying hundreds of thousands of ordinary Americans to the GOP ticket.

But as the campaign unfolded, Palin became a lightning rod for both praise and criticism. Supporters called her "refreshing" and "honest," a kitchen-table public servant they felt would fight for their interests. Opponents derided her as a wide-eyed Pollyanna unprepared for national leadership. But none of them knew the real Sarah Palin.

In this eagerly anticipated memoir, Palin paints an intimate portrait of growing up in the wilds of Alaska; meeting her lifelong love; her decision to enter politics; the importance of faith and family; and the unique joys and trials of life as a high-profile working mother. She also opens up for the first time about the 2008 presidential race, providing a rare, mom's-eye view of high-stakes national politics—from patriots dedicated to "Country First" to slick politicos bent on winning at any cost.

Going Rogue traces one ordinary citizen's extraordinary journey and imparts Palin's vision of a way forward for America and her unfailing hope in the greatest nation on earth.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1 in Books
• Published on: 2009-11-17
• Released on: 2009-11-17
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 432 pages

About the Author

Sarah Palin grew up in Alaska towns, from Skagway to Wasilla to Anchorage, while her dad taught science and coached high school sports. She and her future husband, Todd Palin, graduated from Wasilla High School in 1982, and she went on to earn her college degree from the School of Journalism at the University of Idaho. Palin served two terms on the Wasilla City Council, then two terms as the city's mayor and manager, and was elected by her peers as president of the Alaska Conference of Mayors. She then chaired the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, and the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission. Palin was elected Alaska's youngest, and first female, governor, serving from 2006 to 2009. While serving her state she was tapped as Senator John McCain's running mate in 2008, becoming the first female Republican vice presidential candidate in our nation's history.

The Palins reside in Wasilla with their five children, including a son in the U.S. Army, and one grandson. They enjoy an extended family throughout Alaska and the Lower 48.

Customer Reviews

Ain't afraid of no Vietcong king
There are many kinds of truth. There are truths based on facts, truths based on faith, and truths based on something that sounds as if it should be true (truthiness). Then there's the kind of truth we find in Sarah's book: stories and concepts that become truths simply because she states them. She's a lot like our Lord and Savior, Glen Beck, in that respect.

Sometimes, she states truths that would be considered ludicrous if uttered by someone else. Her claim that the McCain campaign forced her to spend $150,000 in RNC funds to dress her family in designer clothes is one example of that. Although it might be easier to believe that she acted like a trailer park Zsa Zsa who'd found a credit card left behind at a possum feed, she blames McCain staffers. That's good enough for us, because we have faith; we want to believe her truths.

But the book isn't perfect. As much as I enjoyed the few short paragraphs in which Mrs Palin laid out her policy objectives, she could have condensed it all into one sentence: "I'm going to grab an Oxo Good Grips Stainless Serving Spatula and go all mavericky on your non-white, non-Christian and non-heterosexual butts."

The book also fails to expose Mrs. Palin's intellectual brilliance and keen grasp of foreign policy issues. Why wasn't the text of her recent speech in Hong Kong included? Although it remains secret, it's rumored that she viciously rebuked the Vietcong king for his assault on the Empire State Building. That's a speech we've been waiting for nearly 75 years to hear. It's big news and should have been included.

As you read other reviews of this book, please remember that Mrs. Palin has many enemies who are eager to pan her work. The Palin family's most potent nemesis, Levi's johnston, is no dpubt fully erect and ready to spew globs of misfortune upon them for a third time. And reason-adoring intellectuals are certain to point out that an interview on Good Morning Topeka doesn't qualify as a policy summit in the Far East.

But a few bad reviews won't stop her. She's seen much worse from her kitchen window. It can't be pleasant to gaze upon Antichristograd every morning as you brew your coffee.

My review isn't complete, but I think I'll quit anyway, because writing reviews, like governing, is just too darned hard to finish.

Puts her Critics to Shame and Humbles the Country
Her wedding ring cost $35 and she looks ten times more beautiful than any Hollywood celeb and yes, has never had plastic surgery. We live in a culture where famous women drop "$150,000" a DAY just to get people to pay attention to them on a red carpet. Palin made history without even trying and she didn't need a stylist. The only reason why the media made such a big deal about her style budget: ENVY. This woman would look lovely in a potato sack and they know it.

Her autobiography provides a fascinating glimpse into her Alaskan upbringing. Hmm, "wild" isn't it? This so called "evil-dumb-Creationist-woman" has spent more time in the wild, untouched wilderness of Alaska than wannabe "environmentalist" Al Gore's crews spent in their private, gas-guzzling jets to film shots of "Inconvenient Truth." She is not cooped up in a city, riding limos one day and whining about climate change the next.

Oh by the way: Palin's dad is a science teacher that believes in Evolution. Yet this is the woman CNN and other outlets insinuated wanted to BAN BOOKS and prohibit free exchange of ideas? PUH leeze.

People question her "intellectual" capacity. Why? Because she hasn't been brainwashed by the shallow, Marxist, existential, postmodern vomit being promulgated in today's so-called institutes of higher learning. Because she believes that there's a GOD? "Going Rogue" reveals that this woman has a genuine sense of deep curiosity, is well-read, and is a poetic and romantic soul. I especially loved her last chapter summing up why she is a conservative and the core ideals which shape her worldview.

Other reasons why people can't stand this woman or her family: her husband, Todd, I believe, humbled and convicted a lot of wimpy men by showing that it is not "emasculating" to cradle a baby in his arms while feeding him before millions on national television. All the while David Letterman is sleeping with his co-workers behind his wife's back and making crude jokes about underaged girls? The Americans who cheer on Letterman are the ones who hate Sarah Palin.

Palin is the abortion-hungry feminists' punching bag because: 1) for being stern, yet supportive and loving of her daughter as she carried her unplanned child to term and 2) for unashamedly adoring her son with special needs. All the while staying beautiful and content.

I also think it's cool to hear Palin talk about national security with a lot more at stake than mere polls or politics: her eldest son is in the Army and spent a year in Iraq.

Palin's charisma is not media-manufactured like Obama's was, her's is innate. And what I love about Palin is: HER ACTIONS SPEAK LOUDER THAN WORDS. Her record speaks louder than hefty campaign rhetoric. She had more experience than Barack Obama, and yes that includes foreign policy experience. People act as if Alaska is some undiverse, closed up state. I loved Palin's detailing of her interactions with members of ALaska's Native American population. (Todd is also part Native.) I also appreciated her clearing up the state's close interactions with Canada and Pacific Rim countries, and that there is more significance to its proximity to Russia than it merely being a swim away.

And yet, at the end of the day, she is humble enough to know that politics won't save anyone, that government is not God, and neither is SHE trying to be anyone's Savior either. She's just a normal American. Her book will make this clear. Our country needed a wake-up call: our media lies, Obama is not divine, and people in our society revealed their true insecurities by bashing Palin to attempt to make themselves feel better about who they are and placing all their hopes on a confused man with empty promises, who's leading us down the path to socialism.

I think Palin humbles our country and is shaping our culture in a major, forceful, and powerful way without even having to hold public office. All she has to do is be herself and her life and actions speak for themselves. I love her book!

It is well written, personal, and highly recommended. :)

Very Weak
To be honest, I hoped this would be a book that at a minimum, showed the intelligence and experience that is always claimed by Bill Kristol and others. That way I could feel comfortable in evaluating Palin without the glare of preconception that permeates both sides of politics. Unfortunately, the book is very weak and falls very short. In short, the book is a superficial glance at the image portrayed by Ms Palin, in essence, a caricature of an image, rather than an in depth survey of Ms Palin.

I have seen the claim that liberals would hate the book no matter what, yet the book does not provide a basis to argue that Ms Palin deserves more credit -instead, what comes across in the very first chapter is a defensiveness, an attitude that defines the rest of the story - the pure "everyone was out to get me" mode that is intertwined with all the stories. Instead of letting us see into Ms Palin, this book is narrowly tailored to enhance the image that was established in the 2008 campaign, even to the extent that there are glaring inconsistencies.

After reading the book (and yes, I got a copy early), I am convinced that Palin's insecurity covers up something even more disheartening, a fundamental drive to prove self worth though lies, innuendo and continued victimization. Now I did see some of this in the 2008 campaign, but in this book, even the heartwrenching parts about miscarraige end up feeling contrived at best, a lie at worst (I mean really, a doctors office sending a bill that uses the term "abortion" and not the medical procedure name is beyond belief, and that it somehow happens to the prolife politician is a coincidence of fate no one would expcect.)

THe worst part of the whole thing is that the book feels "dumbed down" - not meaning it is dumb, but is too simple in writing, theme and story. Just a disappointment