Non-fiction, autobiography, politics,

This book tells the life story of Sarah Palin.  Born in 1964, she describes a childhood in rural Alaska that reminds one of the Laura Ingalls Wilder books.  When she was growing up, Sarah's family spent most of their free time outdoors, gardening, fishing, hunting, berry picking, running marathons, and other athletic activities.  They heated the house with firewood.  She had a good childhood, even though they lived a little bit primitive.  They didn't have a lot of things that middle class kids from the lower 48 had, but they never went hungry, and they had everything they needed.  There were lots of books and magazines for Sarah and her siblings to read.  There was also a close community of family and friends.  Her father was a coach at a local school, and her mother was the school secretary.  
 
Then they moved to Wasilla, a small Alaskan town where they settled.  The town slowly grew as the years went by.  It was there that Sarah started attending the Assembly of God church.  It taught her a faith that has stayed with her ever since.  Then, in her senior year of high school, she met Todd Palin, who became her boyfriend, and eventually her husband. 

In the years that followed she had five children, got elected as mayor of Wasilla, served on a couple of committees, and then got elected governor of Alaska.  She was the youngest person and the first woman to be elected as Alaska's governor.  She was a very good governor, with a 90% approval rating.  She cut the state budget while increasing funding for education and social services.  During this time she became pregnant with her 5 th child, and learned the baby she was carrying had Down syndrome.  She and her husband decided against abortion.  This was a reflection of their strong respect for the sanctity of life.  When little Trig was born, Sarah and Todd saw that God had made him perfect, Down syndrome and all.  In this way, Sarah became an admired role model for the pro-life cause.  She walked the walk, faced a difficult pregnancy, did the pro-life thing,  and was rewarded for it with the joy of parenting Trig.   

Then she was asked to be the vice presidential pick for John McCain's political campaign.  She said yes, and many chapters detail life on the campaign trail.  Sarah respects John McCain a lot.  But we see an inside view of a poorly run campaign.  The McCain staff allowed some great campaign opportunities to slip by.  Worse, at the end, some of the campaign staff made anonymous attacks on Sarah.  She just moved on, not being the bitter or vengeful type.  

When McCain didn't win, Sarah went back to Alaska, and to her job as governor.  But it wasn't the same as before.  She'd been in the national spotlight now.  She was a pro-life, Christian, feminist.  Back in the 1800s that wouldn't be so unusual.  But in the mid twentieth century, secular, pro-abortion forces had taken over feminism, and they were still firmly in control of the majority of feminist groups in the early 21 st century.  A pro-life, Christian, feminist was a threat, especially if she was very popular, as Sarah is.  Sarah had to be destroyed.  If not, she could run for president someday, and be elected.  So the politics of personal destruction followed her.  The stuff written in the press and on the internet was sickening.  They attacked her kids too, even the baby.  There were photo shopped pictures of the baby on the internet that made him look monstrous.  These people really sunk low.  

Her enemies flooded the state with frivolous ethics complaints.  They knew that even though these complaints would be thrown out, it would cost Sarah more money than she could afford to defend herself, as the complaints continued to pour in.  It also took time away from the business of governing to stop and deal with these things.  Sarah, who did not want to be a lame duck governor and collect a paycheck without really helping the state, resigned as governor, so that the attacks would stop.  You see that she did it out of love for her state.  

The ironic thing is that Sarah put these ethics complaint procedures into place during her time as governor, in order to make government more accountable to the people.  But she didn't foresee that it would be unfairly used against her.  Hopefully, next time she gets in a position of power to get these rules into place, she will think about the rotten tricks people can pull.  Then she'll put some safeguards in place, so that she, and others who govern after her, will be protected from false accusations and frivolous complaints.  Live and learn!

This book is a great read.  We get a charming autobiography of her life.  It shows what goes on behind the scenes in politics, and how a decent, caring woman can govern well when she's given a chance.  Thus it's a good argument for women in politics.  The reader sees that the good guys don't win every round, but the story isn't over yet.  I was left wishing Sarah Palin the best in her future career.  If you're a Sarah Palin fan, this book is for you.    

Sarah Palin's second book, 'America by Heart,' is coming out in November.  You can pre-order it now.