Customer Reviews

The Faith and Values of Sarah Palin

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I've spent quite a bit of time in Wasilla and the surrounding Mat-Su Valley since 2005, and watched Sarah's rise through that time. She came across as principled, tough, and not bound by party labels, throwing out corruption in the State House regardless of which side it came from. The book captures that well early on, and tries to examine its roots from her history. Knowing the environment and culture up there, it rings true.

Midway through the book, however, the authors begin their gush-fest over Sarah as some sort of modern-day Winston Churchill/Ronald Reagan, and go on conservative diatribes for long stretches. I should have known early on in the book when they were slipping in the stealth epithet adjective "democrat" instead of the more proper "democratic" that something was up.

Unfortunately, I think Sarah herself has fallen into the culture of this group given her recent public persona. The "old" Sarah was tough and principled. I think if she had stuck to that and carried out her term as governor, she would have gone far and deserved it. It's sad it didn't turn out that way.

. . . and puke again.

The authors are Palin worshippers of the highest order. The book is trash.

Thank goodness a friend -- another Palinista -- lent the book to me and I didn't waste my money on it. I did waste the time needed to read the first 100 pages.

It's nice to read something that compliments this lady. I am almost 69 years of age, and I have yet to see a public figure as slandered, smeared, condemned, and ridiculed as Sarah Palin. If she disagrees with a progressive position on an issue, then she spouts "hate speech and right wing fundamentalism" After the terrible attack on Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and the fatal shooting of others in Tuscon, many people of the tolerant left placed the entire blame for this incident on Sarah Palin. This was a crime committed by a twisted, psychotic young man who was a ticking time bomb. I read blogs on You Tube where some "tolerant" people wished she would get cancer and die a terrible death, hoped her "ugly daughters" would get cancer and die with their mother, and that someone would shoot her "stupid husband." TALK ABOUT HATE SPEECH!! There were several comments along this line.

Sarah Palin, like the rest of us, isn't perfect. She is a human being. I am glad this book was written.

This is a great book. A must read. I've followed Sarah Palin's career since she first became Governor, and read a lot about her, researched her record intensely, but learned even more here.

The book is well written and the authors take time to not only tell you who Sarah Palin is, but why Sarah Palin is.

Supporters of hers will enjoy the book, and learn more. This will re-affirm their feelings.

Fence sitters, with open minds, who read this book will become supporters. This book makes the case quite nicely, whether it is intended to or not, that Sarah Palin is one of the great leaders of our time.

I suspect that even fair minded Palin deniers will find themselves looking at Sarah in a totally different light.

The authors go to really great pains to give you a lot of background, not just in Sarah's life, but her parents. You learn what it was like growing up Palin. You can almost smell that crisp Alaskan air are you read the stories.

I also appreciate the effort they took to talk about Todd Palin and his Aleutian heritage. His attachment to the land, it's spirit.

This is a thoroughly enjoyable read which I highly recommend.

The story of Sarah Palin reminds me of when I was growing up back when we didn't have the luxuries as we do now. I am 60 years old and this book brings me back to those days of hard ships of struggling to live. Also, like Sarah's mother, I was born into a Catholic family and found out later that I just wasn't feeling the passion and I converted to the assembly Of God Church. When I read about Sarah and her family, I was seeing my own family and the times when family was family. This book was about a woman who over came and whose decision to never give up. She made it and one day she will be President!

One of the most interesting and perhaps most promising young politicians of our times, Sarah Palin draws nearly as many critics as she does supporters. Fascinating as an individual, Palin has experienced a rather meteoric rise to fame since John McCain chose her as a running mate in 2008. The Faith and Values of Sarah Palin traces Sarah's life from prior to her calling to politics-prior to her Christian re-birth, prior even to her physical birth. The authors trace her life beginning with her parents, their faith and their decision to settle in Alaska and how they raised their children. This account continues through Palin's experiences as a teenager, as a young woman, and then as her political career blooms, first as a mayor and then as the governor of her state. Palin's character traits and values are outlined in each chapter and then revealed through specific examples which illustrate them.

Highly readable and quite engaging in writing style, this well-researched non-fiction book was informative as well as reflective. It answered many of the questions I had about Palin as a person, as a Christian and as a leader. Evidence of her strong Christian commitment as well as her thoughtful faith are both supported. A principled though somewhat inexperienced leader, she will likely remain an important political figure in years to come. While I find much to admire about her personally, I also largely agree with the author's analysis of how she can further develop her leadership skills in order to experience greater political success.

Disclosure: I received a complimentary review copy of this book from Strang Communications.

This book is written by a team of conservative consultants. Their professional bios in the back jacket write-up mention websites that advertise their respective consulting businesses.

Todd Palin is introduced on p. 67 of the book as "part-Yupic eskimo...a genetic and cultural force in his life". Wikipedia.com states that Todd's mother is ¼ Yupik. His maternal grandmother, Helena (Bartman) Andree, is a member of the Curyung tribe. This makes Todd Palin a robust 1/8 Yupic. So what?

After Todd's "genetic inheritance" is mentioned by the authors, in several successive mentions in the book, Todd is referred to by the authors as "Yupik eskimo" with the fraction-eskimo description omitted. The authors choose to emphasize a full-blood genetic eskimo advantage, over and over. That's intentional marketing writing, not reportage.

The last chapter, an afterword, gives extensive advice to the former governor on how to attract more mainstream and independent voters, should she choose to run for office.

Educated, informed citizens will read this book for the facts only, and not be swayed by the emotionalism and Palin-marketing aspect of the book. The book earns one star for helpful references to websites with more balanced coverage of the history of Palin's assertions, opinions, and behavior.

Stephen Mansfield and David Holland do an excellent job describing Sarah Palin's psyche. The authors succeeded in weaving together the many motifs including Sarah Palin's attitudes, her formative years, the vastness and beauty of Alaska, her religious faith, her family, her vision for government and events that shaped her life and her role in American society.

Sarah was born with a stubborn streak. Her father confessed from the time she was two that I could not make her do anything that she didn't want to do. Her brother commented that when my sister felt that she was right nothing could make her backdown. Sarah's stubborness changed to determination. Sarah realized that she was neither the best nor most gifted in sports; but through, hard work and determination she could overcome everything. Sarah Palin always enjoyed reading and continues to read extensively to this day. She has a good memory for what she reads.

The Nobel Prize laureate David McCullough would tell his children that pain, hardship and wounding are the price that one pays to become the artist, visionary and fiery orator. Although Sarah Palin came from a loving family and a stable family environment, she set high standards for herself starting with long distance running with her dad, enduring the harsh Alaskan winters and acquiring a strong work ethic. Her basketball coach held out little prospect that she would ever be a factor in his basketball teams. Sarah was shorter that the other players on her team and didn't seem to have the proper moves and reflexes. Sarah played on the junior varsity team in her junior year where she gained valuable experience. She became a starter in her senior year. Years of long distant running gave her the stamina and coordination to be what sprotswriters described as a buzz saw on defense and a play maker on offense. In the final game of the state championship, Sarah played nearly the entire game with a broken ankle. She endured the pain because winning the Alaskan State championship meant everything to her. Sarah scored the winning goal in the game where her high school defeated a team from Anchorage with an enrollment four times that of Wasilla High.

Sarah's Mom, Sally Heath saw the good work of the Pentecostal Church was doing in Alaskan frontier. Sally Heath provided spiritual guidance to her children. The authors do an excellent job in describing the Pentecostal Chruch to the readers. A major tenant of Sarah's faith is the belief that God has a purpose for everybody. Sarah believes that God reveals his purpose as one progresses through life and it is incumbent on everyone to be the very best at the task that God assigns us to do. Above all, Sarah believes that a person should always be a good and positive force for mankind.

Work has always been a hallmark of her life. She earned her spending money since the age of twelve and had paid her way through college by doing a variety of demanding jobs, including working as a hand on Todd's salmon fishing boat, gutting fish and processing crab meat at various canneries. These were the hard, smelly types of work that Alaskans call "working the slime line". Sarah Palin overcame her natural shyness when she participated in the Miss Alaska Beauty Contest. She won Miss Congeniality and finished among the finalists. She earned enough money from the beauty constest to pay for a year of college education.

The authors describes Sarah's tenure as mayor and her belief in the proper role of government and society. After serving as mayor in the fastest grosing community in Alaska, she ran for lietenant governor and was narrowly defeated. Governor Frank Murkowski appointed her to serve on the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (AOGCC). Everyone expected Sarah Palin to be a figurehead; but instead, she studied extensively to understand all aspects of the petroleum industry. Soon Sarah's natural instincts for honesty told her that there was a pattern of corruption and special interest at play that was not in the best interest of the Alaskan People. She took her concerns to the governor only to be rebuked. Finally she resigned from the AOGCC so she could publicly address the pattern of corruption which involved the leadership of the Alaskan Republican Party. She realized that her actions would probably end her political career. She was vindicated. A short time later, members of the AOGCC and other political pundits were indited for political corruption. The scandal spilled over to the governor's office. These events opened another door for Sarah Palin. Sarah Palin became Alaska's youngest and first woman governor.

The authors bring up the term fault lines. Growing up in America's frontier, her religious beliefs, going to non-elitist colleges, her refusal to play the role of the victim and even the way she talks, her refusal to abort her special need child, etc. have placed her on the fault lines of American politics. Sarah Palin's tenure as governor and her nomination to run for the vice president of the United States are covered in detail. The final chapter suggest seven things that Sarah Palin needs to know that could help her in the future

This book was of such interest to me and so well written that I was able to finish it in less than two days.

This is a must read book, especially for those who know little of Palin and are intrigued by where she came from. After reading "Going Rogue" and "America by Heart," it was interesting to get a different perspective on all that I had just learned. The authors do a great job, not only describing her "innards", but almost how she was morphed by her environmental "trail". The first half of the book is very rugged and out-doorsy and metaphorically describes how Palin's Alaska home developed her character.

Even though I read Sarah's telling of her high school basketball story in "Going Rogue," the way the authors describe it here made me contrast her struggles and subsequent triumph with her basketball team much like the events of the 2008 presidential election. The fact that Sarah was determined to play despite her injury is much like her determination in the political ring, despite the injury of the political Left's consistent, hate-filled venom. Even though she does not get to fill the position within her basketball team that she feels she should, the coach puts her where he feels she will do best, resulting in Sarah leading her basketball team to a championship victory.

I also appreciate how the authors describe what the "born again" experience is truly like for Christians, and how this and Christianity in itself is a life filled with supernatural experiences and influences, and not some "holier than thou" attitude that non-Christians and the like always presume.

The one thing I disagreed with was the statement that Sarah Palin's resume is "thin." When you compare her resume to Obama's, Clinton's, Carter's, the Bushs', even Reagan (and most other passed Presidents)--her resume is actually quite extensive regarding public service.

I would also point out that (and I think the author stated this in a subtle way at the end) that if Palin would prepare more for interviews, she would see more success. She is overly confident and naive when it comes to this part of politics. Authenticity can and will get you very far, but you can't rely on authenticity alone, especially when it comes to interviews where certain opposition wish to pin you in a corner.

The book was very easy to read, entertaining and I could not put it down.