Going Rouge: An American Nightmare [Paperback]

Richard Kim (Author), Betsy Reed (Author)

Book Description

Release date: December 1, 2009

Sarah Palin has many faces: hockey mom, fundamentalist Christian, sex symbol, Republican ideologue, fashion icon, "maverick" populist. But, above all, Palin has become one thing: an American obsession that just won't go away. Edited by two senior editors at The Nation magazine, this sharp, smart, up-to-the-minute book examines Palin's obscure origins in Wasilla, Alaska, her spectacular rise to the effective leadership of the Republican Party, and the nightmarish prospect of her continuing to dominate the nation's political scene.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

According to The Nation magazine editors Kim and Reed (Unnatural Disaster), their title, a riff on Sarah Palin's memoir Going Rogue, references the transparent decision by Palin and the Republican Party to "use gender and sex appeal to advance their campaign to capture the White House." This collection of 50 articles-from sources including the L.A. Times, the New Yorker and the Guardian-is dominated by work from the heat of the 2008 campaign, and reads like it; Matt Taibbi's "Mad Dog Palin" has an outsized (even for him) battlefield mix of glee and horror (Palin "reminds Joe Average of the mean, brainless slob he sees in the mirror every morning"). Pieces critiquing Palin's platform and record retread territory covered in detail in the progressive press: Mat Hertsgaard on her conservation record ( "Our Polar Bear, Ourselves"); Jim Hightower on "Faux Populism"; AlterNet staff editors with Palin's "Nine Most Disturbing Beliefs." Kim and Reed provide a touch of urgency with some pieces on her present and future, including Frank Rich's "She Broke the GOP and Now She Owns It," and a forum discussion in which Jame Hamsher suggests Pailin will make a valuable GOP asset in 2010. Though useful as a catalog of offenses, readers shouldn't expect anything beyond the daily op-ed.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review

"A superb collection.... an engaging read from start to finish... You will read far more about the real Sarah Palin in Going Rouge than you ever will in her other memoirs."

—Geoffrey Dunn, The Huffington Post (Geoffrey Dunn )

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Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: Health Communications; 1 edition (December 1, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0757315240
• ISBN-13: 978-0757315244
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (54 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #743,276 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

116 of 174 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Symptomatic of Deeper Problems - December 12, 2009

By Loyd E. Eskildson HALL OF FAME

Format:Paperback

"Going Rouge" is closer to the truth than "Going Rogue," depicting Sarah Palin as a conservative fundamentalist Christian flaunting ignorance as a virtue - 'America's nightmare.' (Given her stance on global warming, 'world's nightmare' might even be appropriate.) On the other hand, she's not that much different from Bush '43 and some of the other leading Republican candidates. Her approval rating among Republicans stood at 70% before the Huckabee pardon scandal (Maurice Clemmons - 4X cop killer), and is most likely higher now.

The book is actually a collection of more than 50 short essays written about Palin during the campaign - as a result, the material is generally dated. (Example: "Going Rouge" credits Palin with not getting into the Obama 'birther' controversy, while since it was written she has.) In addition, the essays do not cover well her early controversial days as Mayor of Wassila. Worse yet, the material is superficial and probably no more credible than Palin's "Going Rogue." Readers would do better to read the accountings within the Anchorage Daily News about her various ethics challenges.

Whether one likes or dislikes Sarah Palin, however, is not that important. A more significant issue is "Why do personages like Sarah Palin or Bush '43 appeal to so many in the U.S.?" My suspicion is that it derives from our historical values of personal freedom and limitations on government, coupled with educational laziness that easily translates into simple solutions consistent with those values. On the other hand, the general inability of academics or the educated elite to 'solve' basic economic, business, education, and social problems doesn't help them garner respect either; neither do dogmatic and authoritarian religions, the daily avalanche of confusing half-truths promulgated by various position advocates, and the near domination of dogmatic party-line responses to issues instead of pragmatic, data-driven analyses.

Bottom Line: The names don't matter. Whether its Sarah Palin, George W. Bush, Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, or Joe-the-Plumber - someone with similar simple-minded 'solutions' will crop up to lead the right because its in our collective DNA. Meanwhile, the left's 'thinking' and solutions usually aren't much better. Thus, when combined with arcane Senate rules, gerrymandering, and the domination of elections by monied interests, major problems such as global warming, terrorism, oil shortages, out-of-line expenditures for health care, defense, drug control, government overhead, and education (vs. other developed nations), unfunded Social Security liabilities, deteriorating infrastructure, and illegal immigration all go unresolved. The U.S. political system is unable to cope with the complications of the 21st century.

51 of 80 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Good stuff! December 12, 2009

By John Bonavia VINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback

This isn't a single, discursive analysis of the Palin phenomenon, but a collection of essays and articles that appeared at some point in that extraordinary arc, the Palin political parabola. It is a graph plot that goes from nothing - (0,0) to a high point at the Republican convention, then the rapid descent on the y-axis as her amazing unsuitability for any major post became clear. However, just when you think her vertical coordinate must be about zero, she manages to slide into an asymptotic approach and indeed even turn the graph upwards again, at least in terms of staying in the public eye.

The problem with selling the book, I suppose, is that those rational beings who have already read about as much as they can stomach about the lipsticked pit bull, may feel it unnecessary to read much of the same again. To them I say - no, get the book, it's well worth it. You are sure to find new nuggets of information about Palin's dishonesty, aggression, and also skill in playing to the lowest common denominator of the public: a section that has never been quite so clearly delineated as by her supporters. They are a vivid reminder that this is the only country that once actually had a political party called the "Know-Nothings." She plays on a sort of rube distrust of those pointy-headed intellectuals who have the nerve to think that in government, knowledge and intelligence may be more necessary than knowing how to fix a diesel engine or shoot a 12-bore. Not that there is anything wrong with the latter, but to interact with leaders on the world stage, a little more is required.

I recommend this book for the diversity of writing and styles. Enjoy that wild man Matt Taibbi's ferocious rant (he says that watching the convention speech was like seeing Gidget addressing the Reichstag!) and Juan Cole's fascinating comparison of Palin to Ahmadinejad. (Did that get your attention? Thought so. So it should.)

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars No Substance December 8, 2012

By Amazon Lady

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

There is nothing to this book beyond harsh opinions and commentary on Palin. This book is filled with character assassinations,nasty, snarky, poorly written commentary ...She is vapid, a liar, an opportunist, a sexual manipulator, not well read,etc. All common perceptions of Palin and hashed out and reiterated in this book ad nauseam. Nothing substantive at all in this book as if the authors and agent merely wanted to capitalize on the Palin phenomenon and sell a lot of books by offering trite slander. I am not even a Palin fan...but this book was boring, immature, vicious, and adds nothing to the debate or understanding of Palin beyond snarky, mean girl, ill informed opinions based on superficial insights and understandings.