Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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40 of 53 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An Honest Look at Sarah Palin, October 19, 2008
I bought this book thinking it would be littered with obvious praise for Sarah Palin but instead I found a book that was very well-written, very interesting and honest-I could not put it down! The book explained how she became who she is, who we see today and how she got there. It explained a lot about her experience as a city council member, mayor and campaigning style. It also explained how she got the "tough but feminine" characteristics she exhibits. This book provided an honest look into Sarah Palin by pointing out faults & defeats as well as strengths and successes. In the end, I felt the book left me with the ability to make my own assessment of Sarah Palin and not just reading the author's assessment. Good Book!
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61 of 82 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
The Lazy Writer's Guide to Sarah Palin, October 21, 2008
Having written "What Does Sarah Palin Believe?" recently, which is available on Amazon here-- What Does Sarah Palin Believe?-- I have a certain sympathy for Joe Hilley's efforts with his new book on Sarah Palin. It's a challenge to create a good book on an important political figure in a short period of time.
Mr. Hilley's book is a disappointing read, however, filled with factual errors and broad generalizations about Sarah Palin, all of which leads me to the conclusion that Mr. Hilley knows very little about Sarah Palin.
The slim volume of only 129 pages of actual text draws almost exclusively on secondary sources found through Google searches. Mr. Hilley conducted only four primary source interviews, and those interviews were with people only tangentially connected to Governor Palin (The Lt. Governor candidate who beat her in 2002, the wife of the man she filed an ethics complaint against, the pastor at the Wasilla, Alaska church she has attended a few times, the mayor who succeeded her).
Mr. Hilley's account of Sarah Palin's career is filled with factual errors, which is not surprising, given that one of his most significant and often cited sources was a September 4, 2008 broadcast of the Inside Edition television program.
Had Mr. Hilley taken the time to speak with her basketball coaches, her teammates, her pastors, and her mother, father, sister, and other family members, as I did, he would have discovered and corrected the long series of errors he made in his book.
I won't detail all the factual errors in his book, but as an example offer five specific inaccuracies related to his description of her basketball career:
1. He states incorrectly that the 1982 Alaska Girls High School Championship Game was held in Wasilla, Alaska. It was not. It was held in Anchorage, Alaska, about an hour's drive away.
2. He states incorrectly that Sarah Palin came into the 1982 State Championship game between Wasilla and Service High School in the second half when the score was tied. This is not factually true. Sarah's Wasilla team always had the lead in the second half.
3. He implies that the score was tied when Sarah stepped to the line with a few seconds remaining in the game. This is not true. The score was Wasilla 57, Service 53. The final score of the game was Wasilla 58, Service 53.
4. He describes Sarah's first foul shot as a swish. It was not. The ball hit the rim and bounced around the edge, then dropped through.
5. He inaccurately states that Sarah made the second foul shot. She did not. She missed it.
Like many of Governor Palin's critics on the left wing, Mr. Hilley attributes thoughts and feelings to Governor Palin without even the slightest clue as to whether or not they really are her thoughts or feelings.
Specifically, Mr. Hilley concludes that based on her worldview, Governor Palin believes in his trite "leadership principles" such as ... defeat means victory and less is more.
Based on my extensive research, which included over fifty interviews of people who actually know Sarah Palin well, this is not Sarah Palin's point of view.
Sarah Palin is a competitor, who always competes, and always tries to win, but accepts defeat graciously when it comes.
Finally, Mr. Hilley pontificates incorrectly that Governor Palin represents a new kind of leader, one who lacks experience but "connects with voters".
This is a back-handed compliment, at best, and quite frankly ignores her very strong record for six years as Mayor of Wasilla, her one year as a whistle blower as a member of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, and her year and a half as Governor of Alaska.
The most important question to ask about this book is the following: Why did the executives at Zondervan Publishing think it was a good idea to ask a Democratic trial lawyer and novelist from Alabama who has publicly acknowledged voting for Barack Obama in the 2008 Alabma primary to write a book about Sarah Palin? Mr. Hilley had no prior experience that I can detect in investigative journalism, nor has he ever previously written a biography. His lack of experience is painfully obvious, and should have been immediately apparent to his publisher.
Mr. Hilley is a good writer, with a record of success writing novels. My suggestion is that he stick to fiction, at which he excels, and leave the arena of non-fiction to people who actually check the facts.
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49 of 71 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An excellent look at an inspirational leader, October 5, 2008
I received this book "hot off the press" while visiting the publisher in Michigan. I could not stop reading it on the flight home.
No matter which side of the political aisle you fall on, this is a book worth reading. I was one of many whose interest was captured by this unknown-to-me woman in September 2008. Reading this book has elevated her in my estimation. Here is the kind of politician I would like to see more of on both sides of the aisle. I'm not talking issues here or party policies but matters of integrity and being true to oneself. Whether Democrat or Republican, you should read this book because I believe Sarah Palin, like Barack Obama, will be around the political landscape for many years to come.
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