"Going Rogue: An American Life" - by Sarah Palin

Like most of America, I was shocked, confused and a little disgusted when Sarah Palin resigned from the Governership of Alaska last summer. "What can the woman be thinking?" I wondered. To tell the truth, I was not very interested in reading her autobiography, which seemed little more than an attention-getting ploy.

Then I ended up on an RV trip with my grandparents, and guess what the most interesting title in the vehicle ended up being?

Yep. "Going Rogue."

I have to admit, it's a cool title. Well, at least for someone like myself who is obsessed with the X-Men, names her car Rogue, and is given a 12-inch Rogue doll for her 21st birthday and considers it one of her coolist presents. And then there is the fact that I really am a rogue myself, a fact that my friends and family will testify to. I don't follow the normal path, and have fun trying to get me to follow authority that I believe is acting foolishly or is incapable of the job.

So to be honest, the title worked its magic on me and I actually picked it up and started reading. And am I ever glad that I did!

Sarah Palin is actually a pretty good writer. She had experience in journelism and therefore was perfectly qualified to write her own autobiography without the help of a "professional" writer. She writes in an engaging and fascinating manner that kept me turning pages well after midnight.

Page by page, my respect for Palin grew. Page by page I started regretting more and more that there was no chance she was going to be our President. By the end of the book I was absolutely convinced that Palin is exactly the kind of politician we need more of in the goverment. Her conservative thinking on finances alone would do wonders to restore our economy.

My father and brother heard Palin speak in person at the Republican National Convention last year and both said that they didn't think there was much depth to her. I'm advising them to read this book.

And I absolutely support Palin's decision to leave office when she did. I believe the circumstances where enormously unfair and that she was acting in the very best interests of Alaska and her own family. What impressed me most of all was that she frankly awknowledged her awareness that in stepping down she was effectively ending her political career. But it was something that needed to happen.

Why? Well, I could try to explain the absolutely pathetic ethics campaign her opponants were waging against her, but I really think you ought to read it in her own words.


(A side note to high school homeschoolers - there's another reason you should read this book! It's got enough goverment talk in it that you can probably get your parents to award you some High School Credit for American Goverment if you do so! ;) )