Former Alaskan Governor and Vice-Presidential candidate Sarah Palin’s autobiography, Going Rogue: An American Life, hit stores this week. I haven’t read it. Very few people have so far. But that hasn’t stopped a whole lot of people from forming an opinion.
In terms of content, this probably is going to be just another politician’s self-serving autobiography. But in terms of reaction, this is something different altogether. Pre-orders were so strong that Going Rogue has been on top of the major best seller lists for weeks. Thousands, literally thousands, of people sat outside a bookstore in the cold Michigan November night for a shot at getting their book signed by Governor Palin. The Associated Press devoted 11 reporters to fact checking an advanced copy of the book.
None of this is normal for a politician’s autobiography.
The AP fact checkers, for example, did not review President Obama’s book for accuracy. Nor did they check Joe Biden’s, Ted Kennedy’s, Rudy Guilliani’s, or either Clinton’s. The AP didn’t even assign a bevy of fact checkers to Newt Gingrich’s book, and he’s not exactly one of the AP’s favorite people.
But Sarah Palin’s book has been checked and rechecked. It has been paid in advance on pre-order by fans who will probably never even read it. It has generated so much hype that it cannot possibly live up to the high expectations of her devotees nor can it descend to the depths expected by her detractors.
The merits of the book itself, the actual literary work under discussion, probably will never get a fair airing anywhere. There is too much political divide, too much ulterior motive, too much bias. Whether the folksy style that made Palin so popular with hockey moms across the fruited plain will translate into a good read is likely to be lost in the hubbub.
The book will, in all likelihood, be subsumed by the person. So despite, or maybe because of, the general hysteria surrounding Going Rogue, I think I’ll pass. If anyone out there actually reads the book, beginning to end, I’d love to hear your thoughts… on the book, not the person.
