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"Sarah" – A Review
Posted by Geoff Baggett in IMPACT Features
Sarah: How a Hockey Mom Turned the Political Establishment Upside Down
Kaylene Johnson, Tyndale/Epicenter Press – September 2008 (159pp) $8.77
I was curious when I went on the Tyndale web site and saw that the publisher was advertising a book about Sarah Palin. I was even more intrigued when I saw that the first printing of 250,000 copies had sailed out their warehouse doors and another printing of 100,000 was in the works. I was blown away when I searched amazon.com and discovered that no other serious works on Sarah Palin had been released. “How did Tyndale House pull this little coup off?” I wondered. I immediately e-mailed our contact and requested a copy. It arrived on Wednesday. I read it in an hour and a half.
I was surprised to discover that Sarah was not a Republican party promo piece. Indeed, it has nothing at all to do with the national presidential race. Instead, it was written early in 2008 and released months before she was named as John McCain’s vice-presidential running mate. The author of the book, Kaylene Johnson, is an Alaskan. She lives on a farm near Wasilla, the home of Sarah Palin, and the city she served as a city council member and mayor. The book was Johnson’s effort to chronicle Palin’s rise to the governorship of Alaska. And Johnson is clearly a fan of Palin. Her bias is quite clear, yet it does not detract from the primary purpose of the book … which is to “fill in the blanks” for those of us who are unfamiliar with the history and career of Palin.
Sarah is actually more a booklet than an actual book. It is a mere 114 pages of text, with another 32 pages of photographs of Palin and family at various stages of their lives. I found the abundance of pictures, many of which depict the rugged outdoor life of Alaska, as helpful as the text for helping me better know and understand Sarah Palin. The text follows a chronological format, tracing Palin’s life and her rather unusual rise in Alaskan politics. One interesting feature is an appendix which includes the full text of her inaugural address when she was sworn in as the governor of Alaska.
I found myself inspired by Palin’s story. Truly, here is an ordinary woman who rose to the governorship of her state without the support of her own political party. Indeed, she accomplished the task in the face of opposition by her own party. And now she is on the Republican Party ticket as a candidate for Vice President. Her rise to prominence and her popularity just do not seem to make sense … which is why so many Americans have yet to get to know her and understand her.
Perhaps this little, well-written book will help. Kudos to Tyndale House for being the first publisher “out of the gate” with a book about America’s newest political phenomenon. You can order your copy on-line for a mere $8.77. It’s worth the investment.
Note: This is the first in an ongoing series of reviews of books published by Tyndale House Publishers. sbc IMPACT! has agreed to review both non-fiction and fiction works submitted by Tyndale House. If you are interested in being added to our list of reviewers, please contact us and submit a biography, along with a sample book review.
***Update – Author Kaylene Johnson was interviewed and the book featured on the Fox and Friends morning show on the FOX News Channel on Thursday, October 2, the day of the Palin-Biden debate.
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I’m a bit disappointed that SBC Impact chose this “book” to kick off their book review series. Surely there are God honoring, Christ exalting books out there that you could have selected. Will a Joel Olsteen review be far behind? Perhaps the works of Chuck Norris could be a future “review?” If one desires to learn more about politics then there are plenty of resources at hand. I was under the impression that Impact’s mission was Christ, and what He has done for sinners. Please keep the Christo-centric focus; I would dare to say, even Sarah herself would agree with that one.
John,
Come on. If you have not noticed, we live in the world around us as is. Because you have no desire to read the book (and it is one despite your “”) then by all means – don’t read it, don’t purchase it, and don’t read the review.
We try to keep centered here at SBCImpact! by delving into all sorts of topics. Our readership is interested in a variety of topics – and since we live in a political world, they are interested in how Christians react and deal with that too.
Most of us have been inspired by the story of Sarah Palin – a person who claims allegiance to the cause of Christ and his Kingdom who also is in politics. Christians “speaking into” government is an obligation for believers and in and of itself is Christo-centric. If you disagree, fine. I am just a bit disappointed that you would throw a bucket of cold water on the attempt instead of just ignoring it.
FYI – Geoff received the books and distributed them out for review. He kept this one to review – and since he has seen and read his first, then the first review is on him. Of course his turn to post was before us too.
Rob
John,
I’m sorry that you’re disappointed. I guess I’m a bit disappointed that you don’t see the value of a Christian publishing house being able to publish (in mass print) the first real volume on the life of an emerging, public, Christian figure.
There really is no “conspiracy” in this being the first book reviewed. It is part of our agreement with Tyndale to review whatever works they send us. I did, actually, request a copy of this one … it wasn’t included in our first batch of new books. I was simply curious about Sarah Palin, especially whatever I could find out about her faith. I was just the first one to get a book read and get a review up.
Like Rob mentioned, we have addressed and will continue to address a variety of current issues, based upon the interests of the individual writers.
Meanwhile, there are several other reviews coming. Here are a few of the titles:
1. Content to be Good, Called to be Godly by Janet Denison (Baptist pastor’s wife from Dallas) – book’s audience is ministry wives
2. What’s Good About Feeling Bad? by Dr. Gary Habermas and Dr. John Thomas of Liberty University – a theology of suffering
3. Experiencing God Around the Kitchen Table by Marilynn Blackaby – personal stories of God’s work in the Blackaby home/missions
And, yes, if Chuck Norris wrote a new book for Tyndale, I would read it … and review it.
And I can barely believe it, but my “reCAPTCHA” security words are “Norris came.” Too funny.
Thanks for reviewing Sarah: How a Hockey Mom Turned the Political Establishment Upside Down. Your readers may ask: Why is Tyndale House, a Christian publisher, publishing this book? Please note: Tyndale House does not endorse political candidates or parties, but we chose to distribute this book in the hopes that it will stimulate both thought and discussion about the role of faith in politics. To that end, we provide a free online discussion guide,
FaithandPoliticsDiscussionGuide.com.
Thanks, Mavis. Great resource. And I think, a good call on publishing the book. It’s timely and surely of interest to many regular Tyndale readers, regardless of their politics.
Actually, I’ll be in attendance at Thursday night’s debate here in St. Louis. Maybe I can get a book signed for you guys
I will be part of National Public Radio’s Debate Viewing Party. Yep, I’m a Christian and I listen to NPR. And brother Rob, I used quotes around the word book because Geoff “Chuckie Norris” himself said it was more of a booklet. And when Geoff Norris does push ups, he actually pushes the planet down 
I look forward to the book review series.
John,
When I do push-ups, the planet actually stops revolving … in disbelief.
Geoff,
I forgive you. (But there isn’t anything to forgive, is there?)
This is a fine choice. I probably won’t read it, but it will be read by people in my church most likely. I’m not much for political biography, even when the politician is a born again believer in Christ. However, this genre makes the top ten list for many of my friends and church members. I was just paying a visit (don’t you love the old-fashioned language?) to an ill member in his home and he had John McCain’s book “Faith of my Fathers”(?) beside his recliner along with his Bible and his newspaper.
It is nonsense to presume this book won’t be a common read among my congregation. I appreciate you for reviewing it.
Together in the Task,
Shane Tucker