The Faith and Values of Sarah Palin
What She Believes and What It Means for America
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- £15.99
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- £15.99
Publisher Description
She stepped onto the world stage as the Republican vice-presidential nominee in the election of 2008. Previously, she had only been a small town mayor and the governor of a state with slightly more than half a million people. Still, there was something about her. She was pretty, fierce in her conservatism and she seemed undaunted by the slings and arrows of national politics And there was something else, as well: there was a moral force that seemed to shape her life. As the world grew to know Sarah Palin throughout the 2008 campaign and in her subsequent public appearances and book people began to see the force behind her: a deep, lifelong Christian faith. This faith was the lens through which she viewed the world, the bedrock of her politics, and even a primary influence upon her personality.
To understand Sarah Palin, it is essential to understand her faith.
What faith principles, then, impact Sarah Palin’s politics, and what are their implications for the Republican Party and the nation as a whole? These questions and more are answered in the fascinating new book by New York Times bestselling author Stephen Mansfield and his co-author David Holland. These authors were given extensive access to Palin’s pastors, advisors, friends and family and it has allowed them to capture the moving story of Palin’s faith, as well as the meaning of that faith for American politics and culture.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Mansfield, who has already written about the faiths of George Bush and Barack Obama, joins with writing partner Holland to analyze the faith of the next logical subject: Sarah Palin, a Pentecostal who is among the probable contenders for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination. Palin, the authors rightly note, is among America's most polarizing figures. This analysis sheds some light on the topic, but not much. The authors say they've done research, but much of their reconstruction of Palin's life and career in Alaska is unsourced and merely rhetorically overheated (Palin's pastor is a "beloved man of god). A chapter about Palin's husband, Todd, is especially lightweight and speculative ("He seems to have lost a sense of himself during this time). Although they spend much time delineating her leadership qualities, they are largely silent about her decision to resign as Alaska's leader. The public record, including Palin's own words, is sufficient for this to have been a more substantive analysis of an important topic.
