''Going Rouge: Sarah Palin, An American Nightmare'' is a collection of essays about
Sarah Palin
Sarah Louise Palin (; Heath; born February 11, 1964) is an American politician, commentator, author, and reality television personality who served as the ninth governor of Alaska from 2006 until her resignation in 2009. She was the 2008 R ...
with a
spoof
Spoof, spoofs, spoofer, or spoofing may refer to:
* Forgery of goods or documents
* Semen, in Australian slang
* Spoof (game), a guessing game
* Spoofing (finance), a disruptive algorithmic-trading tactic designed to manipulate markets
__NOTOC__ ...
title and book cover design intended to lampoon Palin's memoir '' Going Rogue: An American Life''. It was released on November 17, 2009. Both books feature Palin on the front in red, but ''Going Rouge'' has her against a backdrop of black thunder clouds and lightning, instead of the blue sky and white clouds on her memoir.
The anthology, according to its publisher ''
OR Books
OR Books is a New York City-based independent publishing house founded by John Oakes and Colin Robinson in 2009. The company sells digital and print-on-demand books directly to the customer and focuses on creative promotion through traditional med ...
'', provides a political counterpoint and addresses Palin's background, her rise to prominence, and "the nightmarish prospect of her continuing to dominate the nation's political scene."
The book is unrelated in content to ''Going Rouge: The Sarah Palin Rogue Coloring & Activity Book'', a 48-page paperback by cartoonist Julie Sigwart and radio host Micheal Stinson, or to ''Going Rouge: A Candid Look inside the Mind of Political Conservative Sarah Palin,'' a novelty book of 102 blank pages.
Content
The book, released by OR Books, a start-up founded by veteran publishers John G. H. Oakes and Colin Robinson, was published on November 17, 2009, the same day that Palin's own hardback '' Going Rogue: An American Life'' was released. According to their site, Oakes is the former publisher of the independent publishing house Four Walls Eight Windows, and Robinson a former publisher of
Eve Ensler
V, formerly Eve Ensler (; born May 25, 1953), is an American playwright, performer, feminist, and activist. V is best known for her play ''The Vagina Monologues''.
,
Michelle Goldberg
Michelle Goldberg (born 1975)"Michelle Goldberg". Contemporary Authors Online. Detroit: Gale, 2016. Retrieved via Biography in Context database, January 28, 2017. is an American journalist and author, and an op-ed columnist for ''The New York Tim ...
,
Jane Hamsher
Jane Hamsher (born Jane Murphy; July 25, 1959) is a US film producer, author, and blogger best known as the author of ''Killer Instinct'', a memoir about co-producing the 1994 movie ''Natural Born Killers'' with Don Murphy and others, and as the ...
Jim Hightower
James Allen Hightower (born January 11, 1943) is an American syndicated columnist, Progressivism in the United States, progressive political activist, and author. From 1983 to 1991 he served as the elected commissioner of the Texas Department of ...
,
Linda Hirshman
Linda Redlick Hirshman (born April 26, 1944) is an American lawyer, pundit, and the author of multiple books on the law, women's studies, and philosophy.
Life and career
Hirshman was born in Cleveland, Ohio. She holds a J.D. degree from the ...
Shannyn Moore
Shannyn Moore (born June 12, 1970) is an American political blogger based in Alaska. Moore is a writer for ''The Huffington Post'' and has been a prominent critic of former Alaska governor Sarah Palin. She has appeared on such television shows as ...
Matt Taibbi
Matthew Colin Taibbi (; born March 2, 1970) is an American author, journalist, and podcaster. He has reported on finance, media, politics, and sports. A former contributing editor for ''Rolling Stone'', he is an author of several books, co-host o ...
Gary Younge
Gary Andrew Younge , (born January 1969) is a British journalist, author, broadcaster and academic. He was editor-at-large for ''The Guardian'' newspaper, which he joined in 1993. In November 2019, it was announced that Younge had been appointe ...
.
''
Salon
Salon may refer to:
Common meanings
* Beauty salon, a venue for cosmetic treatments
* French term for a drawing room, an architectural space in a home
* Salon (gathering), a meeting for learning or enjoyment
Arts and entertainment
* Salon (P ...
'' magazine also announced that several of their original articles will be included: "The Sarah Palin Pity Party," by Rebecca Traister; "The Losers Who Gave Us Sarah Palin," by Joe Conason; and two pieces by Juan Cole, "What's the Difference Between Sarah Palin and Muslim Fundamentalists? Lipstick" and "Sarah Palin, meet Mahmoud Ahmadinejad." Some of the other more than 50 short essays, includes "Wrong Woman, Wrong Message," by
Gloria Steinem
Gloria Marie Steinem (; born March 25, 1934) is an American journalist and social-political activist who emerged as a nationally recognized leader of second-wave feminism
Second-wave feminism was a period of feminist activity that began in ...
, "Our Polar Bears, Ourselves," by
Mark Hertsgaard
Mark Hertsgaard (born 1956) is an American journalist and the co-founder and executive director of Covering Climate Now. He is the environment correspondent for ''The Nation'', and the author of seven non-fiction books, including ''Earth Odyssey ...
, and "Sarah Palin's Death Panels" by Robert Reich.Max Blumenthal, author of ''Republican Gomorrah'' (2009), includes an account of his meeting with Palin's "witch-hunting pastor" from
Kenya
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Thomas Muthee
Thomas Muthee (born c. 1955) is a Kenyan preacher, bishop, and self-professed witch hunter. He became internationally known when in 2008, it was reported that United States vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, had financed his work, after seein ...
, "who urges his parishioners to crush 'the python spirit' of the unbeliever enemies by stomping on their necks."
An additional component in ''Going Rouge'' is how "feminist considerations" were "magnified and distorted" by Palin's candidacy. The varied and "complex nuances of
gender
Gender is the range of characteristics pertaining to femininity and masculinity and differentiating between them. Depending on the context, this may include sex-based social structures (i.e. gender roles) and gender identity. Most cultures u ...
and
feminist
Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...
constructions raised by the Palin phenomenon" are addressed by Katha Pollitt, Amy Alexander, Amanda Fortini and Emily Bazelon, among others.
Publication and promotion
OR Books cofounder Colin Robinson announced that they intended to promote the book with a web video by documentary filmmaker
Robert Greenwald
Robert Greenwald (born August 28, 1945) is an American filmmaker, and the founder of Brave New Films, a nonprofit film and advocacy organization whose work is distributed for free in concert with nonprofit partners and movements in order to educ ...
, which they planned to "send around virally" leading up to the November 17 release date. Customers wanting the book would initially only have two choices, to order the book as an ebook download for $10 or order a print-on-demand paperback for $16. Such low production costs Robinson believed would allow OR to promote the book heavily on the Internet, with perhaps some print advertising as well. Afterwards, OR Books hoped to entertain offers from reprint houses looking to buy the paperback rights. The book was eventually released on Amazon, achieving a sales rank of #825 in books for the week of December 14, 2009 and dropping to #7,309 for the week of January 29, 2010 (''Going Rogue'', in contrast, was #58 that same week).
Various news sources, including
CNN
CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by the M ...
and
Fox News
The Fox News Channel, abbreviated FNC, commonly known as Fox News, and stylized in all caps, is an American multinational conservative cable news television channel based in New York City. It is owned by Fox News Media, which itself is owne ...
, have confused ''Going Rouge'' and ''Going Rogue'' in articles intended to discuss Palin's memoir.
Critical reception
Writer Geoffrey Dunn, author of ''The Lies of Sarah Palin: The Untold Story Behind Her Relentless Quest for Power'', gave the book a favorable review, describing it as "full of golden nuggets." Dunn concluded his remarks by stating "One thing is certain: You will read far more about the real Sarah Palin in ''Going Rouge'' than you ever will in her own memoirs, being published by who else?
Rupert Murdoch
Keith Rupert Murdoch ( ; born 11 March 1931) is an Australian-born American business magnate. Through his company News Corp, he is the owner of hundreds of local, national, and international publishing outlets around the world, including ...
."
A reviewer writing in the ''San Francisco Chronicle'' said that the book contains "articles by some of the most thought provoking writers in America who have chronicled the foibles and pratfalls of Sarah Palin."