Going Rouge: Sarah Palin, An American Nightmare
Encyclopedia
Going Rouge: Sarah Palin, An American Nightmare is a book comprising a collection of essays about Sarah Palin
with a spoof
title and 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, provides a political counterpoint and address 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 empty pages.
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 The New Press
.
Other contributing writers include Max Blumenthal
, Joe Conason
, Eve Ensler
, Michelle Goldberg
, Jane Hamsher
, Christopher Hayes
, Jim Hightower
, Linda Hirshman
, Dahlia Lithwick
, Amanda Marcotte
, Shannyn Moore
, Jeanne Devon, John Nichols, Hanna Rosin
, Matt Taibbi
, Michael Tomasky
, Rebecca Traister, Naomi Klein
, Jessica Valenti, Patricia Williams, JoAnn Wypijewski, and Gary Younge
.
Salon
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
, "Our Polar Bears, Ourselves," by Mark Hertsgaard
, and "Sarah Palin's Death Panels" by Robert Reich
. Max Blumenthal
, author of Republican Gomorrah, includes an account of his meeting with Palin's "witch-hunting pastor" from Kenya
, Thomas Muthee
, "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
and feminist
constructions raised by the Palin phenomenon" are addressed by Katha Pollitt
, Amy Alexander, Amanda Fortini and Emily Bazelon
, among others.
, which they plan to "send around virally" leading up to the November 17 release date. Customers wanting the book will initially only have two choices, order the book as a ebook download for $10 or order a print-on-demand
paperback for $16. Such low production costs Robinson believes will allow OR to promote the book heavily on the Internet, with perhaps some print advertising as well. Afterwards, OR Books hopes 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
and Fox News, have confused Going Rouge and Going Rogue in articles intended to discuss Palin's memoir.
in early 2011, 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
."
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."
Sarah Palin
Sarah Louise Palin is an American politician, commentator and author. As the Republican Party nominee for Vice President in the 2008 presidential election, she was the first Alaskan on the national ticket of a major party and first Republican woman nominated for the vice-presidency.She was...
with a spoof
Parody
A parody , in current usage, is an imitative work created to mock, comment on, or trivialise an original work, its subject, author, style, or some other target, by means of humorous, satiric or ironic imitation...
title and cover design intended to lampoon Palin’s memoir Going Rogue: An American Life
Going Rogue: An American Life
Going Rogue: An American Life is a personal and political memoir of Sarah Palin, the former governor of Alaska and 2008 Republican candidate for U.S. Vice President. The book became a New York Times #1 bestseller in its first week of release, and remained there for six weeks...
. 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, provides a political counterpoint and address 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 empty 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 LifeGoing Rogue: An American Life
Going Rogue: An American Life is a personal and political memoir of Sarah Palin, the former governor of Alaska and 2008 Republican candidate for U.S. Vice President. The book became a New York Times #1 bestseller in its first week of release, and remained there for six weeks...
was released. According to their site, Oakes is the former publisher of the independent publishing house Four Walls Eight Windows
Four Walls Eight Windows
Four Walls Eight Windows was an independent book publisher in New York City. Its debut occurred in the fall of 1987, under the direction of two young editors, John G. H. Oakes and Daniel Simon. In 1995, Oakes and Simon parted ways...
, and Robinson a former publisher of The New Press
The New Press
The New Press is a not-for-profit, United States-based publishing house that operates in the public interest. It was established in 1990 as an alternative to large commercial publishers, and is supported financially by various foundations, groups and corporations including the Ford Foundation, the...
.
Other contributing writers include Max Blumenthal
Max Blumenthal
Max Blumenthal is an American author, journalist, and blogger. A senior writer for The Daily Beast, he is the author of the New York Times bestselling book Republican Gomorrah: Inside the Movement that Shattered the Party....
, Joe Conason
Joe Conason
Joe Conason is an American journalist, author and political commentator. He writes a column for the weekly New York Observer newspaper, for Salon.com and has written a number of books, including Big Lies , which addresses what he says are myths spread about liberals by conservatives.-Life and...
, Eve Ensler
Eve Ensler
Eve Ensler is an American playwright, performer, feminist and activist, best known for her play The Vagina Monologues.- Personal life :...
, Michelle Goldberg
Michelle Goldberg
Michelle Goldberg is a Brooklyn-based journalist and the author of the books Kingdom Coming: The Rise of Christian Nationalism, and The Means of Reproduction: Sex, Power, and the Future of the World. She is formerly a contributing writer at Salon.com...
, Jane Hamsher
Jane Hamsher
Jane Hamsher 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 founder and publisher of the politically progressive blog FireDogLake...
, Christopher Hayes
Christopher Hayes (journalist)
Christopher L. "Chris" Hayes is an American broadcaster, journalist and liberal political commentator. Hayes hosts Up with Chris Hayes, a weekend news and opinion television show on MSNBC. Hayes had formerly been a frequent guest host and commentator on shows such as The Rachel Maddow Show and...
, Jim Hightower
Jim Hightower
James Allen "Jim" Hightower is an American syndicated columnist, activist and author.-Life and career:Born in Denison, Texas, Hightower came from a working class background. He worked his way through college as assistant general manager of the Denton Chamber of Commerce and later landed a spot as...
, Linda Hirshman
Linda Hirshman
Linda Redlick Hirshman is an American lawyer, feminist, and the author of The Woman's Guide to Law School and Hard Bargains: The Politics of Sex.- Life and career :...
, Dahlia Lithwick
Dahlia Lithwick
-External links:*...
, Amanda Marcotte
Amanda Marcotte
Amanda Marie Marcotte is an American blogger best known for her writing on feminism and politics. Time magazine described her as "an outspoken voice of the left" and said "there is a welcome wonkishness to Marcotte, who, unlike some star bloggers, is not afraid to parse policy with her...
, Shannyn Moore
Shannyn Moore
Shannyn Moore 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 The Rachel Maddow Show and Countdown with Keith Olbermann...
, Jeanne Devon, John Nichols, Hanna Rosin
Hanna Rosin
-Career:Hanna Rosin is a co-founder of DoubleX, a women's site connected to the online magazine Slate. She is also a writer for The Atlantic. She has written for the Washington Post, The New Yorker, GQ and New York after beginning her career as a staff writer for The New Republic. Rosin has also...
, Matt Taibbi
Matt Taibbi
Matthew C. "Matt" Taibbi is an American author and journalist reporting on politics, media, finance, and sports for Rolling Stone and Men's Journal, often in a polemical style. He has also edited and written for The eXile, the New York Press, and The Beast.- Early years :Taibbi grew up in the...
, Michael Tomasky
Michael Tomasky
Michael Tomasky is a liberal American columnist, journalist and author. He is the editor in chief of Democracy, a special correspondent for Newsweek / The Daily Beast, a contributing editor for The American Prospect, and a contributor to The New York Review of Books.-Biography:Tomasky was born...
, Rebecca Traister, Naomi Klein
Naomi Klein
Naomi Klein is a Canadian author and social activist known for her political analyses and criticism of corporate globalization.-Family:...
, Jessica Valenti, Patricia Williams, JoAnn Wypijewski, and Gary Younge
Gary Younge
Gary Younge is a British journalist, author and broadcaster, born to immigrant parents from Barbados....
.
Salon
Salon.com
Salon.com, part of Salon Media Group , often just called Salon, is an online liberal magazine, with content updated each weekday. Salon was founded by David Talbot and launched on November 20, 1995. It was the internet's first online-only commercial publication. The magazine focuses on U.S...
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
Joe Conason
Joe Conason is an American journalist, author and political commentator. He writes a column for the weekly New York Observer newspaper, for Salon.com and has written a number of books, including Big Lies , which addresses what he says are myths spread about liberals by conservatives.-Life and...
; and two pieces by Juan Cole
Juan Cole
John Ricardo I. "Juan" Cole is an American scholar, public intellectual, and historian of the modern Middle East and South Asia. He is Richard P. Mitchell Collegiate Professor of History at the University of Michigan. As a commentator on Middle Eastern affairs, he has appeared in print and on...
, "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 Steinem
Gloria Marie Steinem is an American feminist, journalist, and social and political activist who became nationally recognized as a leader of, and media spokeswoman for, the women's liberation movement in the late 1960s and 1970s...
, "Our Polar Bears, Ourselves," by Mark Hertsgaard
Mark Hertsgaard
Mark Hertsgaard is an American journalist. His best-known work is On Bended Knee: The Press and the Reagan Presidency , which described the way the Reagan White House "deployed raw power and conventional wisdom to intimidate Washington's television newsrooms".In the 1990s, Hertsgaard's attention...
, and "Sarah Palin's Death Panels" by Robert Reich
Robert Reich
Robert Bernard Reich is an American political economist, professor, author, and political commentator. He served in the administrations of Presidents Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter and was Secretary of Labor under President Bill Clinton from 1993 to 1997....
. Max Blumenthal
Max Blumenthal
Max Blumenthal is an American author, journalist, and blogger. A senior writer for The Daily Beast, he is the author of the New York Times bestselling book Republican Gomorrah: Inside the Movement that Shattered the Party....
, author of Republican Gomorrah, includes an account of his meeting with Palin's "witch-hunting pastor" from Kenya
Kenya
Kenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...
, Thomas Muthee
Thomas Muthee
Thomas Muthee is a Kenyan preacher and bishop. During the 2008 United States Presidential campaign, his visit to the Wasilla, Alaska Assembly of God in 2005, including a blessing that he gave Sarah Palin, was widely discussed. His prior claims of successful spiritual warfare in Kiambu, Kenya...
, "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
Gender is a range of characteristics used to distinguish between males and females, particularly in the cases of men and women and the masculine and feminine attributes assigned to them. Depending on the context, the discriminating characteristics vary from sex to social role to gender identity...
and feminist
Feminism
Feminism is a collection of movements aimed at defining, establishing, and defending equal political, economic, and social rights and equal opportunities for women. Its concepts overlap with those of women's rights...
constructions raised by the Palin phenomenon" are addressed by Katha Pollitt
Katha Pollitt
Katha Pollitt is an American feminist poet, essayist and critic. She is the author of four essay collections and two books of poetry...
, Amy Alexander, Amanda Fortini and Emily Bazelon
Emily Bazelon
Emily Bazelon is an American journalist, senior editor for online magazine Slate, and a senior research fellow at Yale Law School. Her work as a writer focuses on law, abortion, and family issues.-Journalism career:...
, among others.
Publication and promotion
OR Books cofounder Colin Robinson announced that they intend to promote the book with a web video by documentary filmmaker Robert GreenwaldRobert Greenwald
Robert Greenwald is an American film director, film producer, and political activist.-Early life:Greenwald was born and raised in New York City, the son of Ruth and Harold Greenwald. He attended the city's High School of Performing Arts...
, which they plan to "send around virally" leading up to the November 17 release date. Customers wanting the book will initially only have two choices, order the book as a ebook download for $10 or order a print-on-demand
Print on demand
Print on demand , sometimes called, in error, publish on demand, is a printing technology and business process in which new copies of a book are not printed until an order has been received...
paperback for $16. Such low production costs Robinson believes will allow OR to promote the book heavily on the Internet, with perhaps some print advertising as well. Afterwards, OR Books hopes 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 U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
and Fox News, have confused Going Rouge and Going Rogue in articles intended to discuss Palin's memoir.
Critical reception
Writer Geoffrey Dunn, whose book The Lies of Sarah Palin: The Untold Story Behind Her Relentless Quest for Power will be released by St. Martin's PressSt. Martin's Press
St. Martin's Press is a book publisher headquartered in the Flatiron Building in New York City. Currently, St. Martin's Press is one of the United States' largest publishers, bringing to the public some 700 titles a year under eight imprints, which include St. Martin's Press , St...
in early 2011, 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
Rupert Murdoch
Keith Rupert Murdoch, AC, KSG is an Australian-American business magnate. He is the founder and Chairman and CEO of , the world's second-largest media conglomerate....
."
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."