For over two weeks I have tried to read Palin’s new book, America by Heart. Having read Going Rogue I thought it couldn’t get worse. It did! At least Going Rogue told a story about Palin, from Palin’s perspective. Her ghost writer for the first book was Lynn Vincent. We could imagine Sarah sitting down with Lynn and spending days telling Lynn about her life and significant events, from her perspective, and Lynn doing the writing. In America by Heart, the ghost writer is not actually disclosed, and there is no formal recognition that a “ghost writer” was involved. There is the following quote:

“…with a special thanks to the brilliant, independent self-starter who got her start in Alaska, Jessica Gavora. Thank you for your most important work on America by Heart….”
of this latest book is that this “independent, self-starter” actually wrote the book. This time it appears that Palin told Ms. Gavora that she had three goals:
1. To spend as little time as possible, herself, writing this book.
2. Mention the name of Ronald Reagan as often as possible.
3. Create the impression that Palin was well-read and knowledgeable about American History.

As indicated in a previous post, it appears that Palin satisfied the first goal by perhaps not even reading the entire book that she supposedly authored. http://malialitman.wordpress.com/2010/12/11/america-by-heart-the-joke-is-on-sarah-palin/ For two years Palin has tried to brand herself as a female version of Ronald Reagan. Another article has been written and is entirely devoted to the discussion of the differences between Palin and Reagan. http://malialitman.wordpress.com/2010/04/06/even-the-wall-street-journal-can%e2%80%99t-defend-sarah-palin/

Suffice it to say that Reagan completed two terms as the Governor of one of the most populated states in the country, and Palin couldn’t complete a single term as Governor of one of the least populated states in the country. The name Ronald Reagan appears in America by Heart 17 times. Thus Palin’s second objective was achieved.

Creating the impression that Sarah Palin is well-read and knowledgeable about American History was the most difficult challenge. She is neither. Ms. Gavora attempts to accomplish the first and third goal by quoting things other people have written. In essence this is a book about what OTHERS have written. A high school history book would be a better read than America by Heart. The four pages of “grateful acknowledgments” at the end of the book tell only part of the story. For four pages, the author lists people that have given their permission to re-print things that were copyrighted or who have approved re-printing of their works. The more revealing information comes from comparison of the number of pages of text and the number of quotations. The total pages in America by Heart is 269. Of those pages, 5 are blank, as quotations. Some of the quotes are a few lines, and others fill entire pages. Thus over half the pages in this book contain reprints of things other people have written. Roughly 66% of this book is devoted to other people’s written works. The only skill required in the writing of this book was finding a way to connect that many quotations. If pages were eliminated from the book which were dedicated to quotations of OTHER people, the first line, “Do you love your freedom?!” and the last four pages of acknowledgements.

Since Sarah Palin makes the same amount of money off of the book whether people like it or not, why should she waste her time writing a book that no one will read. In fact if the book is boring enough, and people stop reading it… they might be afraid to criticize it as they didn’t even read the whole book. Most book stores don’t allow return of books because the customer didn’t like the book, or because they felt like they were buying the written work of one author, instead of the writings of 166 authors. Being the savvy investor that she is, perhaps Palin recognized that she made more per hour giving speeches and making reality shows. Her book tour for this book was much quicker than the first, and she had many fewer people turn out for her appearances this time, than last. She didn’t have her face painted on a bus in which other people would ride, and she was unwilling to have the press in attendance.

Thus this book may be an indication of the decline in Palin’s popularity. She has lost her bus. She is losing her audiences. She has discouraged the press from talking to her. Her lack of knowledge is apparent. She has been saying, “Do You Love Your Freedom?” for two years. We do. We have the freedom to read the first line of her book in book stores, and put the book down, never to waste time again. Even Palin fans would be disappointed to read this book. Even Palin fans would quickly tire of reading the multitude of quotes in this book. Their time would be better used to google the words “freedom” and “quotes” and read what appears on their computer screen in the next few minutes.