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“Little House on the Tundra”

By D • on November 21, 2009

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A book review By D.

As a fan of the “Little House” books by Laura Ingalls Wilder, Laura is someone I always admired. Some really terrible things happened to Laura over the course of her young life, yet she persevered and “poor but happy” seemed to be her mantra in life. No matter how bad things were Laura didn’t seem to let it get her down.

Reading Sarah Palin’s book “Going Rogue, An American Life” reminded me of Laura Ingalls. I think Sarah Palin is as close to a modern day Laura Ingalls as you can get. And I believe that is why she in part, like Laura, is so admired. While Palin denies in her book that her life is like “Little House on the Tundra” that’s the way it came across to me.

The book did not strike me as all that political in nature. Although I think there was definitely an undercurrent need to explain to her readers her side of the story as far as the criticism she has received from the liberals. But why bother? Supporters will continue to support, no matter what, and detractors will continue to detract, no matter what.

One thing I believe I gained from this book is a firmer grasp of her personal seemingly unapologetic conservative philosophy. But the most important part of the book for me is on page 46 in the second paragraph. Palin is explaining what she admired about Ronald Reagan. Palin’s description of his appeal to her actually succeeded in explaining her own appeal to Conservatives;

“I appreciated Reagan’s passion and conviction, and the way he so plainly articulated his love for our country. Like millions of others, I related to him personally-he was one of us. I liked him, and I liked the fact that he was never afraid to call it as he saw it.”

When I read it, I smiled because if we took the name “Reagan” and the word “he” out of the paragraph and substituted name “Palin” and the word “she” it seems to me we could perfectly define her appeal to the millions.

While it is not the type of book I would normally read, I’m glad I read this one because of page 46 – I realize that Americans need to believe in their leaders and in order to do so they need to identify with them, apparently Palin, like Reagan, realizes that too.

Palin proves to me that Americans still love pioneers like Laura Ingalls, most of them love solid folks who share their beliefs, speak plain and have the courage of their convictions. Understanding Palin’s continued success, despite their best efforts to bring her down, will continue to elude the liberals because she seems to understand what they do not; the way most Americans think.