'Sarah's Not Retreating, She's Reloading'

The Sarah Palin who emerges on the pages of Going Rogue is a far cry from the "prejudiced, dim-witted ideologue of the popular liberal imagination," Melanie Kirkpatrick writes in the Wall Street Journal. Kirkpatrick finds a "nuanced" politician "capable of mastering complicated issues," and a "new style of feminist" who writes with "sensitivity and affection" about issues like homosexuality and abortion.

The book offers plenty of juicy tidbits about the McCain campaign's botched handling of Palin, though Kirkpatrick thinks she goes "too gentle" on McCain staffers and especially on the candidate himself. Looking for cues about Palin's presidential ambitions, Kirkpatrick wishes the book offered more meat on her policy positions—ultimately, Going Rogue is "more a personal memoir than a political one." (More Sarah Palin stories.)