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When Sarah Palin's big-bucks memoir "Going Rogue: An American Life by Sarah Palin" comes out Nov. 17, there'll be another book about her hitting the stores the same day: "Going Rouge: Sarah Palin, an American Nightmare." The "Rouge" book, with a similar name and cover, will be put out by a new company, OR Books, says Publisher's Marketplace, which says it will be composed of "essays assembled by Nation editors Richard Kim and Betsy Reed." Marketplace adds that "it promises 'progressive perspectives on Sarah Palin's political career' by writers including Naomi Klein, Jane Mayer, Katha Pollitt, Jim Hightower, Christopher Hayes,...

Sarah Palin's Memoir Ready for Christmas Book Market By LAURA FITZPATRICK Fans and foes alike are hoping for surprises in Sarah Palin's memoir, Going Rogue: An American Life, which leapfrogged Dan Brown and Glenn Beck to the top of the Amazon.com bestseller last week before even being published. But with a few weeks to go until the book hits shelves on Nov. 17, the biggest shocker so far is the sheer speed with which she wrote it. The former Alaska governor penned the 400-page tome in just four months, finishing well before the planned spring release date. So how the...

Fifty one rejection letters -- that is the number Irene Vilar received before she finally found someone to publish a tale so extreme it would surely be fiction if it wasn't her personal story: A woman who says she had 15 abortions and describes it as an addiction. The book, Impossible Motherhood: Testimony of an Abortion Addict -- a graphic and disturbing tale of one woman's abortions and her personal quest to understand her actions -- is bound to provoke a fury when it is released next week. It is no surprise that publishers backed away. Ms. Vilar says the...

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Ms. Vincent didn't reveal any details about the book, but did acknowledge it will describe Ms. Palin's frustration over her treatment by the staffers she inherited from the McCain campaign after her surprise pick as the GOP vice presidential nominee last year. Ms. Palin was booked on grueling interviews with hostile reporters while talk-show hosts such as Glenn Beck couldn't even get through to her aides. Mr. Beck tells me he was stunned when he picked up the phone one day just before the election to discover Sarah Palin was on the other end of the line. "She explained that...

Bill Clinton on Lewinsky Affair: "I Cracked"Posted by Brian Montopoli September 21, 2009 3:14 PM (CBS)During a series of secret interviews in the White House with author and historian Taylor Branch, then-President Bill Clinton said his affair with Monika Lewinsky began because he "cracked" as a result of personal and political pressure. "I cracked; I just cracked," Clinton said, according to Branch, USA Today reports. The former president reportedly blamed the death of his mother, combined with the Democrats' losses in the 1994 midterm elections and the Whitewater investigation, for putting him in a state of mind that left him...

Former Russian president Boris Yeltsin got so drunk during a visit to Washington that he was found standing outside the White House in his underpants trying to hail a cab to go and buy a pizza. The following night he was mistaken for a drunken intruder when he was discovered stumbling around the basement of his guest house by secret service agents. The drunken behaviour of Yeltsin, who was known for his fondness for vodka and died two years ago aged 76, were revealed by former US president Bill Clinton. Russian President Boris Yeltsin (L) taps his watch to end...

A former aide to George W. Bush and Sarah Palin is dismissing a claim by onetime Bush speechwriter Matt Latimer that the former president was clueless about Palin when she was tapped as John McCain's running mate last August. ... But Jason Recher, who served as special assistant to President Bush and as a traveling aide to Palin during the campaign, said the former President was well aware of Palin — especially since the two met in person in Alaska just three weeks before Palin was added to the Republican ticket.

<p>While the rest of his party was celebrating the choice of novice VP candidate Sarah Palin last August, then-President George W. Bush attempted to inject some reason and caution into the melee, according to a new book by a former White House speechwriter.</p>

Is there a politician George W. Bush ever liked? Not according to former Dubya speech writer Matt Latimer. In his forthcoming memoir, "Speech Less: Tales of a White House Survivor," Latimer says the former Prez dissed pretty much everyone in Washington - including Barack Obama. "He came in one day to rehearse a speech, fuming," Latimer writes. "'This is a dangerous world,'" he said for no apparent reason, "and this cat [Obama] isn't remotely qualified to handle it. This guy has no clue, I promise you." GQ's October issue has a sneak peek at the book - out Sept. 22...

Hey everyone, I remember reading about errors in Obama's memoir recently. There was one example of him getting a job as some big financial hot shot in his book, but in reality he never had a job even close. Does anyone have that thread or website link? Thanks!

Here is a CNN video report on the soon-to-be published memoir of the late Sen. Ted Kennedy and a few quotes from it. In the memoir, Kennedy reportedly says he "always accepted official findings of JFK's assassination," meaning the Warren Commission's finding that Lee Harvey Oswald was the assassin, and that he acted alone. He also reportedly admitted that his actions at Chappaquiddick were "inexcusable." The memoir is to be released on September 14. . . . (Watch Video)

Daily Newser Dave Saltonstall gets an advance copy of Ted Kennedy's posthumously-released memoir "True Compass" -- in which the Massachusetts senator used the platform to defend his inexplicable decision to abandon Mary Jo Kopechne after his car plunged off the bridge. Among the other revelations: A nine-year-old Teddy hid under the bunk at a private school in the Bronx because he was afraid of being sexually abused by the dorm master -- and the senator claims he was cajoled into cheating on a Spanish test at Harvard by a buddy and didn't hatch the scheme that resulted in his expulsion....

WASHINGTON – Sen. Edward M. Kennedy said in a new book that he was not romantically involved with young Mary Jo Kopechne and that he never escaped the despair he felt after she died in the 1969 car crash that has been seared into the national consciousness as "Chappaquiddick." He acknowledged that he enjoyed women and drink — sometimes too much so — but said reports of wild Kennedy excesses were exaggerated. Yet it was the specter of Chappaquiddick that Edward Kennedy, the youngest brother, never could shake. "That night on Chappaquiddick Island ended in a horrible tragedy that haunts...

Tom Ridge, former US Secretary of Homeland Security, has written in his new book that he was pressured by then Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and Attorney General John Ashcroft to "raise the terror alert to help Bush win re-election in 2004." He explains that "Bush's approval ratings typically went up when the threat level was raised, adding that Ashcroft and Rumsfeld pushed to elevate it during a vigorous discussion." After a number of former Bush administration officials called these claims "nonsense," Tom Ridge has decided to flip-flop on the issue, writes the USA Today. He now says that this...

Publisher expects its author to settle scores, take no prisoners, tell all WASHINGTON - Dick Cheney is one of the most remarkable figures in American political history. There, I said it. Objectively speaking, no matter your ideology, take a step back. One can only marvel at the former vice president’s moxie, mettle and maneuverability over a storied 40-year career. Forget that the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., authored some 300 or so laws, most of which undoubtedly touched every American — Dick Cheney wrote the book on how to work the system to one’s personal advantage.

Tom Ridge confirms a long-held suspicion among Bush critics, writing in his new autobiography that he "was pushed to raise the security alert on the eve of President Bush's re-election, something he saw as politically motivated and worth resigning over."...

Ridge: I was urged to raise terror level for re-election @ 11:32 am by Eric Zimmermann Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge was pressured to raise the terror threat level in the run-up to President Bush's re-election, the former cabinet secretary will claim in a new tell-all book. Titled "The Test of Our Times: America Under Siege…and How We Can Be Safe Again," the memoir is intended to rouse Americans from their complacency about security issues, Ridge says. To accomplish that goal, Ridge has included some stunning allegations about his time in the Bush administration. He almost considered resigning after being...

The Cheney ChroniclesAugust 17, 2009Robert CostaSummertime in Wyoming is usually quite pleasant for the Cheney family. Last Thursday, the day before Lynne Cheney’s 68th birthday party, the Washington Post soured spirits just a bit with this headline: “Cheney Uncloaks His Frustration With Bush.� The front-page story detailed, with the help of numerous unnamed “associates,� how former vice president Dick Cheney’s upcoming book will supposedly open a “second front� against “Cheney’s White House partner of eight years, George W. Bush.� Team Cheney was not amused.“From the first sentence, the piece was clearly biased and inaccurate,� Mary Matalin, Cheney’s former White House...

THE first signs have emerged that former US vice-president Dick Cheney lost faith in his former boss George W.Bush for going "soft" after refusing to listen to his advice. Mr Cheney, who has always steadfastly supported the former US president, has reportedly told colleagues and political experts of his disappointment as Mr Bush's resolve weakened in response to souring public opinion during his second term. According to The Washington Post, the man often called the most influential vice-president in US history has made known his feelings during discussions about a memoir he is writing that publishers have been told is...

Former Vice President Thinks Bush Ignored Advice, Made Concessions To Public Sentiment Former Vice President Dick Cheney believes his old boss, President George W. Bush, gradually turned away from his advice during their second term in the White House, showing a surprising independence as he started taking more flexible positions on a range of issues, The Washington Post reported Wednesday. Cheney, often described as the most influential vice president in U.S. history, has been discussing his years in office in informal talks with authors, diplomats, policy experts and past colleagues, the Post said, as he works on a memoir due...

It began with youthful idealism and ended in bitter regret. Anthony Blunt - English gentleman, art adviser to Queen Elizabeth II, and Soviet spy - felt the decision to give British secrets to the Kremlin was “the biggest mistake of my life.’’ Blunt wrote of his remorse in a 30,000-word memoir completed shortly before his death in 1983 and released today by the British Library. It was given to the library in 1984 on condition it not be made public for 25 years. Blunt was the infamous “fourth man’’ in a ring of upper-class Britons who spied for the Soviet...

In his memoir, former CIA Director George J. Tenet described the agency's first course of action in a crisis. "Despite what Hollywood might have you believe," Tenet wrote, "you don't call in the tough guys; you call in the lawyers." For more than three decades, that almost always has meant making a call to John A. Rizzo. The acting general counsel at the CIA, Rizzo has guided generations of agency leaders on the legal contours of clandestine operations and the often-ensuing investigations. At CIA headquarters, he is known for his eye-watering wardrobe -- with ties, cuff links and suspenders colored...

NEW YORK (AP) - Former Vice President Dick Cheney has signed a book deal with a conservative imprint of Simon & Schuster and said he hopes readers of all ideologies will be interested in his story. The memoir by Cheney, widely considered the most powerful vice president in history, is expected to be published in Spring 2011, a few months after President George W. Bush's book comes out. Cheney's work is currently untitled and will cover his long career in government, from chief of staff under President Ford to vice president under Bush, from Vietnam and Watergate to the first...

Mimi Beardsley Alford, a retired New York church administrator who had an affair with John F. Kennedy while she was an intern in the White House, is breaking a silence of more than 40 years to tell her story in a memoir to be published by Random House. Ms. Alford’s secret was initially divulged six years ago when a biography of Kennedy was published with portions from a 1964 oral history that described the president’s 18-month sexual affair with a young intern named Mimi Beardsley. The Daily News tracked her down and discovered that she was Marion Fahnestock, who was...

Sarah Palin has picked a Christian author and magazine journalist to collaborate with her on her forthcoming memoir for HarperCollins. The journalist, Lynn Vincent, has been at World—the nation's best-read Christian newsmagazine—for the last 10 years as a writer and editor. This isn't a surprising choice for Palin, but it's certainly one worth noting. It's more evidence that she's honing a distinctly Christian public image since coming off the campaign trail last year. This seems to be a change from the days when she was a state-level figure, almost entirely unknown outside of Alaska.

> In his travel memoir, Twain describes a 1867 trip to the Land of Israel, which he finds a backward and desolate place devoid of culture or law. "Renowned Jerusalem itself, the stateliest name in history, has lost all its ancient grandeur, and is become a pauper village," he states, calling it a country where prosperity had died out, a place of lost splendor and beauty where joy has turned to sorrow, and where silence and death prevail in its holy places.

Even a juicy political affair and an appearance on Oprah didn't help Elizabeth Edwards sell a lot of books. To say that her new memoir, Reflections, underperformed would be an understatement. The book trailed behind Michael J. Fox's memoir and Mark Levin's Liberty, only opening with a scan of 18,853 units. To put that into perspective: Fox's book scanned 36,321 units this past week, with a total of 138,128 since it's release. The battle of the books is on!

Palins Get Ready to Spill By Kim Eisler Published Monday, April 06, 2009 Alaska’s Republican governor, Sarah Palin, has retained DC Democratic power player Robert Barnett to sell her presumed memoir of the 2008 campaign. The expected seven-figure book advance will make it easier for Palin to pay for travel to the “lower 48” for political events and then a presidential run. The book could put Palin into a 2012 race with President Obama, who used the same lawyer and the same strategy—a big advance and a book—in part to back his early campaign efforts. During the 2008 Democratic campaign,...

I have begun to read B. Obama's memoirs, "Dreams from My Father," and I am wondering what other FReepers think about it. Please post your thoughts and direct us to any published reviews.

Former President George W. Bush will continue a long presidential tradition of putting pen to page in the hopes of burnishing his legacy. From Ulysses S. Grant (whose "Personal Memoirs" is considered the gold standard of presidential autobiographies) to Bill Clinton (whose "My Life" sold over 2 million copies), the memoir has become an essential part of reputation-building for ex-presidents. Mr. Bush has signed a deal to write his own contribution to the genre, tentatively titled "Decision Points," with the Crown Publishing Group, Politico reports. It is not known if Mr. Bush's payday will match or surpass the $15 million...

NEW YORK – William Morrow says it plans to publish the first of two books with hero pilot Chesley B. Sullenberger III late this year. Topics will include his boyhood, his military service and, of course, his "Miracle on the Hudson" experiences. William Morrow, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, said Friday the subject and timing of the second book is not yet known. Sullenberger safely ditched his US Airways plane in New York's Hudson River on Jan. 15 after its engines were disabled by geese. All 155 people aboard survived.

(CNN) -- Former President George W. Bush is writing a book focusing on defining decisions he's made in his personal and political life, a publishing house announced Thursday. The book, tentatively titled "Decision Points," is to be published in fall 2010, according to the Crown Publishing Group. Financial terms weren't disclosed. The book will focus on about 12 important decisions made by the former president. Topics will include his decision to run for president, his choice of his closest advisers, the September 11 terrorist attacks, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, his response to Hurricane Katrina, the forming of his...

NEW YORK (AP) - The editor of Sen. Edward M. Kennedy's memoir says the book will come out this fall. Jonathan Karp of the Twelve imprint at the Hachette Book Group USA, announced the release Wednesday during the annual meeting of the Association of American Publishers. Twelve spokesman Cary Goldstein said the book, titled "True Compass," would be listed in the publisher's fall catalog, out next month.

BOGOTA -- Three Americans held captive by Colombia's leftist rebels for 5 1/2 years published a memoir Thursday full of wrenching survival stories and unkind words about Ingrid Betancourt, the most famous hostage who shared their jungle prisons. The chronicle of the U.S. military contractors' 1,967 days as rebel captives describes their pain and perseverance, mind-numbing boredom in jungle cages, forced marches in chains, close calls under fire and ultimately, a miraculous rescue. ( Read Rest at Link)

Evidence continues to mount that Barack Obama had substantial help from Bill Ayers in the creation of his 1995 book, Dreams From My Father, a book that Time Magazine has called "the best-written memoir ever produced by an American politician." The evidence falls into five general categories, here summarized. * The discovery of new matching nautical metaphors from both Ayers and Obama that almost assuredly came from the same source: Ayers, a former merchant seaman. * The discovery of a Bill Ayers' essay on memoir writing, whose postmodern themes and phrases are echoed throughout Dreams. * A newly discovered book...

Like the two men whose campaigns for president he influenced with his unexpected step upon the national political stage, Joe the Plumber has published a book about his life.

. . .It has also been established that Mr Davis, who divorced in 1970, was the author of a hard-core pornographic autobiography published in San Diego in 1968 by Greenleaf Classics under the pseudonym Bob Greene. . . . In the introduction to Sex Rebel, Davis explains that although he has “changed names and identities…all incidents I have described have been taken from actual experiences”. He stated that “under certain circumstances I am bisexual” and that he was “ a voyeur and an exhibitionist” who was “occasionally mildly interested in sado-masochism," adding: “I have often wished I had two penises...

Bill Ayers' motive for penning memoir Jack Cshill Editor's note: This is Part 1 of a three-part analysis of Barack Obama's "Dreams From My Father." "I picture the street coming alive, awakening from the fury of winter, stirred from the chilly spring night by cold glimmers of sunlight angling through the city." Bill Ayers, "Fugitive Days." "Night now fell in midafternoon, especially when the snowstorms rolled in, boundless prairie storms that set the sky close to the ground, the city lights reflected against the clouds." Barack Obama, "Dreams From My Father." Prior to 1990, when Barack Obama contracted to write...

According to Jack Cashill (see this link), there is mounting evidence to indicate that Barack Obama was not the author of his now famous memoir, Dreams From My Father. His research into Obama's literary background shows that, prior to 1990, Obama had written nothing of note. Then like a bolt from the blue, Obama produces a work described by Time Magazine as "the best-written memoir ever produced by an American politician."Cashill observes, "I had questioned whether the influential Muslim crackpot who paved Obama’s way into Harvard, Khalid al Mansour, might have greased his way into the world of publishing as...

In a sane world, Crystal Mangum's forthcoming memoir would contain just two words: "I'm sorry." Last Friday morning, I opened an email that contained a press release for a forthcoming book titled The Last Dance for Grace: The Crystal Mangum Story. Thinking it was an Internet hoax, I googled “Crystal Mangum” and found the story on WRAL.com. Sure enough, the infamous former stripper and prostitute, who falsely accused three Duke University lacrosse players of gang-raping and beating her in a bathroom, was writing her memoirs:....

Joe Eszterhas' latest book is a shocker, but not the kind that made him rich and famous. The upcoming release from the man who penned dark thrillers such as Basic Instinct and Jagged Edge tells the story of his spiritual conversion and his newfound devotion to God and family. In Crossbearer: A Memoir of Faith, to be published Sept. 2 by St. Martin's Press, Mr. Eszterhas describes how his life got turned around during the summer of 2001. He and his second wife, Naomi, had just moved from Malibu to a suburb of Cleveland - where he had grown up;...

The daughter of British former prime minister Margaret Thatcher tells how her mother's dementia has left her struggling to remember the simplest facts in book extracts published Sunday. Carol Thatcher wrote that, on her worst days, her mother struggles to finish sentences but shows occasional glimpses of her old self, particularly when talking about her time in Downing Street. "I had always thought of her as ageless, timeless and 100 percent cast-iron damage-proof," Carol Thatcher wrote in her memoir, "A Swim-On Part In The Goldfish Bowl", which was serialised in the Mail on Sunday newspaper. "Whereas previously you never had...

Durham, N.C. — The woman at the center of the 2006 scandal that rocked Duke University, Durham and the lives of the three lacrosse players she accused of raping her is coming out with a book. Crystal Gail Mangum worked as an exotic dancer in March 2006, when she performed at a party hosted by several Duke lacrosse players. It was at that party, Mangum alleged, that three white members of the team trapped her inside a bathroom and raped and sexually assaulted her. David Evans, Collin Finnerty and Reade Seligmann were later indicted on the allegations. The claims also...

By Tamara Gibbs DURHAM (WTVD) -- Since three former Duke Lacrosse players were declared innocent of rape and assault charges, the alleged victim in the highly publicized Duke Lacrosse case has remained out of public view until now. In a press release, Crystal Mangum's manager has announced plans to release a tell-all memoir entitled "The Last Dance for Grace: The Crystal Mangum Story." According to the book's co-author Vincent Clark, the book will be released in October.

If characters from "The Hills" were to emote about race, I imagine it would sound like B. Hussein Obama's autobiography, Has anybody read "Dreams From My Father." Inasmuch as the book reveals Obama to be a flabbergasting lunatic, I gather the answer is no. Obama is about to be our next president: You might want to take a peek. If only people had read "Mein Kampf" ... When his mother expresses concern about Obama's high school friend being busted for drugs, Obama says he patted his mother's hand and told her not to worry. This, too, prompted Obama to share...

THE brainy English teacher who became the central figure in the quiz-show scandals of the late 1950s has broken his silence. Charles Van Doren, 82, is finally telling his side of the story in a first-person account published in this week's New Yorker magazine, which came out yesterday. Van Doren - who lives in Connecticut with his wife of 50 years and still teaches college-level English (most recently at the University of Connecticut in Torrington) - said he decided to go public with his version of the "Twenty-One" quiz-show story for the sake of his grandchildren. The New Yorker story...

Barack Obama's personal recording of the audio version of his memoir could target the Democratic presidential candidate. ... In a passage [Hugh] Hewitt has played on his radio show, Obama mimics Wright's voice and repeats a sermon attacking a society "where white folks' greed runs a world in need." Obama is also heard swearing and quoting others using racial slurs...

It was all just an "error" that's since been "fine-tuned." So says Barnes & Noble [B&N] now about the way its search engine was prominently returning Barack Obama's "Audacity of Hope" in response to search requests for "God: A Biography." We wrote about the matter here last Thursday. Today, reader Dan H. wrote to tell us about an interesting exchange of emails he had with B&N regarding the situation. According to Dan, after reading our NewsBusters article, he emailed B&N to express his displeasure, and received what to all appearances was a form letter focusing on freedom of expression, rather...

When newsman Tim Russert published a memoir about his father, "Big Russ and Me," he says he wasn't prepared for the huge number of letters and emails he received from readers eager to talk about their own fathers. He's now compiled some of the best of those responses into a follow-up book, "Wisdom of Our Fathers." Russert, the moderator of NBC's "Meet the Press," spoke with Beliefnet about his father's reaction to the book, his own role as a father, and the place of prayer in his life.