Suprise bestsellers: vice-presidential candidate bios

By Marjorie Kehe | 09.08.08

Last week, the only existing biography of Sarah Palin (”Sarah: How a Hockey Mom Turned Alaska’s Political Establishment Upside Down” by Kaylene Johnson) became an overnight bestseller. This week, booksellers are eagerly awaiting a second Palin biography.

Zondervan, a Christian book publisher has announced that a second Palin bio, entitled “Sarah Palin: A New Kind of Leader” by Joe Hilley is scheduled to hit bookstores on Oct. 10.

Hilley is a lawyer-turned-author from Alabama described as a Christian writer who reportedly also holds a master of divinity degree. His best-known books are a series of legal thrillers but his website indicates that he has also assisted with the writing of some autobiographies.

However, when it comes to campaign bios, Democrats have some good reading of their own. Monitor staff writer Gail Russell Chaddock reviewed Joe Biden’s autobiography “Promises to Keep: On Life and Politics,” for the Monitor last August and called the book “the most unlikely of campaign biographies … a ripping good read.”

Biden’s book was just released in paperback and while it may not fly off bookshelf stores as rapidly as do the Palin bios,when it first came out in hardcover it did spend some time on the New York Times bestseller list. The reason, according to Chaddock: “Biden is a master storyteller and has stories worth telling.”

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