Good Tidings and Great Joy: Protecting the Heart of Christmas

by Sarah Palin

Overview

In her New York Times bestsellers Going Rogue and America by Heart, Sarah Palin revealed the strong Christian faith that has guided her life and family. In Good Tidings and Great Joy she calls for bringing back the freedom to express the Christian values of the season. She asserts the importance of preserving Jesus Christ in Christmas—in public displays, school concerts, pageants, and our expressions to one another other—and laments the over-commercialization and homogenization of Christmas in today's society.

Interwoven throughout are personal memories and family traditions, as well as more than a dozen family photos, which illustrate the reasons why the celebration of Jesus Christ's nativity is the centerpiece of her faith. Palin believes it is imperative that we stand up for our beliefs before the element of faith in a glorious and traditional holiday like Christmas is marginalized and ignored. She also encourages readers to see what is possible when we unite in defense of our religious convictions and ignore the politically correct Scrooges seeking to take Christ out of Christmas. Good Tidings and Great Joy is a call to action to openly celebrate the joys of Christianity, and say Merry Christmas to one another.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062297891
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	11/12/2013
Edition description:	Large Print
Pages:	256
Product dimensions:	7.80(w) x 11.80(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Sarah Palin is the former governor of Alaska, the youngest and first woman elected to the office; the first woman Republican vice-presidential candidate in American history; and the author of the number one New York Times bestsellers Going Rogue and America by Heart. She was named one of Time magazine's "100 Most Influential People" in 2010, hosted TLC's Sarah Palin's Alaska, and is a Fox News contributor. The mother of five children and grandmother of two, she lives with her husband, Todd, in Wasilla, Alaska.

Table of Contents

Introduction 1

1 Angry Atheists with Lawyers 13

2 Knowing the End from the Beginning 41

3 The Real Thing 59

4 True Grit 93

5 Bad News, Good News 125

6 Seeing Double…Standards 153

7 Who'd Make Up a Story Like That? 183

Recipes 207

Acknowledgments 229

Editorial Reviews

2013-12-04
The former Alaska governor searches for the culprit leeching the joy out of Christian Christmas. Palin (America by Heart: Reflections on Family, Faith, and Flag, 2010, etc.) calls foul on the incremental disintegration of the Yuletide season by those who seek to reinvent the holiday by removing the religious element and replacing it with what she calls a "secular winter festival, which launches on Black Friday and ends sometime after Kwanzaa." The outspoken conservative points the finger at American atheists offended by religious crosses and the presentation of Nativity scenes, the latter of which she proudly advocated for in her hometown of Wasilla, Alaska. Palin's ruffled feathers are due in large part to the corporatization of Christmas, particularly the attempts of big-box retailers to strip the holiday of its holy name and heavily religious connotations. As she dissects these injustices, Palin offers scenarios and examples in hopes that readers will make their own decisions about what to do when confronted with these same issues. The author also shares seasonal anecdotes and family photographs of her life in Alaska during the holiday season--e.g., playing Christmas morning Eskimo Bingo, "a gift-swapping game and the only time we enthusiastically encourage the kids to be greedy." Of course, this is Palin's turf, so these nostalgic, family-friendly memories are often accompanied by the obligatory backhanded jab, as when she describes gifting husband Todd with a powerful new firearm one year "to combat the anti-gun chatter coming from Washington." The author tritely dismisses the media altogether and shows great dismay toward a nation increasingly rethinking its religious allegiances. At the very least, Palin is very occasionally entertaining as she displays her conservative convictions across the diminutive pages of this stylishly produced book, which concludes with a chapter of traditional family sweet and savory recipes. A stocking stuffer for Palin fans.

Kirkus Reviews