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Author and collaborator Charles Wohlforth

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The political gamble behind Lisa Murkowski’s book

Is it safe for a senator to be honest and vulnerable?

Now we find out if the gamble paid off.

When I began working with Senator Lisa Murkowski on her new book, Far From Home, I told her I would be her writer and literary advisor—not her political advisor. I knew the authentic story of her fears and struggles would make a great book, but I didn’t know if it would help her politically.

Political conventional wisdom says never to be vulnerable, always be strong. Lisa is one of the very few ever to challenge that. The book’s early praise suggests we were right—from a literary point of view.

In fact, I realized at our very first meeting, in 2019, that Lisa wouldn’t want it any other way. She would either want to write a real book, or no book. For a long time, I wasn’t sure we would write a book at all. Her service to her constituents came too far ahead of this private project.

My argument, over the years, was that being better understood by constituents could help her follow her unique path, as a national politician who puts her conscience and her state above her party.

Some of the heart-breaking scenes in Far From Home attest to just how hard that path has been. To sympathetic readers, those stories will add to an already substantial reservoir of respect that Lisa has earned.

But many readers are not sympathetic. In April, When Lisa made her now-famous “we are all afraid” comment, plenty of people attacked her, from the left and right.

Admitting fear in her circumstances is a profound act of courage. Internet cowards take such a statement as an opportunity to attack. People who get a lot of clicks on social media know that hatred and ridicule sell best.

This is our political process. We’ve built a system that chews up and spits out good people and reward cynics and sociopaths. The remarkable accomplishment of Lisa Murkowski is that she has survived and prevailed against those rip-tide currents.

That’s why I think this book is so important. It reflects the real Lisa, who feels fear and makes mistakes—but who works hard, plays by the rules, and doesn’t give up. She’s a good person. And that, in this political environment, is inspirational, and potentially transformative.

Lisa asks us to join her as concerned community members working to make things better for our neighbors. Her personal example is a reminder of our responsibility as citizens in a democracy—to follow the process, respect those who disagree, and make decisions for the good of all.

I’m confident that her gamble paid off from the literary perspective. This is a good book, and people who have read it are gushing about the honesty and the heart it shows.

As to the political gamble, I’m less sure. But we didn’t really have a choice.

In that first conversation, Lisa said she would rather go home to Alaska than compromise her principles. She would never write a phony book.

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