“Far from home: an Alaska senator faces the extreme climate of Washington, DC”
By Lisa Murkowski with Charles Wohlforth; Forum Books, 2025; 308 pages; $ 28.99.
It seems that each politician these days, generally after his retirement, publishes a political memory with the intention of identifying his reputation and his heritage; The size financially is generally part of the plan. None of this seems to be the case for the senator from Alaska, Lisa Murkowski.
First of all, Murkowski shows no sign of planning to leave his job until the Alaskans decide that they no longer want them to represent them. Secondly, the painfully honest narrative of his political career, admitting his insecurity and vulnerabilities, is the opposite of the ego and self-employment. Then, modestly, she shares the scene with the co-scriptwriter Charles Wohlforth, the former talented journalist of Alaska who joined other political figures to tell their stories. “To Russia With Love: An Alaska’s Journey” by Victor Fischer is one of them. Finally, the publisher, Forum Books, a Penguin Random House imprint, is not a giant.
What readers get instead is the authentic to a refreshing shooting, shamelessly and introspective of Lisa Murkowski of her unorthodox political career and the values she has experienced since she went to Washington in 2002.
In her introduction, Murkowski contrasts her life in Alaska with her years in Washington, where she looked at “the practical needs of the Americans took more and more second place for partisan fights and political points”. She positions herself as someone who “never looked for the role” but found herself so often in the middle, “resisted extremes”. She deplores the loss of bipartite colleagues and calls on voters to elect “people who want to solve problems” and follow her example of building American democracy at the community level, as she did by starting with the PTA in the school of her children.
Readers do not need to be “political drug addicts” to find the story of Murkowski a personal and revealing life, and those who follow politics will learn details of fascinating initiates. Take, for example, her long account of a meeting that she and the senator from Alaska Dan Sullivan had with President Donald Trump after his 2016 elections, to discuss Alaska issues. She found the president as an “excited tourist”; He only really wanted to talk about the size of bears and bents, reality TV shows from Alaska and Alaska as the place where his grandfather made a fortune – with “hotels” – during the gold rush of Klondike.
When Murkowski directed Trump to cards and graphics to explain the need for Alaska for the galaes, “the theme of Reunion has become how easy it would be for him to solve Alaska problems.” The president also said that he wanted to change the name of Denali to Mount McKinley; After Murkowski and Sullivan both explained why it would not be good with the Alaska, he promised not to do it. Later, he seemed to forget his promise. At the end of the meeting, he complimented Murkowski’s “big hair” and confirmed his assessment with Melania – who, with others, was inexplicably present in the oval office. Murkowski writes: “I learned precious information on the president that day.”
Before this scene, which occurs in the chapter entitled “Staying strong in Trump’s Washington”, Murkowski tells of his very reluctant entry into politics, first working with other PTA parents to win the approval of a school renovation, then to run for the race for the Alaska legislature when no one could be recruited. In 2002, when his father Frank Murkowski became governor of Alaska and resigned from his 20 -year mandate in the American Senate, he insisted to appoint his daughter to finish his mandate. The accusation of nepotism stung the very reluctant Lisa and led her to work exceptionally hard to prove himself. She was only the 32nd woman to serve in the Senate and a dozen at the time. In 2010, she won a re -election in a historic writing campaign against the primary republican winner, Joe Miller. In 2022, after being targeted by Trump for defeat, she won under the new laws on the voting of Alaska which plan open primaries and a classified choice vote.
A subsequent chapter focuses on the confirmation hearings of the Supreme Court and its shock in the face of the cancellation of ROE c. Wade, after each judge appointed promised to respect the established law. She expresses her concerns about the sexual abuse of women and girls, based on the record rates of Alaska and a murder of high -level children at the time, and explains her “present” vote – “certainly no” – concerning Kavanaugh judge. The subsequent chapters are focused on the two Trump dismissal and his decisions to vote first against the conviction and, after the January 6 assault on the Capitol, for conviction – “an easier decision. How could he not be? ” She also writes about her successes by organizing Bipartisian groups on which working and adopting energy and other legislation.
Murkowski has often been accused of being undecided, and her book details the heartbreaking decisions that she has taken over the years again and again. It is not that she does not know her mind, she explains, but that she always wants to seek care and results with care and decide not in favor of what is used, but what is best for Alaska. She explains how she came to understand and approach the “urban-rural fracture”, her support for the exploitation of Alaska natural resources, and why the “difference” of Alaska encourages her to work in a bipartite manner.
These days, Senator Murkowski frequently makes national titles, not with the greatness of many senators, but because it is one of the few to speak of the rule of law, the need for civility and the responsibilities of the government. She is the rare republican senator who breaks with her party when her conscience and service in Alaska demand it. The Americans of each band could learn something “far from home”, not only of the “extreme climate” in Washington’s policy, but from the integrity, the love of the country, the commitment to the principles and what it takes to make difficult choices.
Towards the end, Murkowski writes: “If I could offer a single message to my colleagues and our whole political system, that would be the case: do the work. Don’t worry so much about keeping your job. ” And, for the rest of us: “involve yourself”. School councils, municipal councils and others “are the seeds of seeds of American democracy”, where citizens learn to participate and direct the “real service”.
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