Sarah Palin’s new memoir describes heart-wrenching anguish about her teen daughter’s pregnancy playing out before a national audience. But the 413-page book doesn’t contain a single reference to the father of her grandson, soon-to-be Playgirl model Levi Johnston.

In Going Rogue, which will be released on Tuesday, Palin also laments about everyone in her entourage being forced to wear fancy clothes she couldn’t afford — preferring simpler, cheaper garb. But it’s as if Johnston, who was among those hastily spiffed up to appear at the 2008 Republican National Convention in St Paul, Minnesota, had never left Wasilla, Alaska.

The tactic does appear to have merit; Johnston, who has sparred repeatedly with his former mother-in-law-to-be, continues to warn that she should leave him alone, or he might dish some serious dirt that “will hurt her”.

While the book—which contains 68 colour photos but no index—stays away from Johnston, Palin digs in when it comes to those who ran Sen John McCain’s campaign.

She confirms that there was substantial tension between her advisers and McCain’s. She bitterly details how she was prevented from delivering a concession speech on election night, how she’d been kept “bottled up” from reporters during the campaign and prevented in many ways from just being herself. She also contends she was prepped to give non-answers during her debate with Joe Biden.

The book, which has a first printing of 1.5 million copies, has been at or near the top of Amazon.com and other best-seller lists for weeks, ever since publisher Harper Collins announced it had been completed ahead of schedule and moved its release date up from next spring.

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