At Out of Context, Matt Canham has a series of posts up on Karl Rove's new memoir, which hit the shelves Tuesday. Canham reports that Rove "spends the bulk of the book examining the Bush presidency (Spoiler alert: he liked it!)," but "begins by talking about his family and his upbringing. That includes his time at Olympus High School and the University of Utah." Notes Canham:

Rove goes over well-worn anecdotes about his prowess on the debate team and his rise to the top of the College Republicans. He also writes fondly about Eldon M. Tolman, an Olympus teacher who had a big influence on his life, though the details seem to have slightly shifted over time.

Before Bush became president Rove told The Trib that Tolman, a liberal teacher who taught social science, told him: “Mr. Rove, it will be easy for you to get an A in this class, but to get an A you must join a party, I care not which.”

In the book, Rove writes that Tolman told him he needed to volunteer for a political campaign to get a top grade. The book’s series of events seems more likely, since it is kind of creepy for a teacher to tell you to join a political party.

Rove volunteered for Sen. Wallace Bennett's re-election campaign, though he never says whether he got that A in Tolman's class for his effort. For the record: Bennett was the father of Utah's current Sen. Bob Bennett and the namesake for Utah's federal building.