Angela Merkel: Europe's Most Influential Leader

Qvortrup, Matthew

ISBN 10: 1468313169 / ISBN 13: 9781468313161

Published by The Overlook Press, 2016

About this Item

Item in acceptable condition! Textbooks may not include supplemental items i.e. CDs, access codes etc. Seller Inventory # 00080962687

Bibliographic Details

Title: Angela Merkel: Europe's Most Influential ...

Publisher: The Overlook Press

Publication Date: 2016

Binding: Hardcover

Condition: Acceptable

About this title

Synopsis:

This is the fascinating tale of Angela Merkel's political ascent, in which she outmaneuvered her male colleagues and made Germany the strongest economy in Europe. With the storytelling gifts of a novelist, as well as nuanced political expertise garnered from over a decade of experience as an academic and journalist, Matt Qvortrup gives readers unprecedented, personal insight into Frau Merkel's upbringing under communism, describing how the Secret Police tried to recruit her as a spy, how she lived as a squatter in Berlin, and how she went from distributing leaflets to sitting at the Cabinet table in Helmut Kohl's government in less than a year. This is the story--told for the first time in English--of how Merkel and her staff of mostly female advisors repeatedly outsmarted the old boys network of conservative male politicians in Germany, turning her country into a more liberal and more prosperous place.

Angela Merkel: Europe's Most Influential Leader combines the narrative of Merkel's life with a vivid account of German history from 1945 to the present day, featuring cameo appearances by Willy Brandt, Konrad Adenauer, and Helmut Kohl. At a time when Merkel is the chief representative of the west in the negotiations with Putin over the Ukraine, she is also the woman who holds the keys to British membership of the EU. Anyone interested in our time, in the politics of today, should read this lively account of the woman with a doctorate in quantum physics who has become the undisputed queen of Europe.

Review:

In a world full of disappointing national leaders, Matt Qvortrup provides us with an insightful, revealing, vivid reading of a leading woman who tops them all.--Amitai Etzioni, author of The Active Society

Angela Merkel has been Chancellor of Germany for the past 11 years; arguably, she remains the most powerful political leader in Europe. Yet most Americans are unfamiliar with her personal or political life, so this first English-language biography can help alleviate that shortcoming. A well-written and informative tribute to an extraordinary political leader.

Qvortrup's writing comes alive when recounting political machinations...The reader leaves the book with plenty of facts about Merkel's life and possessing a better understanding of recent German politics.