The Education of an Idealist
A Memoir
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4.6 • 22 Ratings
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
A NEW YORK TIMES, WALL STREET JOURNAL, AND USA TODAY BESTSELLER
An intimate, powerful, and galvanizing memoir by Pulitzer Prize winner, human rights advocate, and former US Ambassador to the UN Samantha Power. Named one of the best books of the year:
The New York Times • National Public Radio • Time • The Economist • The Washington Post • Vanity Fair • Christian Science Monitor • Publishers Weekly • Audible
“Her highly personal and reflective memoir . . . is a must-read for anyone who cares about our role in a changing world.”—President Barack Obama
Includes an updated afterword
Tracing her distinctly American journey from immigrant to war correspondent to presidential Cabinet official, Samantha Power’s acclaimed memoir is a unique blend of suspenseful storytelling, vivid character portraits, and shrewd political insight. After her critiques of US foreign policy caught the eye of Senator Barack Obama, he invited her to work with him on Capitol Hill and then on his presidential campaign. When Obama won the presidency, Power went from being an activist outsider to serving as his human rights adviser and, in 2013, becoming the youngest-ever US Ambassador to the United Nations. Power transports us from her childhood in Dublin to the streets of war-torn Bosnia to the White House Situation Room and the world of high-stakes diplomacy, offering a compelling and deeply honest look at navigating the halls of power while trying to put one’s ideals into practice. Along the way, she lays bare the searing battles and defining moments of her life, shows how she juggled the demands of a 24/7 national security job with raising two young children, and makes the case for how we each can advance the cause of human dignity. This is an unforgettable account of the power of idealism—and of one person’s fierce determination to make a difference.
“This is a wonderful book. […] The interweaving of Power’s personal story, family story, diplomatic history and moral arguments is executed seamlessly and with unblinking honesty.”—THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN, The New York Times Book Review
“Truly engrossing…A pleasure to read.”—RACHEL MADDOW
“A beautiful memoir about the times we’re living in and the questions we must ask ourselves…I honestly couldn’t put it down.” —CHERYL STRAYED, author of Wild
“Power’s compelling memoir provides critically important insights we should all understand as we face some of the most vexing issues of our time.” —BRYAN STEVENSON, author of Just Mercy
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Have you ever wondered what effect one person can have on global problems? Samantha Power’s here to tell you. An Irish immigrant to the U.S., Power worked as a human rights activist, war correspondent, and Pulitzer-winning author, all before she started shaking things up on an even bigger scale, first as President Obama’s human rights advisor and then as ambassador to the UN. Having gone from outsider to insider to outsider again, she’s got a hell of a story to tell, and The Education of an Idealist does it with honesty, humour, and complete transparency. Not many books provide an intimate perspective on international crises in Ukraine, Libya, and Syria and explore what happens when you make a nearly career-derailing slipup in a media interview. That mix of insight and life lessons makes this an enlightening, empowering read.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In vividly told scenes, with bracing honesty and breathless prose, Pulitzer Prize winner Power (A Problem from Hell) reflects on the roads that led from her college days at Yale to her work in the U.S. government. She graduated from Harvard Law School, and in 2005 met Sen. Barack Obama, who asked her to serve as a foreign policy adviser. After his presidential election, Obama brought Power into the National Security Council in 2009, and from 2013 to 2017, she served as U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Power takes readers behind the scenes of her visits to Libya during the final tense days of the Qaddafi regime, pointing out that in spite of the downturn in security, Libya's citizens agreed that they wanted no international presence in their country, but to determine their own future. She discovered that Burma's human rights activist Aung San Suu Kyi is a bad listener and that it's not clear that Suu Kyi cared that much about humans. Ultimately, she stresses the necessity of caring, acting, and not giving up when seeking to change people's lives. Power's vibrant prose, exuberant storytelling, and deep insights into human nature make for a page-turning memoir.
