The Chancellor
The Remarkable Odyssey of Angela Merkel
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4.5 • 79 Ratings
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
The “captivating” (The New York Times), definitive biography of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, detailing the extraordinary rise and political brilliance of the most powerful—and elusive—woman in the world.
Angela Merkel has always been an outsider. A pastor’s daughter raised in Soviet-controlled East Germany, she spent her twenties working as a research chemist, entering politics only after the fall of the Berlin Wall. And yet within fifteen years, she had become chancellor of Germany and, before long, the unofficial leader of the West.
In this “masterpiece of discernment and insight” (The New York Times Book Review), acclaimed biographer Kati Marton sets out to pierce the mystery of Merkel’s unlikely ascent. With unparalleled access to the chancellor’s inner circle and a trove of records only recently come to light, she teases out the unique political genius that had been the secret to Merkel’s success. No modern leader so ably confronted Russian aggression, enacted daring social policies, and calmly unified an entire continent in an era when countries are becoming more divided. Again and again, she cleverly outmaneuvered strongmen like Putin and Trump, and weathered surprisingly complicated relationships with allies like Obama and Macron.
Famously private, the woman who emerges from this “impressively researched” (The Wall Street Journal) account is a role model for anyone interested in gaining and keeping power while staying true to one’s moral convictions. At once a “riveting” (Los Angeles Review of Books) political biography, an intimate human portrait, and a revelatory look at successful leadership in action, The Chancellor brings forth one of the most extraordinary women of our time.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Journalist Marton (True Believer) largely succeeds in this meticulous and even-handed biography at her stated goal of creating "a human rather than a political portrait" of German chancellor Angela Merkel. Marton ascribes Merkel's "supreme public reticence" to her youth as a Lutheran pastor's daughter in "atheist East Germany," where her career as a physicist was "a safe outlet for her inquiring mind." After the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, Merkel made a swift ascent through the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) to become "the most prominent East German" in Chancellor Helmut Kohl's Cabinet. When Kohl was tainted by a financial scandal in 1998, Merkel was one of the first members of the CDU to publicly denounce him, and assumed leadership of the party in 2000. Marton credits Merkel with being a "forceful listener" who is "hungry to understand how things work and what motivates people," but also notes that her "sluggish" and "methodical" response prolonged the 2008 financial crisis. Incisive analyses of Merkel's relationships with other world leaders, including Vladimir Putin, shed light on her geopolitical views and tactics, though her private motivations remain somewhat mysterious. Still, this is a lucid and accessible introduction to "the most powerful woman in the world."
Customer Reviews
Fantastic insight!!!
Madam Merkel has always been my favorite modern day leader. We as humans are lucky to at times comes across gems like her. I thank Germany for giving her to us as a beacon for democracy. The book was fantastically written with enough detail to learn more about this diamond. I love that it was a neutral perspective, displaying her strengths and weaknesses. We are human after all !
Just wow!
Angela Merkel’s biography is so much more than that. Besides being able to get a glimpse at her very private life and learn more about what made her as successful as she was, this book is also a vivid, impactful, and insightful summary of our global history over the last decades.
Kati Marton starts out with setting the stage of Angela Merkel’s foundation, explaining the time after ww2 and how those living in East Germany dealt with the Communist regime. With Angela’s ascend into politics, we learn more about the person herself, her strengths and ambitions. And in the last part, with Angela Merkel being elected chancellor of Germany in 2005, we receive a great view into the various aspects of her leadership during the global events that she maneuvered with patience and strength - everything from the 2008 housing crisis to the Syrien refugees, and Covid (and a lot of events in between). While the focus is on Angela Merkel’s leadership, Kati Marton managed to include a great summary of the world’s events.
Throughout the book Kati Marton provides an amazingly accurate glimpse into the life of Germans, what it means to grow up in a country that constantly has to deal with their past and doesn’t shove it aside to forget it. Because of Kati’s ability to explain German’s history in such a way, she was able to outline how Angela Merkel was shaped and what that meant do how she ruled the way she did.
As someone who grew up in Germany, I always had a hard time explaining what it meant to not be proud of your country and why certain customs in the US, the country I am living in now, are still so foreign to me. I was truly moved, especially by the chapters talking about East Germany and how Germany has evolved since then.
If it wouldn’t have been for NetGalley, I might not have found out about this book. I’m so grateful for them and Simon & Schuster for approving me for an early access copy. This book deeply impressed me and I will definitely read it again.