"The Chancellor is at once a riveting political biography and an intimate human story of a complete outsider—a research chemist and pastor’s daughter raised in Soviet-controlled East Germany—who rose to become the unofficial leader of the West....[B]iographer Kati Marton set out to pierce the mystery of how Angela Merkel achieved all this. And she found the answer in Merkel’s political genius: in her willingness to talk with adversaries rather than over them, her skill at negotiating without ever compromising on what’s most important to her, her canniness in appointing political rivals to her cabinet and exacting their policies so they have no platform to run against her, the humility to allow others to take credit for things done in tandem, the wisdom to stay out of the papers and off Twitter, and the vision to take advantage of crises to enact bold change. Famously private, the Angela Merkel who emerges in The Chancellor is a role model for anyone interested in gaining and keeping power while holding onto one’s moral convictions—and for anyone looking to understand how to successfully bridge huge divisions within society. No modern leader has so ably confronted Russian aggression, provided homes to over a million refugees, and calmly unified Europe at a time when other countries are becoming more divided. But Marton also describes Merkel’s many challenges, such as her complicated relationship with President Obama, who she at one point refused to speak to." --publisher's website.
Bibliography, etc. Note: Includes bibliographical references (pages 309-331) and index.
Formatted Contents Note: The pastor's daughter -- Against the tide -- Leipzig -- Berlin -- 1989 -- The apprentice -- To the chancellery at last -- Her first American president -- Dictators -- The private chancellor -- Limited partners -- Europe is speaking German now -- The war in Ukraine -- The summer of reem -- The worst of times -- Enter Trump -- "Something has changed in our country..." -- A partner at last? -- Toward the end.