This biography of Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the first female president of Liberia, was not an easy book to read. The suffering of her people was so violent and horrendous I had to take many breaks from reading. Ultimately this a very powerful book.

The title says it all – hers was indeed an extraordinary journey. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf – from ordinary beginnings as a Liberian wife and mother (although in retrospect perhaps there was never anything ordinary about her) to President of Liberia and winner of the Nobel Peace prize. This is an excellent biography, meticulously researched and accessibly written, and the author is equally at home describing domestic detail as well as events of world importance and significance. I learnt so much that was completely new to me from this book, which is a fascinating account of a fascinating woman.

We need to pay attention to the stories of women in leadership and get books like these into not just the hands of women but into the hands of men and politicians and changemakers. We need to learn from other countries as stories like this can be a mirror for where to go from here.

This is an in-depth account of the life of one of the world's most remarkable women. Portions were graphic and difficult to read, but the author presents Madame, warts and all.
My only disappointment with this book is the lack of detail about her life now and the state of Liberia now.
Still, highly recommended.

I am always on the search for non-fiction reads that introduce me to amazing women I have never heard of or teach me about world history I definitely should already know more about. So when I saw Simon & Schuster's recent release Madame President I had to sit down for a second in shame, since I 1. hadn't realised that Libera has a female president, and 2. had to admit I new woefully little about Liberia's civil wars. After this, rather long, second of shame, however, I got right to reading Madame President and I definitely feel a lot more informed about the world I live in. Thanks to Simon & Schuster andNetgalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

As said above, I knew hardly anything about Liberia before reading Madame President. I knew Liberia had suffered through incredibly rough civil wars, that Charles Taylor was involved and that Liberia's debt had somehow been forgiven. But how the country came into existence, what its make up was, its resources, its culture, all of that was unfamiliar to me. Despite being a biography for Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Madame President also goes into Liberia's history, from its creation for liberated slaves by the United States, through its internal racial struggles, its civil wars and its attempts at recovery, all the way to Ebola. Cooper combines the journeys of Liberia and Ellen, in an attempt to show the ground the two have covered in the past decades alone. Reading Madame President gave me a whole new sense of appreciation for the work done by women all around the world in some of the poorest countries in the world. As a white woman from Europe it is easy to appreciate your own freedom and "understand" the long road still to go for women in other countries. But it is so important for authors such as Helene Cooper, herself born in Liberia, to give voice to the stories and women of their countries so it becomes impossible for anyone to turn a blind eye both to the suffering and progress made by women in third world countries.

Cooper does not spare the reader from the harsh realities of what occurred in Liberia. The Liberian Civil Wars,which together lasted from 1989 to 2003, tore the country apart and created a generation of child soldiers who were abused, drugged and exposed to the worst humanity has to offer at too young an age. As a young child myself, Liberia's civil wars were a distant but present danger, a constant reminder that we in the West couldn't just pretend the world had entered a peaceful age. Cooper does not shy away from describing what happened day after day to the innocent people in Liberia, but also avoids the trap of using it for her own sake. Madame President is not sensationalist or exploitative of the civil wars, but addresses it head on. There is a sense in which it all feels almost impossible. That a country in which an estimated 75% of women has suffered rape and sexual abuse elects a female, Harvard-educated president, who then uses her whole strength and knowledge to get $4.6 billion debt relief, feels like a dream. How is this possible if a country such as America can't even elect the most qualified candidate for president ever because she's female? Cooper manages to bring a feeling of destiny to this journey, which makes Madame President, in the end, a very inspiring read.

Helene Cooper strikes a brilliant tone in this biography. I always find biographies challenging reads because the authors have to walk a very fine line. On the one hand their job requires them to make their chosen subject seem like the most interesting person ever. Why otherwise would anyone want to pick up the book and read about them? On the other hand, they can't glorify their subject too much either because readers will see straight through that. Cooper manages to walk that line. She combines Ellen's journey with that of Liberia, managing to cast Ellen both as a woman made by Liberia and a woman who made Liberia. By informing the reader of Liberia's history and Ellen's own life, Madame President is inspirational in showing how anyone can rise through circumstances to help their country and help their people, but also never attempts to only show Ellen's good side. Cooper's portrayal of Ellen Johnson Sirleaf remains human, flawed, strong, inspired, desperate, opportunistic and convinced. After finishing Madame President the reader both has an idea of what it took for Ellen to become and remain President, but also what it takes for anyone to gain and retain power in a country as torn as Liberia.

Reading Madame President gave me a lot. Not just new knowledge about Liberia, but also a sense of awe for the ability of humans to rise, struggle, fight and survive. The biography is incredibly well-researched and has left me with a lot of new regions and people to learn about and learn from. I'd recommend this to those interested in African history and Women's stories.

This clear eyed account of Ellen Johnson Sirleaf provides important insights into the politics of the developing world. The first democratically elected female leader of an African nation, Johnson Sirleaf rose from the station of a typical Liberian woman to a global figure. Her career was not without missteps, but singular nonetheless.

Madame President by Helene Cooper is a biography of Africa’s first female president and 2011 Nobel Prize winner. This is a powerful and moving story that was very inspiring to read, very well researched and written. This book was difficult to read and heartbreaking, but it's very captivating and eye-opening at the same time. I would highly recommend this 'disturbing' book to anyone who enjoy biographies. After reading this book, I admire Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and I cannot wait to read another book by Helene Cooper, The House at Sugar Beach: In Search of a Lost African.

A copy of this ebook was generously provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and bestselling author Helene Cooper brings us the personal story of Sirleaf as well as the larger narrative of the coming of age of Liberian women.

Born in Monrovia in 1938, the daughter of Sirleaf's father was Gola and her mother had mixed Kru and German ancestry. She attended college at the College of West Africa until 1955. She was married at 17 and quickly had four boys. When her husband came to the United States to study, she came also. She obtained an associate's degree from Madison,Wisconsin. For years she studied in the United States at the best universities.

This is her personal story and I am going to tell you it was difficult to read. We don't hear these things on the news. In a world where women take being beaten and raped as just the way it is, Ellen had a vision and she set about learning as much as she could about Economics and obtaining relationships with people who could and did help her on her journey.. When she had the knowledge she needed she then returned to her country to try and repair the damage done by past administrations. She was appointed Minister of Finance and she was tossed in prisons and threatened. But she never backed down and all of those relationships she had formed in the world of finance and politics had served her very well when she made her own bid to lead her country.

By then there was a huge movement of women in the area and they were not going to be silent much longer. In 2006 she was elected President of Liberia. She is the first woman elected head of state in African history. She has held positions with the World Bank and many other organizations and met with Obama and Hillary Clinton, when begging for help with the Ebola crisis.

Through crisis after crisis, including the Ebola outbreak, she has been a remarkable role model, fighting for her country and her people. She along with Tawakkul Karman, and Leymah Gbowee was presented with the Nobel Peace Prize in 2011.

As I said, this was hard to read. It is always difficult to read about human atrocities performed on the very people their government is supposed to protect. When you are dependant on that government for even your food. Nepotism was just one of the problems that kept those in power in luxery while the rest of the people suffered. Why would no one stand up to these men? Why was the U.S. giving money to people who were only using it to pad their own pockets?

I had a lot of questions after this book. Such as why aren't we seeing this on our World News? Who oversees all the money we send to all of these countries and how do we hold them accountable?

Thank you so much Netgalley and Simon Schuster for this early copy of an important biography.

An insightful read about President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and the challenges she has faced. These challenges range from personal to political. The author gives life and connection to a country, many readers may not be familiar with. The book is also a triumph to strong women.

Madame Presidentt, Helene Cooper's biography of Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the first female president of Liberia, was not an easy book to read. The history of Liberia is so horrendous, the violence so overwhelming, the suffering of her people unimaginable that I had to often step away; Cooper does not tidy things up for easy reading.

The story of Liberian female empowerment is remarkable, a courageous story from a country where an estimated 75% of the women have encountered rape and sexual abuse. Ellen herself rose from abused wife to a Harvard education, from mother to leadership in the international banking industry, from working for a dictator to her democratic election as President.

Ellen made mistakes and learned from them. She made contacts and used them. She switched from 'bush' to Western as needed. But always she believed in a better Liberia, a fiscally sound and prosperous future, a land of peace.

Liberia was established by United States leadership as a way of dealing with the 'problem' of free African Americans. The idea was to buy land and establish a country where we could export slaves and free blacks back to Africa. John Quincy Adams was against this plan on the grounds that the free blacks were Americans and had a right to remain in their country of birth. But many slave owning presidents liked the plan, including Jefferson, Madison, and Monroe--for whom the Liberian capital Monrovia was named.

This book covers the series of brutal "presidential" dictators who siphoned public money for personal use, kept leadership in the family, and raised child armies to murder civilians--including their mothers--and rape their way across the country. The country's infrastructure was destroyed. The only way women fed their families was by going into the country to buy produce which they sold on the streets--the 'market women' who later organized, and by getting women out to vote, elected Ellen president.

Ellen's background in banking helped her secure loan relief, restoring solvency and the infrastructure--then Ebola arrived. Madame President called on President Obama to send aid. His quick response helped Liberia contain the outbreak, to the benefit of the country, the continent, and the world.

Reading about African history is a grim reminder of how tenuous maintaining a republic can be. It is also a reminder of how one person can make a difference, even a flawed person.

I received a free ebook from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.