Angela Merkel: Europe's Most Influential Leader - Hardcover

Qvortrup, Matthew

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1468313169 ISBN 13: 9781468313161

Publisher: Abrams Press, 2016

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.

About this title

About the Author:

Matthew Qvortrup is currently professor of political science at Coventry University’s Centre for Trust, Peace and Social Relations. Previously, he was academic director in the Department of Security and Management at Cranfield University. He was educated at Oxford and the University of Copenhagen and has written for Bloomberg Businessweek, The Sun, The Scotsman, and The Times. He also appears as a regular commentator for the BBC, on both radio and television.

Review:

“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.”
- Booklist

“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.”
- Publishers Weekly

“In Angela Merkel, Matthew Qvortrup masterfully weaves together the key episodes of this turbulent life and most unlikely political career, and provides compelling evidence that there is no better way toward a deeper understanding of the present than revisiting the past.”
- Professor Ludger Helms, University of Innsbruck; author of Presidents, Prime Ministers and Chancellors

“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

“Written in a lively and engaging style, Angela Merkel is a joy to read. It is an extraordinary and incisive book, which gives us a unique insight into the life and times of the woman who almost single-handedly transformed the politics of her country and of the world.”
- Arend Lijphart, Research Professor Emeritus of Political Science, University of California, San Diego

“Impressively researched, exceptionally detailed, extraordinarily well-written, organized and presented, Angela Merkel: Europe's Most Influential Leader is a consistently compelling read from beginning to end.”
- Midwest Book Review

About this edition

• Publisher: Abrams Press
• Publication date: 2016
• ISBN 10: 1468313169
• ISBN 13: 9781468313161
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 376