Freedom

For sixteen years, Angela Merkel was Chancellor of Germany. She led the country through numerous crises, shaping both Germany and international politics with her actions and attitudes. In her memoirs, co-written with her long-time political advisor Beate Baumann, she reflects on her life in two German states - thirty-five years in the German Democratic Republic, thirty-five years in reunited Germany.

More intimately than ever before, she talks about her childhood, youth, and studies in the GDR and the dramatic year of 1989, when the Berlin Wall fell and her political life began. She also shares recollections and insights from her meetings and conversations with the world's most powerful people.

Discussing significant national, European, and international turning points, she shows how the decisions were made that shaped our times. Her book offers a unique insight into the inner workings of power - and is a compelling plea for freedom.

Essential reading . . . remarkable -- Financial Times
Surprisingly fast-paced . . . Illuminating -- The New York Times Book Review
Freedom reminds us that another politics, humanist and humble, can exist -- Washington Post
All the human qualities that made Merkel a likable and liked leader are in this book: the lack of showmanship, the understated sense of humour, the dedication to building alliances and forging compromises -- the Guardian
A rigorous and sober assessment of a groundbreaking career -- Kirkus Reviews
An engrossing read -- Nicola Sturgeon for The New Statesman
I have always admired Merkel. This book only burnished my respect -- Nicola Sturgeon for The New Statesman
A great accomplishment… a wonderful reflection from you of this extraordinary sweep of history that you witnessed -- Barack Obama, in conversation with Merkel for Politics and Prose
Captivating glimpses into her encounters with other world leaders -- the Telegraph
You understand better just what Merkel faced and how so many of the other leaders came to depend on her calm -- Foreign Policy
Candid and sometimes gripping -- the i Paper

Angela Merkel, who served as the Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany from 2005 to 2021, was the first woman in the country's most powerful office. Born in 1954 in Hamburg and raised in the GDR, where she studied physics and earned a doctorate in physics, she was elected to the German Bundestag in 1990. From 1991 to 1994, she was the Federal Minister for Women and Youth; from 1994 to 1998, the Federal Minister for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety; and from 2000 to 2018, she was the leader of the Christian Democratic Union of Germany. In 2021, she ended her active political career.

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