Madame President: The Extraordinary Journey of Ellen Johnson Sirleaf

by Helene Cooper

Hardcover, 2017

Status

Available

Genres

Politics, Government, Law and Public Policy

Nonfiction

All Topics

Publication

Simon & Schuster (2017), 336 pages

Description

"The harrowing, but triumphant story of Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, leader of the Liberian women's movement, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, and the first democratically elected female president in African history, "--NoveList.

User reviews

LibraryThing member japaul22

Ellen Johnson Sirleaf was the first woman President of Liberia (and first woman President of any African country) and took the reins of the country at its rock bottom. When she was elected in 2006 her country had been through over a decade of bloody civil war. The country, both its people and its

infrastructure was decimated. Sirleaf's background made her an excellent choice to lead this country. Sirleaf had a father with roots in one of the local tribes and a mother who was "Congo-born", i.e. the designation for former American slaves who moved to Liberia after being freed and founded Liberia. She had excellent schooling in economics and had worked for Citibank and the World Bank. Most importantly to her election, she rallied the women of the country who were sick and tired of war and violent men. Something like 70% of Liberian women had been raped when Sirleaf took office - they had survived decades of violent civil war and women were virtually the only economy Liberia had as they bought and sold necessary goods at roadside stalls. Sirleaf worked tirelessly to get Liberia's considerable debt forgiven so the country could begin to rebuild. As they were on the road to recovery, ebola hit Liberia killing many, many people. Liberia was able to contain the disease with considerable help from outside countries.

This book opened my eyes to both Liberia's history and Ellen Johnson Sirleaf's life. I'm sorry to say I knew virtually nothing about this country or this remarkable leader before reading this book. This is highly recommended.

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LibraryThing member drsabs

Madame President tells the story of Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the first female president of Liberia, or of any African country for that matter. She served two terms from 2006 to 2017. This followed almost 30 years of military rule (Samuel Doe, 1980-89) and civil war (initiated by Charles Taylor and

eventually leading to his rigged election as President in 1997 against Sirleaf). Sirleaf inherited a country suffering from total economic collapse, the destruction of key infrastructure and 30 years of frankly unspeakable horrors for the civil population. In 2005, the Liberian women rose up against this male-dominated period in electing Sirleaf. Relying on her World Bank and international finance background and contacts, Sirleaf succeeded in obtaining relief from a debt burden that had become unsustainable and started to get the economy and infrastructure back on track. The West African Ebola outbreak in 2014 was a huge challenge for the country but she beat it back by drawing on international support (including President Obama who sent Marines and built hospitals) and organizing the Liberian people to take measures to stop the spread of the disease.

Liberia was founded in 1820 when it was colonized by freed blacks from the United States. At the time there were 28 tribes in Liberia who fought the new colonists but lost. The American blacks created an image of the antebellum society in the United States except the American blacks were the rulers and the Liberians were the ruled. In 1847, Liberia became independent of the United States and the descendents of the American blacks continue to rule until the 1980 military coup against William Tolbert. William Tubman was president from 1943 until his death in 1971. Vice President Tolbert became President and ruled until his execution in the coup of 1980.

Sirleaf was born in 1938 of mixed blood (her grandfather was German) but no descendance from American blacks. She suffered from an abusive marriage and ultimately divorced. Sirleaf began her career in the Liberian Treasury and developed international contacts. She obtained education in the United States (including an MA in Public Administration at Harvard in 1971), and as a frequent critic of Liberian governments she had various jobs at the World Bank , Citibank and Equator Bank outside of Liberia at times when she would have been in danger living in Liberia. As it was, she was arrested by the Doe Government and only escaped rape and murder by good luck, including that she could trace her ethnic background to one of the Liberian tribes.

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