The Chancellor

August 30, 2021
Journalist Marton (True Believer) largely succeeds in this meticulous and even-handed biography at her stated goal of creating “a human rather than a political portrait” of German chancellor Angela Merkel. Marton ascribes Merkel’s “supreme public reticence” to her youth as a Lutheran pastor’s daughter in “atheist East Germany,” where her career as a physicist was “a safe outlet for her inquiring mind.” After the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, Merkel made a swift ascent through the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) to become “the most prominent East German” in Chancellor Helmut Kohl’s Cabinet. When Kohl was tainted by a financial scandal in 1998, Merkel was one of the first members of the CDU to publicly denounce him, and assumed leadership of the party in 2000. Marton credits Merkel with being a “forceful listener” who is “hungry to understand how things work and what motivates people,” but also notes that her “sluggish” and “methodical” response prolonged the 2008 financial crisis. Incisive analyses of Merkel’s relationships with other world leaders, including Vladimir Putin, shed light on her geopolitical views and tactics, though her private motivations remain somewhat mysterious. Still, this is a lucid and accessible introduction to “the most powerful woman in the world.” Agent: Amanda Urban, ICM Partners.

October 1, 2021

Biographer Marton (True Believer: Stalin's Last American Spy) looks at the life and career of the famously private German chancellor Angela Merkel. Raised in authoritarian East Germany, Merkel studied as a physicist before turning to politics. Marton argues that Merkel's training as a scientist, as well as her devout Lutheran faith, have greatly contributed to the steady, precise nature that has marked her success as a politician. The majority of the biography is focused on Merkel's political career as Marton evaluates her strengths and limitations as a politician. The author effectively tells how Merkel is often acutely reminded of Germany's past and strives to ensure that Germany is a moral leader, resists authoritarianism, and remains a part of the European Union and a key member of the global community. The major events of Merkel's chancellorship are explored, particularly Russia's takeover of Crimea, the Syrian refugee crisis, the 2008 financial collapse and subsequent destabilization of the European Union, and the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, Marton looks at Merkel's relationships with prominent world leaders such as Vladimir Putin, Barack Obama, Emmanuel Macron, and Donald Trump. VERDICT A fascinating look at a highly influential leader. Recommended for readers interested in world politics.--Rebekah Kati, Univ. of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

Copyright 2021 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from September 1, 2021
A glowing biography of the famously cautious yet effective chancellor of Germany. Marton, A Hungarian-born American foreign correspondent, clearly admires Angela Merkel (b. 1954), who has served as chancellor since 2005 and was hailed in a 2020 Pew Research poll as "the world's most trusted leader, regardless of gender." The author marvels especially at Merkel's early years in East Germany, where her pastor father joined the call to serve the socialist East by moving his family from Hamburg to the rural hamlet of Templin, in the heart of the Soviet-occupied Democratic Republic of Germany. Indoctrinated in school, sealed off from the West by border walls in 1961, and spied on by her neighbors for the state security police, Merkel toed the line and kept a low profile while excelling at physics, first in Leipzig and then in East Berlin. With the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, she embraced a new profession: politics. When the East German DA party merged with the West German CDU, she became the mentee of the powerful Helmut Kohl. Working her way steadily up the ranks, Merkel ultimately assumed leadership of her party after Kohl left office. Unglamorous by choice, workmanlike to a fault, and used to sidestepping male egos, Merkel proved herself to be a deft civil servant and leader, especially in opening Germany's borders to refugees in 2015 despite the backlash. "Her political rise," writes Marton, "would be fueled by self-control, strategic thinking, and, when necessary, passive aggression." Merkel's determination to bolster Europe's cohesion with French president Emmanuel Macron's help and to strengthen ties between Europe and the U.S., despite opposition and/or apathy from the Trump administration, form her lasting legacy. Though the text is somewhat short on criticism, Marton clearly knows her subject and writes smoothly, pulling back the curtain on an enigmatic, significant world figure. A human portrait more than a political one that amply captures the essence of a moral, determined leader.

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