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Madame President: The Extraordinary Journey of Ellen Johnson Sirleaf
BEST BOOKS of 2017 SELECTION by * THE WASHINGTON POST * NEW YORK POST *
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.
When Ellen Johnson Sirleaf won the 2005 Liberian presidential election, she demolished a barrier few thought possible, obliterating centuries of patriarchal rule to become the first female elected head of state in Africa’s history. Madame President is the inspiring, often heartbreaking story of Sirleaf’s evolution from an ordinary Liberian mother of four boys to international banking executive, from a victim of domestic violence to a political icon, from a post-war president to a Nobel Peace Prize winner.
Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist and bestselling author Helene Cooper deftly weaves Sirleaf’s personal story into the larger narrative of the coming of age of Liberian women. The highs and lows of Sirleaf’s life are filled with indelible images; from imprisonment in a jail cell for standing up to Liberia’s military government to addressing the United States Congress, from reeling under the onslaught of the Ebola pandemic to signing a deal with Hillary Clinton when she was still Secretary of State that enshrined American support for Liberia’s future.
Sirleaf’s personality shines throughout this riveting biography. Ultimately, Madame President is the story of Liberia’s greatest daughter, and the universal lessons we can all learn from this “Oracle” of African women.
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.
When Ellen Johnson Sirleaf won the 2005 Liberian presidential election, she demolished a barrier few thought possible, obliterating centuries of patriarchal rule to become the first female elected head of state in Africa’s history. Madame President is the inspiring, often heartbreaking story of Sirleaf’s evolution from an ordinary Liberian mother of four boys to international banking executive, from a victim of domestic violence to a political icon, from a post-war president to a Nobel Peace Prize winner.
Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist and bestselling author Helene Cooper deftly weaves Sirleaf’s personal story into the larger narrative of the coming of age of Liberian women. The highs and lows of Sirleaf’s life are filled with indelible images; from imprisonment in a jail cell for standing up to Liberia’s military government to addressing the United States Congress, from reeling under the onslaught of the Ebola pandemic to signing a deal with Hillary Clinton when she was still Secretary of State that enshrined American support for Liberia’s future.
Sirleaf’s personality shines throughout this riveting biography. Ultimately, Madame President is the story of Liberia’s greatest daughter, and the universal lessons we can all learn from this “Oracle” of African women.
320 pages, Hardcover
First published March 7, 2017
142 people are currently reading
3765 people want to read
About the author
Helene Cooper
3 books91 followersHelene Cooper is a Liberian-born American journalist who is a White House correspondent for the New York Times. Previous to that, she was the diplomatic correspondent for the paper based in Washington, D.C.. She joined the Times in 2004 as assistant editorial page editor.
At The Wall Street Journal, Cooper wrote about trade, politics, race and foreign policy at the Washington and Atlanta bureaus from 1992 to 1997. From 1997 to 1999, she reported on the European Monetary Union from the London bureau. From 1999 to 2002, she was a reporter focusing on international economics; then assistant Washington bureau chief from 2002 to 2004.
In 2008, she published a memoir titled The House at Sugar Beach (Simon & Shuster). The memoir largely concerns the Liberian coup of 1980 and its effect on Cooper's family, socially and politically-elite descendants of American freed slaves who colonized the country in the 19th century.
At The Wall Street Journal, Cooper wrote about trade, politics, race and foreign policy at the Washington and Atlanta bureaus from 1992 to 1997. From 1997 to 1999, she reported on the European Monetary Union from the London bureau. From 1999 to 2002, she was a reporter focusing on international economics; then assistant Washington bureau chief from 2002 to 2004.
In 2008, she published a memoir titled The House at Sugar Beach (Simon & Shuster). The memoir largely concerns the Liberian coup of 1980 and its effect on Cooper's family, socially and politically-elite descendants of American freed slaves who colonized the country in the 19th century.
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March 29, 2020
Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, a Nobel Prize winner and the first democratically elected female President of an African country. What better role model to read about in March, the month devoted to women. Plus, my own country hasn't even managed to elect a female President.
Her life was not without struggles, she was in an abusive marriage, had four children p, three of which she had to leave. She was talented, educated and loved her country. She saw how unfair it was to women, rape culturally accepted, and wanted better for herself and her country. She would hold office in various positions, would be mailed and sentenced to death. That wasn't what date had in store for her, and she started over and over again.
The right to vote, the responsibility to vote was reinforced by this read. Women walked into the bush for miles, basically ordering women to register to vote, to use these rights and vote in the election. They answered the call in impressive numbers. Here, we have the right, have had this for some time and yet our voting numbers are abysmal. How can we cry for change when do many don't excersize this right?
The last part, so hard to read, about the ebola pandemic. Strikes very close to our current situation with Covid. Heartbreaking and I had to pause the audio now and then and get my mind in a different place. The narration itself was fantastic. The narrator is Marlene Cooper Vasilic and she had the perfect voice for this book.
Her life was not without struggles, she was in an abusive marriage, had four children p, three of which she had to leave. She was talented, educated and loved her country. She saw how unfair it was to women, rape culturally accepted, and wanted better for herself and her country. She would hold office in various positions, would be mailed and sentenced to death. That wasn't what date had in store for her, and she started over and over again.
The right to vote, the responsibility to vote was reinforced by this read. Women walked into the bush for miles, basically ordering women to register to vote, to use these rights and vote in the election. They answered the call in impressive numbers. Here, we have the right, have had this for some time and yet our voting numbers are abysmal. How can we cry for change when do many don't excersize this right?
The last part, so hard to read, about the ebola pandemic. Strikes very close to our current situation with Covid. Heartbreaking and I had to pause the audio now and then and get my mind in a different place. The narration itself was fantastic. The narrator is Marlene Cooper Vasilic and she had the perfect voice for this book.
November 7, 2020
Don’t miss this book.
Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, born 29 October 1938, served as President of Liberia from 2006 to 2018*. She was the first elected female head of state in Africa. In 2011 she won the Nobel Peace Prize for her efforts to fight for the safety and rights of women. In March 2014, during her second term in office, the Ebola virus spread into the country from Guinea. Ravaging Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia, in May 2015 Liberia was the first of the three to be Ebola free. Learning from her mistakes, she remedied them and was quick to ask for international help.
The book moves forward chronologically. Ellen’s family background, her youth, education and marriage at seventeen are spoken of. At the age of twenty-two she already had four sons. Putting the kids with family relatives, husband and wife went off to America to further their education. Studying at Madison Business College in Wisconsin, she earned an associate degree in accounting. Returning to Liberia she began her career at the Treasury Department. She would later return to the US several times, continuing her education at the University of Colorado and Harvard and taking up posts at Citibank, Equator Bank, the World Bank and the UN.
Ellen’s father was of the Gola ethnic group, her mother of Kru-German background. With light skin and straight hair, her appearance grouped her with those of the higher ranking “Congo people”, rather than the darker skinned “country people”. Liberia, with its twenty-eight different ethnic groups, was class conscious. Ellen used to her advantage her mixed roots and did not hesitate to rely on the powerful world leaders she came to know.
From 1971 to 1974 and then from 1979 to 1980 Ellen worked under the Liberian President William Tolbert, first as Deputy Minister of Finance and then as Minister of Finance. After a coup d’état in 1980 Samuel Doe grabbed control. Tolbert was executed. Samuel Doe’s regime was repressive—corruption was rampant, rape was commonplace and atrocities the norm.
In 1989, the Liberian Civil War began; Charles Taylor crossing from the Ivory Coast into Liberia with rebel soldiers fought to oust Doe. Thereafter followed fourteen years of civil war. In 1997 Charles Taylor was elected president. Ellen had run against him but had lost. From 1999 to 2003, it was Taylor’s turn to be ousted; it wasn’t until 2003 that the civil war finally came to a close. 200,000 died during the civil war.
The years under Doe’s regime followed by the years of civil war left indelible scars on Ellen and those lucky enough to survive. The suffering endured by Liberian women was not to be forgotten. 70% had been raped. Ellen, imprisoned by Doe, saw up close women gang-raped. Locked in a cell, fearing she too would be violated, then gruesomely murdered, her attempt to comfort a woman who had been gang-raped is vividly told. Ellen learned from the experience. Women had strength and could provide valuable support to a leader. Women as a group, as a force to be contended with, began to evolve.
I’ll tell you why the book is so good. It is clear. From this book it is relatively easy to learn history. One is not drowned in unnecessary, excessive details, and yet all that you want and need to know is here. One’s interest never lags. The years of repression and the Ebola crisis are emotionally riveting. Ellen’s mistakes and accomplishments are noted. On completion of the book, that being when the Ebola crisis is over, you feel that you have an inkling of the kind of person Ellen is.
The audiobook is narrated by Marlene Cooper Vasilic. Her speech is clear. The pace is perfect. There are sections spoken in the Liberian English patois. Even these I could understand. Her narration I have given five stars. The narration is difficult; it is not so easy to speak of the atrocities committed.
I like this a lot. I have both learned a lot and been emotionally engaged. I highly recommend this book.
*The author of this book states that Ellen was the 23rd president. The information in Wiki differs. There it is stated that Moses Blah (1947-2013) was the 23rd, with Ellen the 24th president. Blah took office on August 11, 2003 and left on October 14, 2003.
SourceWiki: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preside...
Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, born 29 October 1938, served as President of Liberia from 2006 to 2018*. She was the first elected female head of state in Africa. In 2011 she won the Nobel Peace Prize for her efforts to fight for the safety and rights of women. In March 2014, during her second term in office, the Ebola virus spread into the country from Guinea. Ravaging Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia, in May 2015 Liberia was the first of the three to be Ebola free. Learning from her mistakes, she remedied them and was quick to ask for international help.
The book moves forward chronologically. Ellen’s family background, her youth, education and marriage at seventeen are spoken of. At the age of twenty-two she already had four sons. Putting the kids with family relatives, husband and wife went off to America to further their education. Studying at Madison Business College in Wisconsin, she earned an associate degree in accounting. Returning to Liberia she began her career at the Treasury Department. She would later return to the US several times, continuing her education at the University of Colorado and Harvard and taking up posts at Citibank, Equator Bank, the World Bank and the UN.
Ellen’s father was of the Gola ethnic group, her mother of Kru-German background. With light skin and straight hair, her appearance grouped her with those of the higher ranking “Congo people”, rather than the darker skinned “country people”. Liberia, with its twenty-eight different ethnic groups, was class conscious. Ellen used to her advantage her mixed roots and did not hesitate to rely on the powerful world leaders she came to know.
From 1971 to 1974 and then from 1979 to 1980 Ellen worked under the Liberian President William Tolbert, first as Deputy Minister of Finance and then as Minister of Finance. After a coup d’état in 1980 Samuel Doe grabbed control. Tolbert was executed. Samuel Doe’s regime was repressive—corruption was rampant, rape was commonplace and atrocities the norm.
In 1989, the Liberian Civil War began; Charles Taylor crossing from the Ivory Coast into Liberia with rebel soldiers fought to oust Doe. Thereafter followed fourteen years of civil war. In 1997 Charles Taylor was elected president. Ellen had run against him but had lost. From 1999 to 2003, it was Taylor’s turn to be ousted; it wasn’t until 2003 that the civil war finally came to a close. 200,000 died during the civil war.
The years under Doe’s regime followed by the years of civil war left indelible scars on Ellen and those lucky enough to survive. The suffering endured by Liberian women was not to be forgotten. 70% had been raped. Ellen, imprisoned by Doe, saw up close women gang-raped. Locked in a cell, fearing she too would be violated, then gruesomely murdered, her attempt to comfort a woman who had been gang-raped is vividly told. Ellen learned from the experience. Women had strength and could provide valuable support to a leader. Women as a group, as a force to be contended with, began to evolve.
I’ll tell you why the book is so good. It is clear. From this book it is relatively easy to learn history. One is not drowned in unnecessary, excessive details, and yet all that you want and need to know is here. One’s interest never lags. The years of repression and the Ebola crisis are emotionally riveting. Ellen’s mistakes and accomplishments are noted. On completion of the book, that being when the Ebola crisis is over, you feel that you have an inkling of the kind of person Ellen is.
The audiobook is narrated by Marlene Cooper Vasilic. Her speech is clear. The pace is perfect. There are sections spoken in the Liberian English patois. Even these I could understand. Her narration I have given five stars. The narration is difficult; it is not so easy to speak of the atrocities committed.
I like this a lot. I have both learned a lot and been emotionally engaged. I highly recommend this book.
*The author of this book states that Ellen was the 23rd president. The information in Wiki differs. There it is stated that Moses Blah (1947-2013) was the 23rd, with Ellen the 24th president. Blah took office on August 11, 2003 and left on October 14, 2003.
SourceWiki: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preside...
January 20, 2017
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.
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.
January 22, 2018
Five stars for content as Ellen Johnson Sirleaf was and is a very important figure in world history, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, a leader of Liberia and one tough triumphant person.
Four stars for drama. There is so much death and violence witnessed over the decades in war torn Liberia that the narrative seems at times numb to it. I have seen this same effect in a few WWII memoirs that I have read.
Three stars for the writing. I don’t know if the story was difficult to translate into English or some of it is was written in near time but the writing is very linear and not especially introspective. It is almost like too much happened in Sirleaf’s life. The scale of the brutal murders and rapes reported during the Civil War are shocking and left me utterly bereft of hope for Liberia. I know this was not the central message of the bio.
The book does not always paint Sirleaf in the brightest light so you are probably reading a memoir on whom the subject has a modicum of humility. Sirleaf is a survivor for sure but she also took a great many unnecessary risks, sometimes selecting allies who were the greater of two evils. When I say, Doe or his enemy Taylor, you are really dealing with two very evil persons.
It is an informative read but you’ll need a filter and there aren’t many pages on the origin story on Sirleaf’s life, not because she is hiding anything, but probably because the Nobel Peace Prize and presidency are of more importance.
Despite all that criticism, we are lucky that a capable writer was able to write a western biography about a successful African leader who overcame long odds.
Overall I would rate the book a four
Four stars for drama. There is so much death and violence witnessed over the decades in war torn Liberia that the narrative seems at times numb to it. I have seen this same effect in a few WWII memoirs that I have read.
Three stars for the writing. I don’t know if the story was difficult to translate into English or some of it is was written in near time but the writing is very linear and not especially introspective. It is almost like too much happened in Sirleaf’s life. The scale of the brutal murders and rapes reported during the Civil War are shocking and left me utterly bereft of hope for Liberia. I know this was not the central message of the bio.
The book does not always paint Sirleaf in the brightest light so you are probably reading a memoir on whom the subject has a modicum of humility. Sirleaf is a survivor for sure but she also took a great many unnecessary risks, sometimes selecting allies who were the greater of two evils. When I say, Doe or his enemy Taylor, you are really dealing with two very evil persons.
It is an informative read but you’ll need a filter and there aren’t many pages on the origin story on Sirleaf’s life, not because she is hiding anything, but probably because the Nobel Peace Prize and presidency are of more importance.
Despite all that criticism, we are lucky that a capable writer was able to write a western biography about a successful African leader who overcame long odds.
Overall I would rate the book a four
June 13, 2018
posted on Litsy: 
Liberia has an odd history where freed mixed-race American slaves formed the country in 1847, essentially taking it over and becoming a ruling elite, known for some reason as Congo people. Liberia actually was financially sound, except that all the wealth from mining and whatnot went to the ruling elite, creating a massive class divide that broke down first into a coup and military dictatorship in 1980, and then into in all-out civil war of unending violence that began in 1989 and continued till about 2003 when President Charles Taylor was charged with war crimes for actions in Sierre Leon (but not in Liberia) and fled. The details and extent of the violence in Liberia are unfathomably gruesome, with torture, massacres, causal violence and, of course, rapes committed by all sides.
Out of the now completely broken country came Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, a grandmother elected to president through a massive women's movement. Sirleaf is a financial expert with ties to key members in the world bank, private banks and financial and political leaders in the US. She was far from a nobody. In course of her presidency, the country's debt was cancelled, the economy reactivated, the violence plummeted, corruption reduced (but hardly stopped), the country began to rebuild, and Sirleaf, the first woman to be elected to leadership in Africa, won the Nobel Peace Prize (along with two other women). Then came Ebola - into the capital city, Monrovia, the first time an epidemic of the disease hit a urban area. Serious predictions saw 4 million deaths coming in a matter a months.
The author, [[Helene Cooper]], was born in Liberia, and later became a member of the press corps following American presidents. When Ebola hit, she when back to Liberia to cover the outbreak and interview Sirleaf and to write this book.
I'm not sure how to put it, but this is a really terrific book in so many ways, uplifting and human. The introduction about the author's own life already had my attention. And the life of Sirleaf, hardly a perfect person, is really inspirational. It's the story of what can happen when a really qualified person is actually given responsibility, but it's also the story of the catastrophe it took to get there. I'll add that it was interesting to see the presidency of George W. Bush, a president I hate, in a positive light. And it see was nice to see Obama playing such a key role in being proactive with the Ebola crisis, sending in resources and American marines to assist, and essentially saving the city. And all of this in a country I hardly ever thought about before starting this book.
-----------------------------------------------
32. Madame President: The Extraordinary Journey of Ellen Johnson Sirleaf by Helene Cooper
reader: Marlene Cooper Vasilic
published: 2017
format: 12:45 overdrive audiobook (~356 pages, 336 pages in hardcover)
acquired: library loan
listened: May 24 – Jun 7
rating: 4½
This book is why I’m somewhat random in how I select audiobooks. It never occurred to me that Liberian history was so fascinating and awful, or that the transformation this woman represents could be so special on so many levels. So much to say. Extraordinarily and grotesque violence, 70% of women raped in a civil war before Sarleaf began rebuilding. And then Ebola. Special book, special person, terrific writing, great reader.
Liberia has an odd history where freed mixed-race American slaves formed the country in 1847, essentially taking it over and becoming a ruling elite, known for some reason as Congo people. Liberia actually was financially sound, except that all the wealth from mining and whatnot went to the ruling elite, creating a massive class divide that broke down first into a coup and military dictatorship in 1980, and then into in all-out civil war of unending violence that began in 1989 and continued till about 2003 when President Charles Taylor was charged with war crimes for actions in Sierre Leon (but not in Liberia) and fled. The details and extent of the violence in Liberia are unfathomably gruesome, with torture, massacres, causal violence and, of course, rapes committed by all sides.
Out of the now completely broken country came Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, a grandmother elected to president through a massive women's movement. Sirleaf is a financial expert with ties to key members in the world bank, private banks and financial and political leaders in the US. She was far from a nobody. In course of her presidency, the country's debt was cancelled, the economy reactivated, the violence plummeted, corruption reduced (but hardly stopped), the country began to rebuild, and Sirleaf, the first woman to be elected to leadership in Africa, won the Nobel Peace Prize (along with two other women). Then came Ebola - into the capital city, Monrovia, the first time an epidemic of the disease hit a urban area. Serious predictions saw 4 million deaths coming in a matter a months.
The author, [[Helene Cooper]], was born in Liberia, and later became a member of the press corps following American presidents. When Ebola hit, she when back to Liberia to cover the outbreak and interview Sirleaf and to write this book.
I'm not sure how to put it, but this is a really terrific book in so many ways, uplifting and human. The introduction about the author's own life already had my attention. And the life of Sirleaf, hardly a perfect person, is really inspirational. It's the story of what can happen when a really qualified person is actually given responsibility, but it's also the story of the catastrophe it took to get there. I'll add that it was interesting to see the presidency of George W. Bush, a president I hate, in a positive light. And it see was nice to see Obama playing such a key role in being proactive with the Ebola crisis, sending in resources and American marines to assist, and essentially saving the city. And all of this in a country I hardly ever thought about before starting this book.
-----------------------------------------------
32. Madame President: The Extraordinary Journey of Ellen Johnson Sirleaf by Helene Cooper
reader: Marlene Cooper Vasilic
published: 2017
format: 12:45 overdrive audiobook (~356 pages, 336 pages in hardcover)
acquired: library loan
listened: May 24 – Jun 7
rating: 4½
April 28, 2017
As a public health professional, I was impressed how President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf handled the Ebola Crisis in Liberia (2013-2016). President Sirleaf has now launched a massive mental health program for the Ebola survivors. Liberia was just beginning to make some headway out of its horrible state when it was hit by the Ebola epidemic. I started looking for more information about her. I discovered she won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2011.
This book not only provides the biography of Sirleaf but also provides a brief overview history of Liberia. Cooper tells the early life of Sirleaf, her marriage at seventeen and birth of four boys quickly thereafter. Cooper covers the horrible Civil War (1989-2003) and the imprisonment of Sirleaf and her near brushes with death. Cooper covers the horrible violence and carnage of the Civil War so readers need to be prepared. Sirleaf worked for the Liberian Treasury Department and then went on to work at the World Bank. She became an expert in government debt. When she was elected to the presidency two years after the Civil War ended, the country was 4.7 billion dollars in foreign debt. Sirleaf used her knowledge and contacts to get this debt forgiven; otherwise, the country would not be able to survive. I was shocked to hear how predatory funds buy up poor countries’ debt and then charge enormous amounts of interest; the countries are then unable to ever get out of debt. Sirleaf was the first democratically elected women president in Africa. She is now the longest serving female president. She has brought peace to the war-torn country.
The book is well written and meticulously researched. The author tends to present Sirleaf in a favorable mode. Cooper does cover the mistakes made by Sirleaf and also covers the various charges of corruption in her government and how she tried to correct it. The author also indicated that Sirleaf gave back to her opponents in the manner she was treated. Her opponents called her a United States imperial puppet. Cooper reveals what horrible things the women of Liberia endured to obtain their freedom and basic human rights. Cooper covers the native cuisine and culture of Liberia. The language is a mixture of English and Creole with British and American slang tossed in.
The story of Helene Cooper is also interesting. Her family fled the Civil War in Liberia when she was thirteen and came to America. She was educated in the United States and worked as a reporter at the New York Times where she won the Pulitzer Prize for her coverage of the Ebola Epidemic in West Africa.
I read this as an audiobook downloaded from Audible. The book is about thirteen hours long. Marlene Cooper Vasilic does an excellent job narrating the book. Vasilic does a great job with the Liberian manner of speech and patois. This book works best as an audiobook because of the accents and patois.
This book not only provides the biography of Sirleaf but also provides a brief overview history of Liberia. Cooper tells the early life of Sirleaf, her marriage at seventeen and birth of four boys quickly thereafter. Cooper covers the horrible Civil War (1989-2003) and the imprisonment of Sirleaf and her near brushes with death. Cooper covers the horrible violence and carnage of the Civil War so readers need to be prepared. Sirleaf worked for the Liberian Treasury Department and then went on to work at the World Bank. She became an expert in government debt. When she was elected to the presidency two years after the Civil War ended, the country was 4.7 billion dollars in foreign debt. Sirleaf used her knowledge and contacts to get this debt forgiven; otherwise, the country would not be able to survive. I was shocked to hear how predatory funds buy up poor countries’ debt and then charge enormous amounts of interest; the countries are then unable to ever get out of debt. Sirleaf was the first democratically elected women president in Africa. She is now the longest serving female president. She has brought peace to the war-torn country.
The book is well written and meticulously researched. The author tends to present Sirleaf in a favorable mode. Cooper does cover the mistakes made by Sirleaf and also covers the various charges of corruption in her government and how she tried to correct it. The author also indicated that Sirleaf gave back to her opponents in the manner she was treated. Her opponents called her a United States imperial puppet. Cooper reveals what horrible things the women of Liberia endured to obtain their freedom and basic human rights. Cooper covers the native cuisine and culture of Liberia. The language is a mixture of English and Creole with British and American slang tossed in.
The story of Helene Cooper is also interesting. Her family fled the Civil War in Liberia when she was thirteen and came to America. She was educated in the United States and worked as a reporter at the New York Times where she won the Pulitzer Prize for her coverage of the Ebola Epidemic in West Africa.
I read this as an audiobook downloaded from Audible. The book is about thirteen hours long. Marlene Cooper Vasilic does an excellent job narrating the book. Vasilic does a great job with the Liberian manner of speech and patois. This book works best as an audiobook because of the accents and patois.
April 22, 2020
This is an extraordinary story, the first female head of state in modern Africa, winner of the Nobel Prize for Peace, a woman who steered her war ravaged, impoverished country onto the road of recovery. The author was obviously enamored of her subject. As a result, this was a decent introduction to this international figure, but definitely not close to a definitive biography. 3.5 stars
September 27, 2020
Rating: I liked it a lot 😁
2020's ATY in 52 books: 29. An underrated book, a hidden gem or a lesser known book
June's 2020 random pick project
Reto Pecera 2020: Título con 20 Letras o más
I'm doing this challenge where I read a book written by an author, born and raised, in one of every country in the world. This month I decided to make things interesting and picked the country at random, the country I got was Liberia, I had never heard of that in my life. I googled it and was amazed that such a country exists. Liberia is a west african country that was first stablished as an US colony in 1822 by the American Colonization Society. They thought that free-born black people and freed slaves would be better off in Africa, so 4,571 african americans settled there. These free African-Americans and their descendants married within their community and came to identify as Americo-Liberians. Many were of mixed race and educated in American culture; they did not identify with the indigenous natives of the tribes they met. They intermarried largely within the colonial community, developing an ethnic group that had a cultural tradition infused with American notions of political republicanism and Protestant Christianity.
They became known as Congo people to the other tribes. They held all the power, practice discrimination, replicating the racist culture they knew from the American south. They viewed themselves as superior, treated the natives as inferiors. The natives could not vote and could not speak unless spoken to, could not marry Americo-Liberian women. Even when some natives became educated, they were excluded from government positions with few exceptions.
They were the ruling class until 1980 when a military coup led by Samuel Doe overthrew and killed President William R. Tolbert, Jr. This marked an era of turmoil for the country, filled with political unrest, civil war and poverty. In 2005 Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, was elected president. Her story is extraordinary.
I think this story is important for everyone to know, it reflects what people are capable of, both good and evil, regardless of the color of their skin. The most significant variable is power, he who has it can use it to oppress his fellow-man. Definitely power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
I found everything about this biography so interesting, I discovered in Madame Sirleaf a strong, visionary, intelligent and courageous woman, not perfect, but a great example for all women and men of the world.
The way they were hit by an Ebola outbreak hit close to home, seeing parallelism of how people are selfishly behaving now in the Covid-19 pandemic.
I come from a small Caribbean country, the Dominican Republic 🇩🇴, we've been struggling for more than 500 years, since Columbus discover us and founded the first city in the new the world, but learning part of Liberia's history through Madame Sirleaf biography has made me appreciate much more my piece of paradise on the Caribbean Sea. Other countries have had it way worse than us, we have a lot to offer and a lot to be grateful for.
Now I have Liberia in my heart, I hope they'd be able to keep up the progress they've made in health, education, infrastructure and it's economy.
If you are interested in history, politics or learning about other cultures, I highly recommend this biography.
2020's ATY in 52 books: 29. An underrated book, a hidden gem or a lesser known book
June's 2020 random pick project
Reto Pecera 2020: Título con 20 Letras o más
I'm doing this challenge where I read a book written by an author, born and raised, in one of every country in the world. This month I decided to make things interesting and picked the country at random, the country I got was Liberia, I had never heard of that in my life. I googled it and was amazed that such a country exists. Liberia is a west african country that was first stablished as an US colony in 1822 by the American Colonization Society. They thought that free-born black people and freed slaves would be better off in Africa, so 4,571 african americans settled there. These free African-Americans and their descendants married within their community and came to identify as Americo-Liberians. Many were of mixed race and educated in American culture; they did not identify with the indigenous natives of the tribes they met. They intermarried largely within the colonial community, developing an ethnic group that had a cultural tradition infused with American notions of political republicanism and Protestant Christianity.
They became known as Congo people to the other tribes. They held all the power, practice discrimination, replicating the racist culture they knew from the American south. They viewed themselves as superior, treated the natives as inferiors. The natives could not vote and could not speak unless spoken to, could not marry Americo-Liberian women. Even when some natives became educated, they were excluded from government positions with few exceptions.
They were the ruling class until 1980 when a military coup led by Samuel Doe overthrew and killed President William R. Tolbert, Jr. This marked an era of turmoil for the country, filled with political unrest, civil war and poverty. In 2005 Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, was elected president. Her story is extraordinary.
I think this story is important for everyone to know, it reflects what people are capable of, both good and evil, regardless of the color of their skin. The most significant variable is power, he who has it can use it to oppress his fellow-man. Definitely power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
I found everything about this biography so interesting, I discovered in Madame Sirleaf a strong, visionary, intelligent and courageous woman, not perfect, but a great example for all women and men of the world.
The way they were hit by an Ebola outbreak hit close to home, seeing parallelism of how people are selfishly behaving now in the Covid-19 pandemic.
I come from a small Caribbean country, the Dominican Republic 🇩🇴, we've been struggling for more than 500 years, since Columbus discover us and founded the first city in the new the world, but learning part of Liberia's history through Madame Sirleaf biography has made me appreciate much more my piece of paradise on the Caribbean Sea. Other countries have had it way worse than us, we have a lot to offer and a lot to be grateful for.
Now I have Liberia in my heart, I hope they'd be able to keep up the progress they've made in health, education, infrastructure and it's economy.
If you are interested in history, politics or learning about other cultures, I highly recommend this biography.
March 13, 2017
Madame President by Helen Cooper is an inspiring read. Women everywhere will be awed at the work done by one woman, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. She has gone beyond any other woman of her time in a country that mistreated women as objects. Here, I got to follow the brave and clever woman as she rose from just a mother to a president of a nation. Going to prison, suffering like every other woman has done...,yet she managed to rise dispite the hardships that fell upon her. I was amazed. She kept on going even when it might have meant the end for her. Writer, Helen Cooper, has brought Ellen Johnson Sirleaf's life alive on these pages for All to see. Just when I thought I have seen, heard, and know it all...this book brought out more than just a woman struggling to rise among men of her country. It's a story of survival, courage, determination as well as breaking barriers. Overall, I recommend this nonfiction piece on one of the most compelling stories of a woman to readers everywhere.
Danielle Urban
AAMBC Reviewer
Danielle Urban
AAMBC Reviewer
March 28, 2020
This is a biography of the first Liberian female president and Nobel prize winner Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. I’ve read is as a part of March/April monthly read at Non Fiction Book Club group.
There is a lot of history outside of the ‘west’ (Europe plus European colonies) about which we rarely hear and that’s a pity! One of such largely white spots on a historical map is Africa. Take as an example Liberia, the focal point of this book: a colony founded by free black (and Quakers) in Africa, who built up and equivalent of the US South, with them as an equivalent of white minority and locals as ‘blacks’. Fascinating!
Ellen was born in 1938 and her lighter skin (due to the German maternal grandfather) made her a member of local elite. Married at 17 to (as appeared later) and abusive husband, in just 5 more years she got four children. Her talents together with her privilege allowed her to study in the USA in Harvard and get a PhD in economics. The IMF and WB just needed to diversify their mostly western white male stuff, so they gladly recruited her.
Meanwhile in Liberia situation turned bad to worse. Firstly, in 1980 a master sergeant (not even an officer!) overthrew and killed the unpopular president, then, in 1989, the country plunged into 14 year civil war with rape of about 70% of local women, mass murders, tortures, kid solders and crazy prophets. Liberia is one big trauma.
The book doesn’t sing an ode to its heroine, she is real, with own problems, from installing own sons on important state jobs to shifting to local patio and playing grandma, she is a wise politician who has the work done, but like with sausages the process isn’t pretty.
A very strong book about not only her but Africa and role of a woman there. Highly recommended.
There is a lot of history outside of the ‘west’ (Europe plus European colonies) about which we rarely hear and that’s a pity! One of such largely white spots on a historical map is Africa. Take as an example Liberia, the focal point of this book: a colony founded by free black (and Quakers) in Africa, who built up and equivalent of the US South, with them as an equivalent of white minority and locals as ‘blacks’. Fascinating!
Ellen was born in 1938 and her lighter skin (due to the German maternal grandfather) made her a member of local elite. Married at 17 to (as appeared later) and abusive husband, in just 5 more years she got four children. Her talents together with her privilege allowed her to study in the USA in Harvard and get a PhD in economics. The IMF and WB just needed to diversify their mostly western white male stuff, so they gladly recruited her.
Meanwhile in Liberia situation turned bad to worse. Firstly, in 1980 a master sergeant (not even an officer!) overthrew and killed the unpopular president, then, in 1989, the country plunged into 14 year civil war with rape of about 70% of local women, mass murders, tortures, kid solders and crazy prophets. Liberia is one big trauma.
The book doesn’t sing an ode to its heroine, she is real, with own problems, from installing own sons on important state jobs to shifting to local patio and playing grandma, she is a wise politician who has the work done, but like with sausages the process isn’t pretty.
A very strong book about not only her but Africa and role of a woman there. Highly recommended.
August 25, 2020
3.5 stars
I picked this book up primarily because I loved the author’s memoir, The House at Sugar Beach, about growing up in Liberia until political instability and terror forced her family to leave. This book, though, is a biography of Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, president of Liberia from 2006 to 2018 and the first democratically elected female head of state in Africa. It’s a good biography, readable and engaging as all the best journalistic work is, and certainly informative though it lacks the humor and personal touch of Cooper’s memoir.
About the first quarter of this relatively short biography (290 pages) covers the first approximately 50 years of Ellen Johnson Sirleaf’s life, spending a few pages on her childhood before moving on to her marriage, higher education, subsequent divorce from her abusive husband (even though it meant no longer being able to raise most of their children), and her career as a financial bureaucrat. The second quarter focuses more on Liberia’s civil war and the years of coups and atrocities. Johnson Sirleaf was absent from Liberia for much of this time working for financial institutions abroad, but the reader needs to understand something of what was happening in the country to put her presidency in context. Finally, the last half covers her elections and presidency, though the book ends in 2015 and was published in 2017, before she actually left office.
The book is highly readable and offers a lot of explanation to readers who may not know anything about Liberia; Cooper is clearly adept at bridging two cultures. It is an admiring biography, and as far as I can tell an authorized one—Johnson Sirleaf allowed Cooper to follow her around and was interviewed for the book, though Cooper didn’t share her drafts—but Cooper also highlights areas where Johnson Sirleaf made poor or questionable choices. I wasn’t quite sure what to think about all her female supporters who stole their adult sons’ voter IDs to prevent them from voting for her clearly unqualified male opponent, for instance—interestingly to me, Liberian women seemed far more likely to vote for a candidate because of her gender than their American counterparts. But I was glad to see Cooper really dig into Johnson Sirleaf’s achievements in office: the chapter about how she managed to persuade other governments, multinational institutions and private companies to forgive Liberia’s $4.7 billion debt is fantastic and highlights a huge accomplishment that few others could possibly have achieved.
Meanwhile, other reviewers have mentioned that the book deals with some dark subject matter around Liberia’s civil war, and this is true though it isn’t the primary focus of the book. The last 35 pages mostly focus on the Ebola pandemic, which was interesting to read during another pandemic: there was a lot of initial denial around Ebola too, though once people accepted that it was real they seemed to do a good job of taking necessary precautions to wipe it out.
Ultimately, there’s a lot of good information in this book, but there’s more distance from its subject than I would have expected in a semi-authorized biography of someone who’s still alive: I didn’t get much sense of Johnson Sirleaf’s personality, what makes her tick, how the people close to her view her, etc. Maybe she didn’t want her personal life in a book, her family didn’t want to share, and Cooper decided to respect their wishes—hard to say. But while I still blew through the book in just a few days, I think I would have liked it even better with more personality. Cooper credits several people in the acknowledgments with making her ditch her “flip tone” and I wound up wishing she’d kept it. There are a few humorous bits, which were welcome.
But I’d certainly recommend this book to anyone interested in the subject, and Johnson Sirleaf is without doubt a tough and impressive woman, though (like everybody else) imperfect. Those who would like a more personal, in-depth and at times humorous story (with some overlapping subject matter) should check out the author’s memoir.
Only time will tell how to interpret events after the end of this book: Johnson Sirleaf stepped down in 2018, allowing for Liberia’s first peaceful transition of power in decades, but then the winner of that election was George Weah (the soccer player), whose vice president is Jewel Taylor (ex-wife of Charles Taylor, the war criminal). Hmm. I hope Cooper will keep on writing books about Liberia; I for one will be happy to keep reading them.
I picked this book up primarily because I loved the author’s memoir, The House at Sugar Beach, about growing up in Liberia until political instability and terror forced her family to leave. This book, though, is a biography of Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, president of Liberia from 2006 to 2018 and the first democratically elected female head of state in Africa. It’s a good biography, readable and engaging as all the best journalistic work is, and certainly informative though it lacks the humor and personal touch of Cooper’s memoir.
About the first quarter of this relatively short biography (290 pages) covers the first approximately 50 years of Ellen Johnson Sirleaf’s life, spending a few pages on her childhood before moving on to her marriage, higher education, subsequent divorce from her abusive husband (even though it meant no longer being able to raise most of their children), and her career as a financial bureaucrat. The second quarter focuses more on Liberia’s civil war and the years of coups and atrocities. Johnson Sirleaf was absent from Liberia for much of this time working for financial institutions abroad, but the reader needs to understand something of what was happening in the country to put her presidency in context. Finally, the last half covers her elections and presidency, though the book ends in 2015 and was published in 2017, before she actually left office.
The book is highly readable and offers a lot of explanation to readers who may not know anything about Liberia; Cooper is clearly adept at bridging two cultures. It is an admiring biography, and as far as I can tell an authorized one—Johnson Sirleaf allowed Cooper to follow her around and was interviewed for the book, though Cooper didn’t share her drafts—but Cooper also highlights areas where Johnson Sirleaf made poor or questionable choices. I wasn’t quite sure what to think about all her female supporters who stole their adult sons’ voter IDs to prevent them from voting for her clearly unqualified male opponent, for instance—interestingly to me, Liberian women seemed far more likely to vote for a candidate because of her gender than their American counterparts. But I was glad to see Cooper really dig into Johnson Sirleaf’s achievements in office: the chapter about how she managed to persuade other governments, multinational institutions and private companies to forgive Liberia’s $4.7 billion debt is fantastic and highlights a huge accomplishment that few others could possibly have achieved.
Meanwhile, other reviewers have mentioned that the book deals with some dark subject matter around Liberia’s civil war, and this is true though it isn’t the primary focus of the book. The last 35 pages mostly focus on the Ebola pandemic, which was interesting to read during another pandemic: there was a lot of initial denial around Ebola too, though once people accepted that it was real they seemed to do a good job of taking necessary precautions to wipe it out.
Ultimately, there’s a lot of good information in this book, but there’s more distance from its subject than I would have expected in a semi-authorized biography of someone who’s still alive: I didn’t get much sense of Johnson Sirleaf’s personality, what makes her tick, how the people close to her view her, etc. Maybe she didn’t want her personal life in a book, her family didn’t want to share, and Cooper decided to respect their wishes—hard to say. But while I still blew through the book in just a few days, I think I would have liked it even better with more personality. Cooper credits several people in the acknowledgments with making her ditch her “flip tone” and I wound up wishing she’d kept it. There are a few humorous bits, which were welcome.
But I’d certainly recommend this book to anyone interested in the subject, and Johnson Sirleaf is without doubt a tough and impressive woman, though (like everybody else) imperfect. Those who would like a more personal, in-depth and at times humorous story (with some overlapping subject matter) should check out the author’s memoir.
Only time will tell how to interpret events after the end of this book: Johnson Sirleaf stepped down in 2018, allowing for Liberia’s first peaceful transition of power in decades, but then the winner of that election was George Weah (the soccer player), whose vice president is Jewel Taylor (ex-wife of Charles Taylor, the war criminal). Hmm. I hope Cooper will keep on writing books about Liberia; I for one will be happy to keep reading them.
March 12, 2018
This was my Women’s History Month selection, and what an inspiring selection this was. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf experienced what I wouldn’t think possible to become president of Liberia. It’s quite unbelievable the atrocities women were forced to accept as normal everyday life while in military rule. This abhorrent behavior is typical of military coups that end up with a paranoid and power hungry leader; they are not one for the people or the country’s interest. This has a lot to do with a lack of knowledge of how to run a government once in power. Liberia had experienced many leaders like this for decades. Their fight for normalcy seemed insurmountable. I can’t even bring myself to summarize the normal day atrocities that women experienced. Absolutely unbelievable that humankind can act in this way.
But amidst the darkness of atrocity was the growing ember of fire that is Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and the Liberian women movement. Not many women in Liberia were educated, but she gave up family to travel to the US with a husband that abused her to get an education. She never turned her back on her country. She gave women hope and a voice when hope was no where to be found. The public answered in making her the first African woman president. As Madame President she worked feverishly to start from the beginning, which included getting 4.7 billion in her country’s debt relieved from multiple different debt owners. She and her cabinet of women started to clean the streets. Also enforced a law that many of us can’t even fathom would be necessary, but in Liberia it was finally time; to prosecute men who rape women. It’s hard to imagine that 75% of women had been raped or abused during a period of time there.
Madame President is inspiring to say the least. Her story should be spread more to inspire those without hope throughout the world. In the US we tend to think our internal problems are the center of the world, but really we don’t have as many issues as others in the world that need our continuous aid.
Madame President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf is a prime example for Women’s History Month education. Simply incredible woman.
But amidst the darkness of atrocity was the growing ember of fire that is Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and the Liberian women movement. Not many women in Liberia were educated, but she gave up family to travel to the US with a husband that abused her to get an education. She never turned her back on her country. She gave women hope and a voice when hope was no where to be found. The public answered in making her the first African woman president. As Madame President she worked feverishly to start from the beginning, which included getting 4.7 billion in her country’s debt relieved from multiple different debt owners. She and her cabinet of women started to clean the streets. Also enforced a law that many of us can’t even fathom would be necessary, but in Liberia it was finally time; to prosecute men who rape women. It’s hard to imagine that 75% of women had been raped or abused during a period of time there.
Madame President is inspiring to say the least. Her story should be spread more to inspire those without hope throughout the world. In the US we tend to think our internal problems are the center of the world, but really we don’t have as many issues as others in the world that need our continuous aid.
Madame President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf is a prime example for Women’s History Month education. Simply incredible woman.
June 25, 2017
I had the opportunity to hear Ellen Johnson Sirleaf speak in 2015 and was deeply impressed by her history, her presence, her decisiveness, her courage, her persistence. This book has only increased my admiration for her as a person, as a politician, and as a bureaucrat.
Trigger warning: violence, rape
**********
"In Liberia a woman's place is in the market, selling oranges and potato greens and kola nuts. It is in the hot outdoor kitchen, sweating as she bends over a mortar to pound fermented cassava for fufu. It is in the field, baby strapped to her back as she hacks at the sugarcane stalks that will fetch the money that will pay for this semester's school fees for her children. And it is on her back in the dirt as one, two three, four drunk soldiers rape her in front of her crying children.
"It is in her lover's bedroom, sitting on the mattress, shivering in the air-conditioning and trying to block out the image of her colleagues who were executed by firing squad on the beach days before. It is in the cabinet room of the Executive Mansion as she tries to stem the nausea that rises when she sees those same executioners discussing the budget she put together as they look for loopholes from which they can extract money.
"In Liberia a woman's place is not in a jail cell.
"There are many things Liberian women will tolerate. They accept that it is their burden to shoulder all of the responsibility for keeping their family fed, whether that means farming alone all day or submitting to gang rape as the price that must be paid to keep their children alive. But jail, for some reason, is a step too far.
"Before Dr. Samuel Doe threw Ellen Johnson Sirleaf into a jail cell at the Barclay Training Center, she was, to the developing world, just one of many promising, ambitious West African government bureaucrats. But Doe changed all that when he locked her in the post stockade and charged her with sedition. He turned her from a bureaucrat into a global hero." (71)
**********
"Ellen argued in favor of violence. She invoked Malcolm X; his refusal to embrace nonviolence had scared white America into listening to Martin Luther King Jr. Her argument came with the powerful backing of her cult hero status. She had been imprisoned by Doe, had been sentenced to Bella Yalla, had won and then refused to take a Senate seat because the elections were fraudulent. People paid attention when Ellen Johnson Sirleaf talked." (99)
**********
"On December 24, 1989, Charles Taylor and 170 insurgents crossed the Ivorian border into Liberia, launching Liberia's civil war. It would last fourteen years and snuff out 200,000 lives.
"The ramifications of that war still aren't fully known. Who can say, three decades later, what lives would have been led by the children who were turned into soldiers at the age of eight, drugged up on amphetamines and marched into the bush on orders to kill, maim, and dismember? Who can know what demons haunt the dreams of the former child combatant, teddy bear backpack strapped over this shoulders, who sprayed a village just outside Monrovia with his machine gun while the severed head of his boyhood friend lay on the asphalt beside him, broiling under the hot sun? Or the woman who fought and screamed while her two boys were taken away by drunken rebels clad in Halloween masks, who then threw her to the ground, mounted and raped her, all the while keeping their Halloween masks on?
"Almost three decades after the start of the Civil War, Liberia is still a country of the walking wounded, one of those places where every single person of a certain age has a war story to tell, a story so grisly that your stomach turns and you want to vomit. How do people come back from that?
"But if the ramifications still aren't known, they certainly weren't foreseen back in 1989, when Taylor's forces attacked a frontier post at Butuo near the Nimba Country crossing point. Back then, all anyone knew was that someone with a legitimate chance of defeating Doe was on the march." (99-100)
**********
"Throughout all of these blood-soaked years of horror, it was the women of those countries who suffered the most. There are, after all, far worse things that dying. Dying is easy: the clap-clap of a machine gun, the slicing of a cutlass, the nothingness that comes after. Living can be harder. To live with the image of your children being dragged away, knowing they will become killers and will then be killed themselves. To be raped so often by teenagers wearing Halloween masks that you can't close your eyes without imagining a bewigged monstrosity looming above you. And to see your rapist take off his mask and reveal his face--and that face is your son's.
"In Liberia, the war turned every woman into a market woman. Rich and poor. elites and native women, educated and illiterate, the overwhelming reaction of the Liberian women to all that was going on around them was to make market. Whatever functional economy existed in Liberia during those black years existed because of the market women." (132)
**********
"There was never any question that the election of the first woman to rule Liberia would spark a backlash among the men. Africa has always been a deeply paternalistic place, dominated for centuries by a Y chromosome that instilled in generations of men the belief that no matter how many conquerors, European or otherwise, might come to rule them, at the end of the day the men would always at least have women under them. And as long as the women were under their control, many African men believed, all was not lost.
"Now Madame and her women had upended that fundamental tenet of African sexual politics. And that sparked the anger that comes from seeing someone you view as your inferior rise above you. For an American reference, just talk to some of those people holding the 'We want our country back' signs after Obama was elected president.
"With a woman president, a feat engineered largely by women, the doormats that for centuries had cushioned the men from the floor were gone. And the men wanted them back.
"But the doormats weren't willing to be doormats anymore." (200-201)
**********
"Then, as the rains peaked in July, Ebola made it known that it was not going to be silenced. How did it do this? It infected white people.
"Suddenly, this was no longer a West African problem. With the infection of two white missionaries, Kent Brantley and Nancy Writebol, who would be quickly evacuated to Atlanta, where they survived, Ebola suddenly became the subject of global hyperventilation and panic." (265)
**********
"George W. Bush had 9/11; Barack Obama, the global economic collapse. Most presidents face a single epic challenge. For Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, every year presented a new epic challenge. War had destroyed her country, taking not only 200,000 lives but blowing apart the rules that governed society, from respect for old people to protection of women and children. Children were empowered to take up guns and drugs and to turn on each other.
"Rebuilding was a consuming task, hobbled by what seemed to be a different challenge every year, from the herculean effort to put her tattered country back together after fourteen years of carnage to giving voice to the Liberian women who have, for decades, carried the country on their backs. In fact, those were easy by comparison.
"After she finished all of those, it turned out that the fates had one more, far more difficult challenge left for her: the challenge of Ebola. It was almost as if she were receiving one last directive from the omnipotent chroniclers in the sky: if you care as much as you profess to about leaving a legacy of economic growth and empowerment for women and children after you leave office, then we have one more little hurdle for you to jump.
"And it's a hurdle you'd better clear. Because if you trip, it will wipe out everything." (265-266)
**********
"By early October, unbeknownst to the global health authorities who were still putting out increasingly dire forecasts of how many people were going to die of Ebola, Liberians, led by their president, had begun a grassroots effort to climb their way out of the Ebola pit themselves.
"The debacle of the West Point quarantine, which had led to the death of Shakie Kamara and the lowest point of Madame's presidency, had been a turning point. She had called in the cavalry in the form of the U.S. military, which was busily constructing Ebola treatment units around the country, and had appealed to the United States and the international community for money, doctors, and health professionals.
"But at the same time, Madame and her people--in particular, her grassroots base--had rolled up their sleeves and taken on the fight against Ebola themselves.
"This was a country that had lived with demons for two decades, through the Doe and Taylor years. Liberians had become accustomed to learning how to live with devils. EVD, the acronym some Liberians were using (for Ebola virus disease), was just the latest in a long list of them. And if there was one thing Liberians had learned in their two decades of hell, it was that they were adaptable.
"By late September, single-family huts in local villages had chlorinated water stations outside the front entryway, and every day Liberians washed their hands with bleach so many times they joked about turning into white people. Volunteer watchdog groups--often led by the same women who helped get Madame elected in 2005 and reelected in 2011--popped up in local neighborhoods, monitoring to make sure people were washing with chlorine, taking their temperature, and, above all, not touching each other.
"They set up hand-washing stations all over town. They kept records of who had gotten sick and who had died. They put entire households under quarantine. And they made their own protective gear, using plastic shopping bags to cover their arms and flimsy paper masks to cover their mouth, so that they could take care of their sick...
"As the international community galvanized to help, Liberians were abandoning their age-old 'God will provide' adage and trying to help themselves." (278-280)
Trigger warning: violence, rape
**********
"In Liberia a woman's place is in the market, selling oranges and potato greens and kola nuts. It is in the hot outdoor kitchen, sweating as she bends over a mortar to pound fermented cassava for fufu. It is in the field, baby strapped to her back as she hacks at the sugarcane stalks that will fetch the money that will pay for this semester's school fees for her children. And it is on her back in the dirt as one, two three, four drunk soldiers rape her in front of her crying children.
"It is in her lover's bedroom, sitting on the mattress, shivering in the air-conditioning and trying to block out the image of her colleagues who were executed by firing squad on the beach days before. It is in the cabinet room of the Executive Mansion as she tries to stem the nausea that rises when she sees those same executioners discussing the budget she put together as they look for loopholes from which they can extract money.
"In Liberia a woman's place is not in a jail cell.
"There are many things Liberian women will tolerate. They accept that it is their burden to shoulder all of the responsibility for keeping their family fed, whether that means farming alone all day or submitting to gang rape as the price that must be paid to keep their children alive. But jail, for some reason, is a step too far.
"Before Dr. Samuel Doe threw Ellen Johnson Sirleaf into a jail cell at the Barclay Training Center, she was, to the developing world, just one of many promising, ambitious West African government bureaucrats. But Doe changed all that when he locked her in the post stockade and charged her with sedition. He turned her from a bureaucrat into a global hero." (71)
**********
"Ellen argued in favor of violence. She invoked Malcolm X; his refusal to embrace nonviolence had scared white America into listening to Martin Luther King Jr. Her argument came with the powerful backing of her cult hero status. She had been imprisoned by Doe, had been sentenced to Bella Yalla, had won and then refused to take a Senate seat because the elections were fraudulent. People paid attention when Ellen Johnson Sirleaf talked." (99)
**********
"On December 24, 1989, Charles Taylor and 170 insurgents crossed the Ivorian border into Liberia, launching Liberia's civil war. It would last fourteen years and snuff out 200,000 lives.
"The ramifications of that war still aren't fully known. Who can say, three decades later, what lives would have been led by the children who were turned into soldiers at the age of eight, drugged up on amphetamines and marched into the bush on orders to kill, maim, and dismember? Who can know what demons haunt the dreams of the former child combatant, teddy bear backpack strapped over this shoulders, who sprayed a village just outside Monrovia with his machine gun while the severed head of his boyhood friend lay on the asphalt beside him, broiling under the hot sun? Or the woman who fought and screamed while her two boys were taken away by drunken rebels clad in Halloween masks, who then threw her to the ground, mounted and raped her, all the while keeping their Halloween masks on?
"Almost three decades after the start of the Civil War, Liberia is still a country of the walking wounded, one of those places where every single person of a certain age has a war story to tell, a story so grisly that your stomach turns and you want to vomit. How do people come back from that?
"But if the ramifications still aren't known, they certainly weren't foreseen back in 1989, when Taylor's forces attacked a frontier post at Butuo near the Nimba Country crossing point. Back then, all anyone knew was that someone with a legitimate chance of defeating Doe was on the march." (99-100)
**********
"Throughout all of these blood-soaked years of horror, it was the women of those countries who suffered the most. There are, after all, far worse things that dying. Dying is easy: the clap-clap of a machine gun, the slicing of a cutlass, the nothingness that comes after. Living can be harder. To live with the image of your children being dragged away, knowing they will become killers and will then be killed themselves. To be raped so often by teenagers wearing Halloween masks that you can't close your eyes without imagining a bewigged monstrosity looming above you. And to see your rapist take off his mask and reveal his face--and that face is your son's.
"In Liberia, the war turned every woman into a market woman. Rich and poor. elites and native women, educated and illiterate, the overwhelming reaction of the Liberian women to all that was going on around them was to make market. Whatever functional economy existed in Liberia during those black years existed because of the market women." (132)
**********
"There was never any question that the election of the first woman to rule Liberia would spark a backlash among the men. Africa has always been a deeply paternalistic place, dominated for centuries by a Y chromosome that instilled in generations of men the belief that no matter how many conquerors, European or otherwise, might come to rule them, at the end of the day the men would always at least have women under them. And as long as the women were under their control, many African men believed, all was not lost.
"Now Madame and her women had upended that fundamental tenet of African sexual politics. And that sparked the anger that comes from seeing someone you view as your inferior rise above you. For an American reference, just talk to some of those people holding the 'We want our country back' signs after Obama was elected president.
"With a woman president, a feat engineered largely by women, the doormats that for centuries had cushioned the men from the floor were gone. And the men wanted them back.
"But the doormats weren't willing to be doormats anymore." (200-201)
**********
"Then, as the rains peaked in July, Ebola made it known that it was not going to be silenced. How did it do this? It infected white people.
"Suddenly, this was no longer a West African problem. With the infection of two white missionaries, Kent Brantley and Nancy Writebol, who would be quickly evacuated to Atlanta, where they survived, Ebola suddenly became the subject of global hyperventilation and panic." (265)
**********
"George W. Bush had 9/11; Barack Obama, the global economic collapse. Most presidents face a single epic challenge. For Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, every year presented a new epic challenge. War had destroyed her country, taking not only 200,000 lives but blowing apart the rules that governed society, from respect for old people to protection of women and children. Children were empowered to take up guns and drugs and to turn on each other.
"Rebuilding was a consuming task, hobbled by what seemed to be a different challenge every year, from the herculean effort to put her tattered country back together after fourteen years of carnage to giving voice to the Liberian women who have, for decades, carried the country on their backs. In fact, those were easy by comparison.
"After she finished all of those, it turned out that the fates had one more, far more difficult challenge left for her: the challenge of Ebola. It was almost as if she were receiving one last directive from the omnipotent chroniclers in the sky: if you care as much as you profess to about leaving a legacy of economic growth and empowerment for women and children after you leave office, then we have one more little hurdle for you to jump.
"And it's a hurdle you'd better clear. Because if you trip, it will wipe out everything." (265-266)
**********
"By early October, unbeknownst to the global health authorities who were still putting out increasingly dire forecasts of how many people were going to die of Ebola, Liberians, led by their president, had begun a grassroots effort to climb their way out of the Ebola pit themselves.
"The debacle of the West Point quarantine, which had led to the death of Shakie Kamara and the lowest point of Madame's presidency, had been a turning point. She had called in the cavalry in the form of the U.S. military, which was busily constructing Ebola treatment units around the country, and had appealed to the United States and the international community for money, doctors, and health professionals.
"But at the same time, Madame and her people--in particular, her grassroots base--had rolled up their sleeves and taken on the fight against Ebola themselves.
"This was a country that had lived with demons for two decades, through the Doe and Taylor years. Liberians had become accustomed to learning how to live with devils. EVD, the acronym some Liberians were using (for Ebola virus disease), was just the latest in a long list of them. And if there was one thing Liberians had learned in their two decades of hell, it was that they were adaptable.
"By late September, single-family huts in local villages had chlorinated water stations outside the front entryway, and every day Liberians washed their hands with bleach so many times they joked about turning into white people. Volunteer watchdog groups--often led by the same women who helped get Madame elected in 2005 and reelected in 2011--popped up in local neighborhoods, monitoring to make sure people were washing with chlorine, taking their temperature, and, above all, not touching each other.
"They set up hand-washing stations all over town. They kept records of who had gotten sick and who had died. They put entire households under quarantine. And they made their own protective gear, using plastic shopping bags to cover their arms and flimsy paper masks to cover their mouth, so that they could take care of their sick...
"As the international community galvanized to help, Liberians were abandoning their age-old 'God will provide' adage and trying to help themselves." (278-280)
December 1, 2021
Given the subject, one might think that this book could write itself. Even if so, Cooper’s intimate knowledge of Liberian history, politics and culture and her story telling technique, provide a context that makes one appreciate exactly how remarkable the story of Johnson Sirleaf and her country really is. Below are some but not all of the highlights.
The language: Cooper’s translations and explanations of the parable-filled Liberian English helped me get a bit of a feel for the language but I am still puzzling over how one translates “Ma, de pekin wa’na easy oh” into “This child will be great.” I can see a connection between a difficulty and greatness but cannot make out what “pekin” is supposed to mean.
The Michael Twitty connection: Cooper’s mentioning of dishes, such Liberian Jollof rice (“the real” Jollof rice) and fufu (fermented Casava/Yucca dumplings) brought back fond memories of “The Cooking Gene.” Like Johnson Sirleaf, Twitty is of Golan descent and he describes Golans as being skilled rice growers who were valued by plantation owners in America. Cooper does not mention rice growing as a Golan tradition, but she does say that rice is the most important food in Liberian cuisine. If you read this book, you will learn how rice plays a part in the tumultuous recent Liberian history.
The badass Liberian women: Cooper uses statistics and personal narratives to convey the atrocities that befell Liberian women. Their determination to support their families during the 14 years of civil war and elect a competent, well-qualified female president who would bring them peace was moving. After the election, however, Johnson Sirleaf’s alliance with the market women in particular was rocky as they had very different goals. Johnson Sirleaf wanted to rebuild a sanitary, attractive or orderly city that would attract investment while the market women wanted to set up shop, wherever it was convenient regardless of whether it in the middle of a major thoroughfare. She also had challenges dealing with some of her more zealous supporters, such as Mayor Mary Broh who took no prisoners when it came to cleaning up Monrovia.
Ebola: The beginning of this story sounds similar to the story of Covid-19 in the United States. People in Liberia were in denial about the seriousness of Ebola and dismissed it as a less serious disease, such as Malaria. Eventually, Johnson Sirleaf was able to get support from President Obama and the Liberian people mobilized to fight the disease. There is an inspiring story about a nursing student who was able to save all but one member of her family and avoid illness herself.
The language: Cooper’s translations and explanations of the parable-filled Liberian English helped me get a bit of a feel for the language but I am still puzzling over how one translates “Ma, de pekin wa’na easy oh” into “This child will be great.” I can see a connection between a difficulty and greatness but cannot make out what “pekin” is supposed to mean.
The Michael Twitty connection: Cooper’s mentioning of dishes, such Liberian Jollof rice (“the real” Jollof rice) and fufu (fermented Casava/Yucca dumplings) brought back fond memories of “The Cooking Gene.” Like Johnson Sirleaf, Twitty is of Golan descent and he describes Golans as being skilled rice growers who were valued by plantation owners in America. Cooper does not mention rice growing as a Golan tradition, but she does say that rice is the most important food in Liberian cuisine. If you read this book, you will learn how rice plays a part in the tumultuous recent Liberian history.
The badass Liberian women: Cooper uses statistics and personal narratives to convey the atrocities that befell Liberian women. Their determination to support their families during the 14 years of civil war and elect a competent, well-qualified female president who would bring them peace was moving. After the election, however, Johnson Sirleaf’s alliance with the market women in particular was rocky as they had very different goals. Johnson Sirleaf wanted to rebuild a sanitary, attractive or orderly city that would attract investment while the market women wanted to set up shop, wherever it was convenient regardless of whether it in the middle of a major thoroughfare. She also had challenges dealing with some of her more zealous supporters, such as Mayor Mary Broh who took no prisoners when it came to cleaning up Monrovia.
Ebola: The beginning of this story sounds similar to the story of Covid-19 in the United States. People in Liberia were in denial about the seriousness of Ebola and dismissed it as a less serious disease, such as Malaria. Eventually, Johnson Sirleaf was able to get support from President Obama and the Liberian people mobilized to fight the disease. There is an inspiring story about a nursing student who was able to save all but one member of her family and avoid illness herself.
May 26, 2019
This was a fascinating read. The only things I really knew about Liberia before reading this was that it was founded by freed American slaves and that Charles Taylor was bad. This book, though it purports to be about Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, really is more the story of Liberia over the past few decades. Author and journalist Cooper delves into the workings of the Liberian government and the civil war, using Sirleaf as sort of a framing device.
Not realizing this while starting the book, I found it somewhat frustrating at times. Sirleaf's life is fascinating. She went to the United States for a college degree and a master's, worked in the Liberian government, and also worked for organizations like the World Bank and Citibank. For a woman born in 1938, who was doing this work in the 1960s and 1970s, this is incredible. How many meetings must she have attended where she was the only woman--or only black person?
And yet, this book doesn't delve into that AT ALL. Cooper glosses over much of Sirleaf's formative years. Cooper seems to be more focused on the bigger picture, and less on what it must've been like for someone from Monrovia, Liberia, to go to school in Wisconsin.
Cooper also seems to have certain things she wanted to focus on (did we need THAT much on the Ebola crisis?), and those were the story of Liberia itself. She paints a vivid picture of Liberia during the war, giving glimpses into the lives of ordinary Liberians. Cooper is particularly interested in the women of Liberia. The story of the post-war presidential election (and Sirleaf's reelection) was vividly recounted. She occasionally used a style that seemed too informal for the subject matter, but book is engagingly written.
This seems like a story that needs more pages. If I reframe it in my mind as a book that was meant to be an introduction to Liberia for a wide audience, I can highly recommend it. I learned a lot, and it was a quick read. There are other things I wish it was, but I still enjoyed it.
Not realizing this while starting the book, I found it somewhat frustrating at times. Sirleaf's life is fascinating. She went to the United States for a college degree and a master's, worked in the Liberian government, and also worked for organizations like the World Bank and Citibank. For a woman born in 1938, who was doing this work in the 1960s and 1970s, this is incredible. How many meetings must she have attended where she was the only woman--or only black person?
And yet, this book doesn't delve into that AT ALL. Cooper glosses over much of Sirleaf's formative years. Cooper seems to be more focused on the bigger picture, and less on what it must've been like for someone from Monrovia, Liberia, to go to school in Wisconsin.
Cooper also seems to have certain things she wanted to focus on (did we need THAT much on the Ebola crisis?), and those were the story of Liberia itself. She paints a vivid picture of Liberia during the war, giving glimpses into the lives of ordinary Liberians. Cooper is particularly interested in the women of Liberia. The story of the post-war presidential election (and Sirleaf's reelection) was vividly recounted. She occasionally used a style that seemed too informal for the subject matter, but book is engagingly written.
This seems like a story that needs more pages. If I reframe it in my mind as a book that was meant to be an introduction to Liberia for a wide audience, I can highly recommend it. I learned a lot, and it was a quick read. There are other things I wish it was, but I still enjoyed it.
August 6, 2017
Powerfully memoir on Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.
A visionary who was not limited by circumstances, people nor her gender. A fighter, both literally and figuratively. A woman who took Liberia from obscurity, poverty, hunger and desease to a country slowly on the mend. Like a phoenix, Liberia rose from its war-torn ashes to rebuilding itself all because of one woman's vision and a whole lot of women who believed in her vision too.
A woman who fought with the system. Against the system. Within the system to ensure equal rights, equal access for ALL Liberians. Yes, Liberia is still struggling, not out of the doldrums yet, but it is inching towards its millennium developmental goals. A woman who used her vast network of influencers to manifest the vision she had of Liberia. She led from the back. She led from the front. She led from the sides. We have so much we could learn from her. The rest of Africa, please take note: THIS IS HOW YOU SERVE THE PEOPLE👊👊👊👊👊
I read the last page with some trepidation. Ellen for Global Presidency.
A visionary who was not limited by circumstances, people nor her gender. A fighter, both literally and figuratively. A woman who took Liberia from obscurity, poverty, hunger and desease to a country slowly on the mend. Like a phoenix, Liberia rose from its war-torn ashes to rebuilding itself all because of one woman's vision and a whole lot of women who believed in her vision too.
A woman who fought with the system. Against the system. Within the system to ensure equal rights, equal access for ALL Liberians. Yes, Liberia is still struggling, not out of the doldrums yet, but it is inching towards its millennium developmental goals. A woman who used her vast network of influencers to manifest the vision she had of Liberia. She led from the back. She led from the front. She led from the sides. We have so much we could learn from her. The rest of Africa, please take note: THIS IS HOW YOU SERVE THE PEOPLE👊👊👊👊👊
I read the last page with some trepidation. Ellen for Global Presidency.
May 10, 2018
All biographies are written with a point of view. And this point of view was unabashedly pro-Sirleaf. Which is fine, the story was definitely told in a compelling way. However, sometimes the manipulation was too overt, and the point of view so interjected. For me, the clearest example was when describing Ellen's turn to politics as being inspired from sharing a cell with a rape victim, and saying that previously she had grown up wanting to be a teacher. Of course, by this point in Ellen's life, she had already been minister of finance.
I understand that society treats women with ambition different than men with ambition, but I'd rather have had the author explore those nuances, and the moral grey areas that Ellen encountered over the years, then creating a simplistic tale of a hero.
I understand that society treats women with ambition different than men with ambition, but I'd rather have had the author explore those nuances, and the moral grey areas that Ellen encountered over the years, then creating a simplistic tale of a hero.
May 29, 2021
Cómo no gustarme una historia que invita a pensar, aprender, admirar y a cuestionar a sus protagonistas, a la vez que motiva a investigar más sobre los mismos. Todo eso lo ofrece Helene Cooper en esta biografía de Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.
Ellen es más que una mujer de muchos logros; es un humano de enormes hazañas. No sólo vemos cómo alcanza su propósito a pesar de siglos de prejuicios, sino que primero lo logra, no en su país; donde la ley del más fuerte es la norma, sino en un mundo de hombres; de blancos, en la elite financiera global, para luego convertirse en la primera mujer presidente en el continente africano y terminar con décadas de guerra civil, liberando magistralmente a Liberia de una deuda externa colosal y superando el mayor brote de ébola hasta el momento.
La manera en cómo ella alcanza todo esto es una historia digna de leer, y el relato; aunque contado muy a favor de Ellen, no deja de mostrarnos eventos cuestionables durante dicho trayecto (nepotismo, “travesuras” electorales, sobornos).
La autora enriquece la trama agregando al contexto elementos importantes de la historia y cultura africana en la que navega este relato, un “extra” que no tiene desperdicios y que, lamentablemente, muestra que esa etiqueta de salvajismo es real, así como elementos políticos muy parecidos a la situación latinoamericana (el término, acuñado por Ellen, "cleptocracía", nos cabe como anillo al dedo).
Altamente recomendado.
4.25 / 5
Ellen es más que una mujer de muchos logros; es un humano de enormes hazañas. No sólo vemos cómo alcanza su propósito a pesar de siglos de prejuicios, sino que primero lo logra, no en su país; donde la ley del más fuerte es la norma, sino en un mundo de hombres; de blancos, en la elite financiera global, para luego convertirse en la primera mujer presidente en el continente africano y terminar con décadas de guerra civil, liberando magistralmente a Liberia de una deuda externa colosal y superando el mayor brote de ébola hasta el momento.
La manera en cómo ella alcanza todo esto es una historia digna de leer, y el relato; aunque contado muy a favor de Ellen, no deja de mostrarnos eventos cuestionables durante dicho trayecto (nepotismo, “travesuras” electorales, sobornos).
La autora enriquece la trama agregando al contexto elementos importantes de la historia y cultura africana en la que navega este relato, un “extra” que no tiene desperdicios y que, lamentablemente, muestra que esa etiqueta de salvajismo es real, así como elementos políticos muy parecidos a la situación latinoamericana (el término, acuñado por Ellen, "cleptocracía", nos cabe como anillo al dedo).
Altamente recomendado.
4.25 / 5
January 21, 2021
I considered putting this one off for a bit because I felt run down and the idea of reading about civil war and a pandemic wasn't too appealing, but I'm glad I read this one.
While Cooper details incredible violence (coup, genital mutilation, gang rapes, civil war, mass murder to name a few) she intersperses these decades of unrest with humorous or inspiring anecdotes to keep things from getting too dark.
Madame President not only tells the story of a strong, but imperfect woman, it also tells the story of the power of women en masse. Sirleaf never could have risen to the Presidency on her own despite her experience and education. She did so with the support and action of women who were tired of seeing men reap the rewards of their work while they starved. It is a documentation of how things truly get done once women take up the helm and get it done.
While Cooper details incredible violence (coup, genital mutilation, gang rapes, civil war, mass murder to name a few) she intersperses these decades of unrest with humorous or inspiring anecdotes to keep things from getting too dark.
Madame President not only tells the story of a strong, but imperfect woman, it also tells the story of the power of women en masse. Sirleaf never could have risen to the Presidency on her own despite her experience and education. She did so with the support and action of women who were tired of seeing men reap the rewards of their work while they starved. It is a documentation of how things truly get done once women take up the helm and get it done.
April 8, 2018
Ellen Johnson Sirleaf is the first female to be elected president of a country in Africa and one of three female African Nobel Laureates. Cooper’s book offers us glimpses into her childhood, but mostly focuses on her rise to fame as an economic expert and, ultimately, as president of Liberia. The author does not shy away from the controversies that surrounded Madame during her presidency, creating a well-rounded biography of the renowned icon.
July 20, 2020
Me encantó. Cautivador e inquietante.
June 29, 2017
I generally avoid books about contemporary politics—they date themselves quickly, which makes me feel like they're a waste of my time; that's what the newspaper is for. This is not such a book. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf is a bad-ass of breathtaking proportions. She was THE person to lead Liberia past the legacy of civil war and through the ebola crisis.
Likewise, Helene Cooper is THE person to have written this book. A world-renowned journalist and Liberian-American, her prose is direct and uncomplicated; she confronts her subject's flaws and serious missteps as well as her many amazing qualities; and she can shine a lot on all those bizarre, surreal, "only-in-Liberia" moments without coming across as jingoistic. She also has hilarious moments, mostly concentrated in the post-civil war, pre-ebola time period, like when George Weah's naked Italian cologne commercial went public. haha!
I listened to the audiobook, which I highly recommend. Like Sirleaf, the narrator Marlene Cooper Vasilic can switch seamlessly between Liberian English and American English. The texture and idiomatic nuances would have been lost on me had I read it.
If you read the newspaper sometimes during the 1990s and early 2000s, you probably already know that this book will contain a lot of disturbing descriptions of gang rape and child soldiers. This is the reality experienced by millions of people; it's difficult, but it's a good opportunity for (white, Western) readers to un-center our feelings and confront the extremes of humanity. In particular, I was horrified to see all the parallels with my own society. Things can go completely to shit awfully quickly. The United States may never have a Charles Taylor, but extremism in any form can crush society and the rule of law in the blink of an eye.
Neoliberalism as a movement is currently at its nadir, and I understand why. Classical liberalism and conservatism both seem so much more manageable, humane, and rational than our current world. I personally am deep in the grips of nostalgia for old-fashioned liberals and conservatives. This book provides an excellent antidote to those unhelpful emotions. Ellen Johnson Surleaf is a neoliberal through and through, and that's why she's been such a success. She stares the facts in the face and unabashedly asks for help. She's practical, and she's tough. This is a must-read.
Likewise, Helene Cooper is THE person to have written this book. A world-renowned journalist and Liberian-American, her prose is direct and uncomplicated; she confronts her subject's flaws and serious missteps as well as her many amazing qualities; and she can shine a lot on all those bizarre, surreal, "only-in-Liberia" moments without coming across as jingoistic. She also has hilarious moments, mostly concentrated in the post-civil war, pre-ebola time period, like when George Weah's naked Italian cologne commercial went public. haha!
I listened to the audiobook, which I highly recommend. Like Sirleaf, the narrator Marlene Cooper Vasilic can switch seamlessly between Liberian English and American English. The texture and idiomatic nuances would have been lost on me had I read it.
If you read the newspaper sometimes during the 1990s and early 2000s, you probably already know that this book will contain a lot of disturbing descriptions of gang rape and child soldiers. This is the reality experienced by millions of people; it's difficult, but it's a good opportunity for (white, Western) readers to un-center our feelings and confront the extremes of humanity. In particular, I was horrified to see all the parallels with my own society. Things can go completely to shit awfully quickly. The United States may never have a Charles Taylor, but extremism in any form can crush society and the rule of law in the blink of an eye.
Neoliberalism as a movement is currently at its nadir, and I understand why. Classical liberalism and conservatism both seem so much more manageable, humane, and rational than our current world. I personally am deep in the grips of nostalgia for old-fashioned liberals and conservatives. This book provides an excellent antidote to those unhelpful emotions. Ellen Johnson Surleaf is a neoliberal through and through, and that's why she's been such a success. She stares the facts in the face and unabashedly asks for help. She's practical, and she's tough. This is a must-read.
August 13, 2018
Hands down the best book I have read this year. What an incredible woman, who grew from a mother of four and victim of domestic violence into the first female president of an African country. This book on Ellen Johnson Sirleaf is also an ode to the power and resilience of women and what they can achieve when they pull together against a world of men who wage wars and let corruption fester. It is telling that when Ellen, with a degree in Public Administration, experience in the World Bank and United Nations Development Programme, ran for president against an opponent who was a football player with no experience in politics, all the men, both young football fans and experienced politicians, banded behind him against her; and it was the women of Liberia, who kept food on the table during the civil war, who endured rape (an abysmal 70% of all Liberian women had been raped by the end of the war) and had their children taken away and turned into child soldiers, it was those women who registered in droves and "voted for Woman". Ellen Johnson Sirleaf is not presented as someone perfect, having faced hard choices that led her to leave her children behind and having put her son in charge of an oil company, in a classic example of nepotism; but one cannot help but admire the brilliance of a woman that took the helm of a war-ravaged country and got its $4.7 billion debt pardoned, who won a Nobel prize and guided the country through the deadliest Ebola pandemic in history. What a life story. What a hero and role model.
June 28, 2017
All I really want to read right now are life stories of interesting women.
Helene Cooper's memoir 'The House at Sugar Beach' was one of the best books I read over the last few years. I wondered what she would write next and was excited it was this biography of the first woman elected as a head of state in Africa. Reading this was definitely enhanced by having read Cooper's own memoir about growing up in (and leaving and returning to) Liberia, and now that I've read 'Madame President' I have a much greater understanding of the political context of Liberia. Johnson Sirleaf's story is fascinating -- very hard to read in places, as the book covers the violence and political chaos of Liberia's years of civil war -- while the politics in the later chapters are absolutely riveting.
Helene Cooper's memoir 'The House at Sugar Beach' was one of the best books I read over the last few years. I wondered what she would write next and was excited it was this biography of the first woman elected as a head of state in Africa. Reading this was definitely enhanced by having read Cooper's own memoir about growing up in (and leaving and returning to) Liberia, and now that I've read 'Madame President' I have a much greater understanding of the political context of Liberia. Johnson Sirleaf's story is fascinating -- very hard to read in places, as the book covers the violence and political chaos of Liberia's years of civil war -- while the politics in the later chapters are absolutely riveting.
June 7, 2017
It was hard to read this book without thinking of the parallels between the US and Liberia during the recent election – minus the extreme violence and third world setting. Helene Cooper wrote an inspiring biography of a remarkable woman who overcame all odds to become president of Liberia. It should be required reading for anyone who thinks they can’t effect change. And men should take note. Look what happens when women mobilize. Nevertheless, she persisted.
July 17, 2018
I was looking forward to reading this as I have a real connection to the content of this book. I served a Peace Corps Volunteer in Liberia and was evacuated during the Ebola epidemic. I was most interested to read what Helene Cooper had to say about that period of time and how Ma Ellen handled it.
The first part of the book was good, but I think it kind of glossed over and didn't go into as much detail about the different warring factions during the Civil War. If anyone enjoyed the content and wanted to learn more about this period of time, I would highly suggest reading Ellen Johnson Sirleaf's book "This Child Will Be Great". Her book has a lot more detail, but Cooper's book paired with this is a great balance as Cooper covered some stories that Sirleaf skimmed over (*cough* her direct support of Charles Taylor *cough*). I also suggest reading "Blood Diamond" by Greg Campbell as his book covers the civil war that erupted in neighboring Sierra Leone and how Charles Taylor played a part with that. After reading that, Helene Cooper's book will seem tame in the imagery and horrors that Charles Taylor committed.
The last part of the book covering Sirleaf's response to Ebola was pretty accurate although I wish Cooper had more information on Ebola i.e. it's origin and how you actually contract it. As a PSA for this, Ebola can only be contracted if someone is showing symptoms and if you come in contact with their bodily fluids. If someone is sick with it but show no signs, then you cannot get it. I do wish she expounded a bit more on how the Civil War, or as Liberian's refer to it as the 'Civil Conflict', really affected people's trust of the government and how deeply shattered the infrastructure is. Roads are beyond terrible, there are no news papers, there is radio, but not everyone has access to it and sometimes it's a game of telephone where not everything is correctly translated.
Helene Cooper also forgot to mention that roadblocks were set up at different parts of the country preventing any movement including trucks with food. This caused another sort of panic as food became scarce, reminiscent of the war. I wish she also talked about that yes, thousands of people died of Ebola, but countless more died from other diseases because hospitals had no room for them or were too scared to accept anyone, even pregnant women.
Essentially I highly suggest reading this book. There are many American's I'm sure who have no idea the connection between Liberia and the U.S. and I would highly recommend this book to help understand that relationship.
The first part of the book was good, but I think it kind of glossed over and didn't go into as much detail about the different warring factions during the Civil War. If anyone enjoyed the content and wanted to learn more about this period of time, I would highly suggest reading Ellen Johnson Sirleaf's book "This Child Will Be Great". Her book has a lot more detail, but Cooper's book paired with this is a great balance as Cooper covered some stories that Sirleaf skimmed over (*cough* her direct support of Charles Taylor *cough*). I also suggest reading "Blood Diamond" by Greg Campbell as his book covers the civil war that erupted in neighboring Sierra Leone and how Charles Taylor played a part with that. After reading that, Helene Cooper's book will seem tame in the imagery and horrors that Charles Taylor committed.
The last part of the book covering Sirleaf's response to Ebola was pretty accurate although I wish Cooper had more information on Ebola i.e. it's origin and how you actually contract it. As a PSA for this, Ebola can only be contracted if someone is showing symptoms and if you come in contact with their bodily fluids. If someone is sick with it but show no signs, then you cannot get it. I do wish she expounded a bit more on how the Civil War, or as Liberian's refer to it as the 'Civil Conflict', really affected people's trust of the government and how deeply shattered the infrastructure is. Roads are beyond terrible, there are no news papers, there is radio, but not everyone has access to it and sometimes it's a game of telephone where not everything is correctly translated.
Helene Cooper also forgot to mention that roadblocks were set up at different parts of the country preventing any movement including trucks with food. This caused another sort of panic as food became scarce, reminiscent of the war. I wish she also talked about that yes, thousands of people died of Ebola, but countless more died from other diseases because hospitals had no room for them or were too scared to accept anyone, even pregnant women.
Essentially I highly suggest reading this book. There are many American's I'm sure who have no idea the connection between Liberia and the U.S. and I would highly recommend this book to help understand that relationship.
April 26, 2021
While this book seemed a bit long, it was really fascinating. Even though I'm something of a history buff, I had never heard of Mme. Sirleaf until someone recommended the book for my Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge this year.
Mme. Sirleaf had an interesting and complicated life - as most folks in the political arena seem to have. The cronyism and "old boy network" she had to fight to get elected in the first place were far too similar to what we have seen lately in the American political scene. However, some of the creative (and not always 100% aboveboard) methods Mme. Sirleaf's election team used to marshall the women's vote (absolutely necessary for her victory) were rather different than those we see here.
Further, once in office, Mme. Sirleaf is far from perfect. Well aware of her strengths, she utilizes them to get Liberia's global debts forgiven and to try to set Liberia on a path of development. However, she makes a fair number of missteps along the way - even to the point of being accused of doing just what her predecessors did when they were in office. However, the steps she takes -- right or wrong -- still allow Mme. Sirleaf's concerns for Liberia's women to shine through. Further, her ability to "codeswitch" helps her communicate effectively on the world financial and political stages, where she fights to get the larger more established nations to take Liberia and its needs and progress seriously.
One thing I have learned in my 68 years is that it is always humbling to find out how much I DON'T know about something. Having a whole new-to-me area of history to learn about is thrilling, and I look forward to learning more about Africa in general, and Liberia in particular.
Lastly, I highly recommend Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge for finding books outside of one's comfort zone.
Mme. Sirleaf had an interesting and complicated life - as most folks in the political arena seem to have. The cronyism and "old boy network" she had to fight to get elected in the first place were far too similar to what we have seen lately in the American political scene. However, some of the creative (and not always 100% aboveboard) methods Mme. Sirleaf's election team used to marshall the women's vote (absolutely necessary for her victory) were rather different than those we see here.
Further, once in office, Mme. Sirleaf is far from perfect. Well aware of her strengths, she utilizes them to get Liberia's global debts forgiven and to try to set Liberia on a path of development. However, she makes a fair number of missteps along the way - even to the point of being accused of doing just what her predecessors did when they were in office. However, the steps she takes -- right or wrong -- still allow Mme. Sirleaf's concerns for Liberia's women to shine through. Further, her ability to "codeswitch" helps her communicate effectively on the world financial and political stages, where she fights to get the larger more established nations to take Liberia and its needs and progress seriously.
One thing I have learned in my 68 years is that it is always humbling to find out how much I DON'T know about something. Having a whole new-to-me area of history to learn about is thrilling, and I look forward to learning more about Africa in general, and Liberia in particular.
Lastly, I highly recommend Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge for finding books outside of one's comfort zone.
July 2, 2025
I went in not knowing much at all about Liberian history, but wanting to know more after a mention of Black colonialism in Ta-Nehisi Coates book "The Message." This book was so well researched and informative. It is absolutely the way all history should be written - engaging, propulsive, nuanced and unflinching. Cooper both honors the triumph and legacy of Cooper as the first woman President of the country while also highlighting her shortcomings and mistakes which I think is important. More than that it's not just a book about Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, but about a country that has been through decades of unimaginable loss, death, and destruction. I highly recommend this to better understand the history of Liberia - from its founding by freed Black slaves turned colonizers to decades of civil war, massacres and truly unspeakable terror, to surviving the Ebola pandemic.
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March 29, 2017You never know how strong you are until being strong is the only option you are left with. To rise as a woman in this part of the world has been a taboo. Helene Cooper splendid compilation of this real life event does not only portray how EJS or Ma Ellen (as we call her) broke the taboo of a woman becoming president for an African country, neither did it only offset the notion held by men in Africa for ages that “a woman’s place is in the kitchen”, but it also displayed how any woman, no matter your color or race, no matter your geographical location or ethnicity, no matter your financial status or your family name, you can achieve your dreams once you are determine and hardworking. Her rise to the presidency have serve as a stepping stone on which we Liberian women and other women around the world have built the courage to pursued for more. THIS IS A REAL PIECE!!
January 30, 2018
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.
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