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A review by erboe501
Madame President: The Extraordinary Journey of Ellen Johnson Sirleaf by Helene Cooper
5.0
This was an absolutely captivating listen. I knew nothing about Liberian history and had never even heard of Sirleaf before this book. I'm sure I'm not the only ignorant American, and that needs to change. Because her story is remarkable! I appreciate all of Cooper's background on Liberia and how it fits into larger social and cultural waves and history with other African countries. For someone unfamiliar with Liberian customs, Cooper does a good job of contextualizing the things that are very different from American customs (like the uncomfortable expectation that you rape women, not jail them).
At the end of this book I'm left with this residual horror at how awful the Liberian civil war was for so long, and how it was never discussed in history classes growing up. Because of the movie Hotel Rwanda, one of my high school classes discussed the Rwanda genocide. Liberia would have dovetailed well with that discussion, and has even more relevance given Liberia's American roots. The statistic that haunts me the most: 70% of Liberian women were raped during the civil war. The final chapters on the Ebola outbreak were also very eye-opening, since that's something I can remember hearing in the news. I never thought about how these countries dealt with the disease, and how cultural attitudes about familial responsibility and communication impacted the disease's spread.
One thing that I'm slightly wary of is how one-sided this portrait of Sirleaf might be. There are hints about times when she made poor decisions, like nepotism during her presidency, that Cooper mentions. I can't help but wonder, is there more to these asides than discussed in the book? To her credit, Cooper does characterize many of Sirleaf's decisions as erroneous when that's appropriate. But she always circles around again to the positives. Which is understandable given the outlook of the biography: this is a celebration of the first female president of an African country. But what might the other side of the story say?
Bias, nepotism, and gray areas aside, Sirleaf really does have an inspiring story. It was an emotional roller coaster to read about her life. I would highly, highly recommend this book.
At the end of this book I'm left with this residual horror at how awful the Liberian civil war was for so long, and how it was never discussed in history classes growing up. Because of the movie Hotel Rwanda, one of my high school classes discussed the Rwanda genocide. Liberia would have dovetailed well with that discussion, and has even more relevance given Liberia's American roots. The statistic that haunts me the most: 70% of Liberian women were raped during the civil war. The final chapters on the Ebola outbreak were also very eye-opening, since that's something I can remember hearing in the news. I never thought about how these countries dealt with the disease, and how cultural attitudes about familial responsibility and communication impacted the disease's spread.
One thing that I'm slightly wary of is how one-sided this portrait of Sirleaf might be. There are hints about times when she made poor decisions, like nepotism during her presidency, that Cooper mentions. I can't help but wonder, is there more to these asides than discussed in the book? To her credit, Cooper does characterize many of Sirleaf's decisions as erroneous when that's appropriate. But she always circles around again to the positives. Which is understandable given the outlook of the biography: this is a celebration of the first female president of an African country. But what might the other side of the story say?
Bias, nepotism, and gray areas aside, Sirleaf really does have an inspiring story. It was an emotional roller coaster to read about her life. I would highly, highly recommend this book.