Helene Cooper is the Pulitzer Prize-winning Pentagon correspondent for The New York Times, having previously served as White House Correspondent, diplomatic correspondent, and the assistant editorial page editor. Prior to moving to the Times, Helene spent twelve years as a reporter and foreign correspondent at The Wall Street Journal. She is the author of the bestselling memoir, The House at Sugar Beach, and Madame President, a biography of Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. She was born in Monrovia, Liberia, and lives in the Washington, DC area.
PRAISE FOR MADAME PRESIDENT "Madame President is more than the life
story of Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, who broke political and cultural
barriers in becoming the first woman to be elected president of an
African nation. It is the expansive and penetrating narrative of a
country, Liberia, that sweeps across continents and time...It moves
swiftly through decades, eventually addressing the Ebola crisis
that became the nadir of Sirleaf's two terms in office...[Cooper]
writes vividly and with authority...her book is impressive for both
its detail and the insight it provides into a historic figure.
Throughout, she offers an unflinching look at the reserved
Sirleaf's personal life and presidency, which comes to an end this
year, while also telling of Liberia's pain and pride."
--Washington Post "Cooper, who grew up in Liberia, tells the Nobel
Peace Prize winner's personal story and examines her leadership of
the Liberian women's movement, promising a look at one of the few
women to run a nation not only in Africa, but anywhere."
--Washington Post "Unspools like a novel, fitting for a life that
is nothing short of mythic...It's filled with details that emerge
from dogged reporting as well as an intimate understanding of
Liberia's complexity and culture, which perhaps could come only
from being a native daughter...Cooper's prose, witty, blunt and
peppered with the Pidgin English spoken by the peoples of Liberia,
immerses the reader in the fabric of that small, West African
country...Madame President is a fascinating read to enlighten those
who may know little about this woman and the nation she leads, and
who will undoubtedly be left wanting to know much more."
--USA Today (3.5 stars) "A tour-de-force biography...a colorful and
compelling portrait."
--Essence "A riveting tale of civil war, political corruption, and
personal ambition. Like her memoir, The House at Sugar Beach, this
biography delves into Liberia's modern-day travails. Its heroes are
women--not only Sirleaf, the first democratically elected female
president of Liberia (and its current president), who earned a
Nobel Peace Prize and handled the 2014 Ebola crisis, but the
ordinary market women who threw their influence behind her."
--Publishers Weekly "A celebratory biography of Africa's first
female president and 2011 Nobel Prize winner...a woman of
spectacular political achievement...A brisk chronicle of a
strong-willed, tireless, and determined leader."
--Kirkus Reviews "Cooper presents an eye-opening account, holding
nothing back. Slipping in and out of Liberian English, she creates
a vivid portrait of life in Liberia, illustrating the odds and
struggles Sirleaf faced. Powerful and thoroughly researched,
Cooper's narratives are haunting and cinematic in their level of
detail. Recommended for readers who enjoy biographies of world
leaders and African history."
--Library Journal "Cooper frankly describes Sirleaf's support for
Taylor, her nepotism and other failings as president, while
sympathetically laying out what she considers to be Sirleaf's
extenuating circumstances. She regards Sirleaf as a flawed but
still heroic figure, and though her view is persuasive, she also
makes it possible for readers to develop their own opinions. Madame
President is a valuable addition to the history of an iconic world
leader."
--Shelf Awareness "An accessible and valuable portrait of one of
the most dynamic women on the world stage."
--Booklist "With compassion, a depth of research and stunning
detail, Helene Cooper tells the riveting story of Ellen Johnson
Sirleaf, the first elected woman head of state on the African
continent, who survived war and coup to lead Liberia through the
Ebola crisis and who won a Nobel Peace Prize. 'Madame President's'
universal themes of courage, resilience and fortitude are a wonder
and an inspiration."
--Isabel Wilkerson, New York Times Bestselling Author of The Warmth
of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration
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