This Child will be Great – Memoirs of a Remarkable Life by Africa’s First Woman President

Written by Sam Mathe
Tuesday, 16 August 2011 12:37

Africa’s first female president, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, was sworn in as Liberia’s head of state in 2006. In a country that has become a byword for everything that is wrong with governance in Africa – notably coups, blood diamonds and civil conflicts – her ascent to the tiny but turbulent West African state’s seat of power has been nothing short of phenomenal.
It marked a turning point in the troubled history of sub-Saharan Africa’s first independent country – once a vassal state of the USA and created as a home of the descendants of slaves who were shipped back to Africa in the 19th century. But since the year of independence – 1847 – Liberia has never known peace. Yet after 160 years of military coups, brutal assassinations and tyrannical regimes, it took Ellen Johnson Sirleaf’s feminine but firm leadership to put Liberia on the road to political and economic recovery.

Sirleaf’s gripping memoir puts a face to Liberia’s troubled history. It is the face of courage that has overcome a difficult upbringing, an abusive marriage and political persecution involving exile and imprisonment under the dreaded Samuel Doe regime. Her story of resilience, fearlessness and persistence in her commitment to a building a better Liberia is an inspiring tale for women (and men) everywhere who aspire to high office not for the sake of power but to create a better world for all.

Author: Ellen Johnson Sirleaf

Publisher: Harper Perennial