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This Child Will Be Great: Memoir of a…
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This Child Will Be Great: Memoir of a Remarkable Life by Africa's First Woman President (edition 2010)

by Ellen Johnson Sirleaf

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2604101,727 (3.61)3
"The first thing to be said about Ellen Johnson Sirleaf's This Child Will Be Great is that it is exceptionally well written, a true story that seems as much a thriller as the remembrances of an ambitious and brave woman. . . . This timely book, essential for anyone who hopes to understand West Africa in general and Liberia in particular, is a lesson in courage and perseverance." --Washington Post From Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf--Africa's first elected female president--comes an inspirational memoir about her improbable rise to international prominence, her fight for political freedom, and her unwavering determination to rebuild Liberia in the wake of civil war.… (more)
Member:charmbeauty
Title:This Child Will Be Great: Memoir of a Remarkable Life by Africa's First Woman President
Authors:Ellen Johnson Sirleaf
Info:Harper Perennial (2010), Paperback, 384 pages
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This Child Will Be Great: Memoir of a Remarkable Life by Africa's First Woman President by Ellen Johnson Sirleaf

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Showing 4 of 4
Read first 2/3rds. Then read a bunch of wikipedia articles and watched a vice episode on liberia and im too disheartened in the human race to contine reading and thinking about it. ( )
  karolynslowsky | Dec 24, 2021 |
I read over 100 pages and then realized that I didn't really care enough to finish the book. The writing isn't bad, but it doesn't pull you in and make you want to read more. ( )
  MarthaJeanne | Jun 22, 2019 |
Memoir and history intertwine here, usually engagingly and sometimes with a degree of detail that's a little boring to those not conversant with recent Liberian politics. Still, Sirleaf has had an amazing life with surprisingly good outcomes, considering how chutzpahdik she's been when confronted by threats of imminent torture, rape, or death. It's quite an astonishing story.

Read with [b:Blood Diamonds: Tracing the Deadly Path of the World's Most Precious Stones|49226|Blood Diamonds Tracing the Deadly Path of the World's Most Precious Stones|Greg Campbell|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170358072s/49226.jpg|48152] to see how the Charles Taylor years affected nearby countries, and with [b:The House at Sugar Beach|2643182|The House at Sugar Beach|Helene Cooper|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1255974419s/2643182.jpg|2667918] for another, and different, story of a "Congo" woman surviving the Liberian conflicts. ( )
  OshoOsho | Mar 30, 2013 |
This is not the best-written memoir that I've ever read. President Sirleaf spent much of her career working for corporations and large institutions, and that shows in her writing style which has a tendency to read like a development programme manifesto. I wonder if the decision to publish her memoirs now, rather than after her term in office, was motivated by a desire to capitalise on her fame as Africa's first female president; regardless of the motivation, there's more than a modicum of self-promotion here and a reticence to discuss her personal life. Sirleaf may well have written a very different kind of book had she waited to do so until she left office. There is a lot to learn here about Liberian history and about the politics of the last few decades, but I think to get the most out of This Child Will Be Great, you'd need to read it in tandem with something like Leymah Gbowee's Mighty Be Our Powers. ( )
  siriaeve | May 29, 2012 |
Showing 4 of 4
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To all the people of Liberia who have suffered so much and now look forward to reclaiming the future.

And in memory of my mother, Martha Cecelia Johnson, who instilled in us the value of hard work, honesty, and humility.
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If asked to describe my homeland in a sentence, I might say something like this: Liberia is a wonderful, beautiful, mixed-up country struggling mightily to find itself.
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"The first thing to be said about Ellen Johnson Sirleaf's This Child Will Be Great is that it is exceptionally well written, a true story that seems as much a thriller as the remembrances of an ambitious and brave woman. . . . This timely book, essential for anyone who hopes to understand West Africa in general and Liberia in particular, is a lesson in courage and perseverance." --Washington Post From Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf--Africa's first elected female president--comes an inspirational memoir about her improbable rise to international prominence, her fight for political freedom, and her unwavering determination to rebuild Liberia in the wake of civil war.

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