This was a good but slow biography of Angela Merkel. In requesting this book, I had hoped for a biography of Merkel, but this was much more focused on the role as Chancellor than on Merkel. It was also very focused on Germany and German politics, a lot of which was before Merkel’s time and didn’t really feel relevant. I also think that you need a level of knowledge regarding German politics and their political system which I don’t have. It also focused a lot on her heritage as the daughter of a pastor, which didn’t seem all that relevant to me.

3 stars for Becoming Madam Chancellor: Angela Merkel and the Berlin Republic.

Reading this biography taught me a lot and I found it an interesting if slow read but in all honesty I think its target audience is people who start off with a lot more knowledge of German politics than I possess. I found this book to be as much about Germany as about Angela Merkel. Yes, I see *now* that the clue is in the title which focuses on Angela Merkel’s job title as Madam Chancellor. I picked up this book in hopes of finding out a bit more about Merkel, and I have. What I didn’t bargain for was reading so much about Germany’s relationship with Israel, Russia, the EU, NATO etc and that much analysis would go back to before Merkel was born (in 1954, as I now know). There is a lot of emphasis on German re-unification after the fall of the Berlin Wall, and on the fact that Merkel was brought up in communist East Germany, daughter of a Lutheran pastor. I’d guess that ‘pastor’s daughter’ might be one of the most repeated phrases in the book.

I enjoyed reading about Merkel’s professional relationships with other world leaders such as Putin. I feel increased admiration for Germany’s chancellor and I now know a few more facts about her: for example, she has no children, she is afraid of dogs having been ‘seriously bitten twice’, and we are told her favourite colour is green and she likes Russian literature. But I don’t feel that I have learned nearly as much about her as I would have liked, and that I have read more about German politics than I have understood! This is not the author’s fault, the fault lies with me for not picking a lighter biography. Perhaps the three star rating reflects as much on me as on this book.

I received this ebook free from NetGalley, which gives a publication date of 10 August 2017.

Angela Merkel has served three consecutive terms as German Chancellor since 2005 and is, at the time of writing (August 2017), widely expected to win a fourth term next month.

‘Becoming Madam Chancellor’ by Joyce Marie Mushaben is dedicated not only to the author’s late husband but “to girls everywhere, looking for positive political role models”. One should perhaps add “scientific role models” because Mushaben not only reminds us that Merkel is a trained physicist but makes an interesting case for saying that her scientific cast of mind has helped her politically.

Mushaben is then, clearly, both very much concerned with gender and a fan of Merkel’s, and it is difficult not to share the author’s admiration for Merkel’s proven ability to gain and retain power, especially given that Merkel has had to overcome a number of serious ‘drawbacks’ – including the facts that she was an Easterner, divorced and did not follow the traditional path of climbing each rung of the political ladder before entering national politics (so that she lacks a strong Land-level base). First and foremost, however, Mushaben is keen to explain how ‘Angie’ had to overcome the prejudice arising from her sex.

Indeed, Mushaben does a very good job of explaining just how extraordinary was Merkel’s ascent, both in speed and trajectory, given the degree to which both Germany’s political and media establishments were (and still are) male-dominated.

Moreover, Mushaben paints convincing pictures both of Merkel’s own physical and political makeovers that set her “on the path to becoming Madam Chancellor” and of the “multiple institutional, cultural, and economic makeovers” which Germany has undergone under her stewardship.

At the heart of the book is an historically-informed assessment of Merkel’s record in foreign and domestic policy with particular reference to relations with Israel and Russia, economic integration, energy and immigration.

The book nevertheless has four potential weaknesses.

Firstly, there is some jargon (“intersectionality paradigm”, “thick description and process tracing” and the like), which some might find off-putting.

Secondly, there is the problem that Merkel’s story is still ongoing. For example, she dropped her longstanding opposition to a free vote on same-sex marriage and the German parliament voted to legalise it, since the book was completed.

Thirdly, not everyone – and not just the Greeks - will be as admiring of Merkel’s record as Mushaben is. For example, her 2015 offer to process the asylum applications of any refugees who arrived in Germany, whilst doubtless generous in intention, may plausibly be represented as having aggravated the refugee crisis, and certainly created a backlash which benefited the anti-immigration AfD in regional elections.

Fourthly, there is the paradox that Mushaben rightly feels that Merkel, and other women politicians, should not constantly have their personal appearance picked over by commentators but herself ends up spending considerable time on Merkel’s changing wardrobe and hairstyles.

Notwithstanding these points, this is a very interesting and valuable book on a major political figure which sheds a great deal of light on modern Germany, including its relationship with other powers and its past. Mushaben, like Merkel, is ‘Ms-underestimated’ at one’s peril.

What a remarkable woman! I had been looking forward to reading “Becoming Madam Chancellor: Angela Merkel and the Berlin Republic” by Joyce Marie Mushaben when it came out. I got lucky and snagged an eBook edition in a contest, but it would have been worth the wait for the hard-covered edition with all its charts and pictures.

Written for an academic audience with all reference sources properly subscripted and a bibliography at the end of each chapter, the book managed to read like a story for the average reader who is looking to learn more about this remarkable woman. Its prose primarily focuses on Merkel’s political accomplishments. Angela Merkel will be happy with how the biographical information was handled as it didn’t degrade to a tell-all grocery-aisle type article.

Merkel was faced with some of the most trying political challenges during her career. From balancing Germany’s Israeli and Palestinian relationships to dealing with the European Union’s economic problems and, most recently, working through the migrant and Brexit issues, Merkel was showed herself to be thoughtful and decisive. She does not always make the right decision, as evidenced by her heavy handedness with Greece, but she does make her decisions based on what she believes is the correct course of action based on her country’s principals. In the case cited, she felt that Greeks should take responsibility for their excessive spending and poor tax collection practices. The irony of that position is that most of that spending excess was financed by German banks.

The author, Mushaben, described Merkel as a humble person who enjoys quiet time with her husband at their weekend home. Despite her humility, when Merkel believes in a course of action, a course usually arrived at by careful study and thought, she can be very persuasive. Merkel has not hesitated to call Russia’s Putin or the Israel’s Netanyahu to personally protest actions that go against the best interest of détente in her view.

While not identifying herself as a feminist, Merkel promotes highly qualified women in her administration to leadership positions and carries the support of her political party. She stands for principals and causes that most Americans can support such as taking personal responsibility, child care assistance for working mothers, fostering migrant self-respect, and freedom of religion for all in Germany and the EU. While one of these causes, child care, may seem like a women’s issue, it is, in fact, a German issue. Like the US, Germany’s birth rate is too low to sustain social security programs for a quickly aging population. In order to boost its future tax base, Germany can either provide child caring support that enables women to work while having larger families or, it can increase immigration quotas with all the integration problems that that entails. At the moment, Germany is doing both, However, this second alternative is distasteful to Germany’s conservative western states and has fostered the growth of alt right groups who are that are getting increasing political backing.

Neo-Nazi movements are growing in Germany and Angela Merkel has worked hard to counter their political support. It was certainly noteworthy that Merkel quickly spoke out more forcefully against the Neo-Nazi protest in Charlottesville than our own president did. It showed how ingrained her principals are that she would upstage the actions of a strong ally. Come September 2017, Merkel will run for her fourth term as Chancellor of Germany. Let’s hope that for the benefit of political consistency and the future of the EU that the German people decide to continue giving her the support she needs.

As an American, I hope that we can find a candidate with the strength of leadership that Angela Merkel has when we return to the polls in three years.