This Child Will Be Great: Memoir of a Remarkable Life by Africa's First Woman President in Around the World

Sep 16, 2012 Jenny (Reading Envy) rated it liked it

Shelves: location-africa, around-the-world, biography-memoir, ebooks, read2012, location-liberia

I saw President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf speak at the institution where I work a few years ago, and found her story to be incredibly inspiring. I was hoping the book would be more of the same. While inspiration can be found here, it is often bogged down with tedious economic detail (Sirleaf was in banking and economics) and acronyms like you would not believe.

I definitely learned some things, and I think that kept it at 3 stars for me. I don't think I was aware of anything going on in Liberia, eve ...more

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Oct 13, 2012 Beth rated it really liked it

Shelves: around-the-world-group, memoirs, non-fiction, great-african-reads-group

I knew vaguely of Liberia before reading This Child Will Be Great: Memoir of a Remarkable Life by Africa's First Woman President--I had a distant memory of reading that it was established as a home for resettled slaves, and then I remembered reading of its violent civil war and its government's horrible support for the devastating war in Sierra Leone. Other than that, as with most of the African continent, I was woefully ignorant. I definitely would have had trouble identifying it on a map or na ...more

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Jan 02, 2012 David rated it it was amazing

Shelves: around-the-world-in-books

One of the best books I have read in many months! Insightful and inspiring. President Ellen Johnson Sirelaf is a new hero.

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Mar 05, 2018 K rated it liked it

Shelves: feminism-reads, political-reads, african-reads, memoirs, liberia

Ellen Johnson Sirleaf is a total badass. She excelled at education (getting a grad degree from Harvard Kennedy School of Government), global corporate administration, African economic development, and running Liberia after it had been completely devastated by civil war. Her countrymen chose her as the first female head of state in Africa.

Alas, as memoirs go, it can be a little dry. Ignore that and read it anyway. Fascinating parts included the American/Liberian bilateral history, the history of ...more

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