The Chancellor: Kati Martin Biography of Angela Merkel

Recent Read : The Chancellor by Kati Martin 

Angela Merkel had been  a world wide force of nature holding the EU together through some very turbulent times. I use the past tense only because she has retired as Chancellor of Germany a  year back. 

I read an interesting biography of Angela written by Kati Marton. The strength of the book is learning what made this very private woman into the powerhouse she was. 

I did not know much  about Merkel before reading this book, but once finished it thinking what a remarkable woman. From her youth in East Germany, behind the Berlin wall, daughter of Lutheran pastor, to her rise and time as a twelve year Chancellor of Germany, this book covers . Story of an  amazing woman, who was trained as physicist work as scientist and her transition into politics, becoming the most powerful leader in the EU. It is always interesting to view the political situations, manueverings, from the viewpoint of a different country than my own. How she viewed other leaders and at twelve years in office, she has seen and interacted with many. There are some surprises, some biases shown in the writing, but all in all this is an important book, and one I'm glad to have read.

Unlike Indian politicians, she lived her life as an ordinary citizen, never had any  hesitation to shop in the nearest grocery store without any security paraphernalia while she was in the Chancellor’s office.

She remains the world’s one of the most respected political leader, perhaps because she cuts against the stereotype of modern politicians as egotists pandering to public opinion. She is unglamorous and reserved, instinctively moderate, slow to make decisions, and prone to communicate in cerebral, fact-based monologues. 

This  biography is the best English-language biography of her rise from a tough and traditional family, through her career as a scientist in communist East Germany, to her rise to become Chancellor—but it is far from definitive. As with most traditional journalistic accounts, Marton’s book focuses a great deal on what Merkel said and did at various critical meetings, attributing her success to her intelligence and tenacity and her failures to her idealistic moral courage. 

But this biography has certain limitations also. The reader learns in the book far less about the electoral, partisan, diplomatic, and technical constraints under which Merkel acted. The picture is further limited by the author’s curious decision to focus almost exclusively on her relationship with the United States and Russia, thereby excluding economic diplomacy, climate change, China, the European Union, and the countries like India in the developing world—not to mention German domestic politics, about which the book says hardly anything. This is the limitation of this book. 

Most interesting part of book is an interesting episode :

“Back in Chapel, Pastor Fichtmuller leans towards the Chancellor, “Does it annoy you to still be referred to as the pastor’s daughter? At your age? He asks.

The world’s most powerful woman answers her father without hesitation:”Not at all. That is who I am”. ”

It is heartbreaking to me to realize that Germany's democracy may in fact be stronger than our own here in India.

The book did an excellent job of taking the reader back through history, reminding me of significant events - the 2008 worldwide financial crisis and keeping the EU together, the 2014 Russian invasion of Ukraine. While the book ends in 2020, it was also interesting for me to see that what seemed like a good decision at the time (closing all nuclear power plants) has caused issues in the present day (when Germany is reliant on Russian natural gas). 

Biographer Kati Marton is an award-winning former correspondent for NPR and ABC News. She is the author of eight books, the most recent of which is the New York Times-bestselling memoir ‘Paris: A Love Story’.