The Education of an Idealist: THE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER - Hardcover

‘Vividly told scenes, with bracing honesty ... Power's vibrant prose, exuberant storytelling, and deep insights into human nature make for a page-turning memoir.’ Publishers Weekly

‘She is utterly compelling in her eye-witness accounts of violence and political standoffs and shrewdly witty in her tales about balancing diplomacy and motherhood.’ Booklist

‘Samantha Power's book is honest, personal, revealing. It is about the development of a young woman's inner strength and self-knowledge. But it is also a political book, alert to both the power of political will and its limitations. It is the journey of an idealist, whose conscience was forged in Bosnia, into the corridors of power where compromise does battle with commitment. It is the story of someone with the soul of an outsider becoming, as an insider, a passionate witness to events in the White House and the United Nations during the Obama years.’ Colm Tóibín, author of Brooklyn and Nora Webster

‘A celebrated writer and an accomplished diplomat, Samantha Power is one of the most outspoken and important voices in world affairs today. Her new memoir is absorbing, heartfelt, and remarkably candid about the challenges she faced in reconciling her passion for human rights with the realities of governing.’  Madeleine Albright

‘Samantha Power’s compelling memoir provides critically important insights we should all understand as we face some of the most vexing issues of our time.’ Bryan Stevenson, author of Just Mercy

‘Samantha Power’s captivating memoir is a rare and intimate revelation of the inner workings of international diplomacy as well as a heartening beacon of a book for young women and men everywhere.’ Pulitzer Prize-winning author Doris Kearns Goodwin

‘One of our foremost thinkers on foreign policy.’ Barack Obama

What can one person do?

At a time of division and upheaval, Samantha Power offers an urgent response to this question – and calls for a clearer eye, a kinder heart, and a more open and civil hand in our politics and daily lives.

The Education of an Idealist combines powerful storytelling, vividly drawn characters and deep political insight. It traces Power’s journey from childhood growing up in a pub in Ireland to war correspondent to presidential Cabinet official. In 2005, her critiques of US foreign policy caught the eye of newly elected Senator Barack Obama, who invited her to work with him on Capitol Hill and then on his presidential campaign. After Obama was elected president, Power went from being an activist outsider to a government insider, navigating the halls of power while trying to put her ideals into practice. She served for four years as Obama’s human rights adviser, and in 2013 took one of the world’s most powerful diplomatic positions, becoming the youngest ever US Ambassador to the United Nations.

A Pulitzer Prize-winning writer, Power transports us from her childhood in Dublin to the streets of war-torn Bosnia to the White House Situation Room and the world of high-stakes diplomacy. With frank insight and humour, The Education of an Idealist lays bare the searing battles and defining moments of her life and shows how she juggled the demands of a 24/7 national security job with the challenge of raising two young children. Along the way, she illuminates the intricacies of politics and geopolitics, and reminds that in the face of great challenges there is always something each of us can do to advance the cause of human dignity. Honest, inspiring and evocatively written, Power’s memoir is an unforgettable account of the world-changing power of idealism – and of one person’s fierce determination to make a difference.