Angela Merkel

Angela Merkel was already unique when she became German chancellor: the first female leader of Europe's biggest economy, the first from former communist East Germany and the first born after World War II.

Since 2010, the debt crisis that spread from Greece to the euro region and the world economy has propelled her to center-stage, making Merkel the dominant politician in the struggle to preserve Europe's economic model and its single currency. Yet the Protestant pastor's daughter is often viewed as enigmatic and hard-to-predict, a misreading that took hold as she resisted global pressure for grand gestures to counter the crisis.

Having turned the fall of the Berlin Wall to her advantage, Merkel is trying to get history on her side again after reaching the fundamental decision to save the euro, the crowning achievement of post-war European unity. Merkel has brought Europe to a crossroads. Germany's economic might gives her unprecedented power to set the direction for the European Union's 500 million people. What's at stake is whether she will persuade them to follow the German lead.

»Angela Merkel: A Chancellorship Forged in Crisis« is the definitive new biography of the world's most powerful woman. Delving into Merkel's past, the authors explain the motives behind her drive to remake Europe for the age of globalization, her economic role models and the experiences under communism that color her decisions. For the first time in English, Merkel is fully placed in her European context.

Through exclusive interviews with leading policy makers and Merkel confidants, the book reveals the behind-the-scenes drama of the crisis that came to dominate her chancellorship, her prickly relationship with the U.S. and admiration for Eastern Europe. Written by two long-standing Merkel watchers, the book documents how her decisions and vision - both works in progress - are shaping a pivotal moment in European history.