Angela Merkel

Angela Merkel held governmental responsibility for Germany for 16 years, guiding the country through numerous crises and shaping German and international politics through her actions and convictions.

In her memoirs, written together with her long-time political adviser Beate Baumann, she looks back on a life lived in two German states - 35 years in the GDR and 35 years in reunified Germany.

She recounts her childhood, youth and studies in the GDR, and the dramatic year of 1989, when the Wall fell and her political life began.

She takes us inside her conversations with the world's most powerful figures, and uses pivotal political turning points to illuminate, clearly and precisely, how decisions were made that continue to shape our era.

Her book offers a rare view from inside the corridors of power - and a firm argument for freedom.