Golda

This biography of Israel's first female prime minister is "a fascinating examination of Golda Meir's public and private selves" (Library Journal).

Golda Meir was the first female head of state in the Western-aligned world and one of the most influential women in modern history. A blend of Emma Goldman and Martin Luther King Jr. in the guise of a cookie-serving grandmother, her uncompromising devotion to shaping and defending a Jewish homeland against dogged enemies and skittish allies stunned political contemporaries and transformed Middle Eastern politics for decades to follow. She outmaneuvered Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger at their own game of Realpolitik, and led Israel through a bloody war even as she eloquently pleaded for peace, carrying her nation through its most perilous hours while she herself battled cancer.

In this masterful biography, author and Academy Award–winning documentarian Elinor Burkett paints a vivid portrait of a legendary woman defined by contradictions: an iron resolve coupled with magnetic charm, a kindly demeanor that disguised a stunning hard-heartedness, and a complete dedication to her country that often overwhelmed her personal relationships.

"Her engaging portrait of Meir shows history with a female, though not traditionally feminine, face." —Baltimore Sun

"A solidly researched, highly readable portrait of a mesmerizing but, according to Burkett, ultimately lonely woman." —Publishers Weekly

"Leavens the heavy-duty politics with intimate portraits of her personality . . . a welcome arrival to the history shelf." —Booklist

"If anybody has written a better-researched, better-written biography [of Meir], I am unaware of it." —St. Petersburg Times

Includes photographs

© 2009 HarperCollins e-books (Ebook): 9780061873959

Release date

Ebook: 13 October 2009