THE EDUCATION OF AN IDEALIST A MEMOIR HOW TO
THE EDUCATION OF AN IDEALIST A MEMOIR MANUAL

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. 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. The Education of an Idealist traces Power’s distinctly American journey from immigrant to war correspondent to presidential Cabinet official.

In her memoir, Power offers an urgent response to the question 'What can one person do?'-and a call 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 A MEMOIR HOW TO

Her education is not about compromising her ideals for influence but about figuring out how to deploy them to move a bureaucracy.Pulitzer Prize winner Samantha Power, widely known as a relentless advocate for promoting human rights, has been heralded by President Barack Obama as one of America's 'foremost thinkers on foreign policy.' In her memoir, Power offers an urgent response to the question 'What can one person do?'-and a call for a clearer eye, a kinder heart, and a more open and civil hand in Pulitzer Prize winner Samantha Power, widely known as a relentless advocate for promoting human rights, has been heralded by President Barack Obama as one of America's 'foremost thinkers on foreign policy.' It’s true that Power never travels any kind of character arc she does not meaningfully change, even as she accepts the exigencies necessary to govern-and that is to her credit.

Even so, The Education of an Idealist is a moving account of how to serve righteously, or at least how to try. A few issues, though, receive a more muddled treatment.

Still, the book is suffused with humor, and the president furnishes the funniest anecdotes that don’t come from her charming children. Power writes with heart about her upbringing-in Ireland, Pittsburgh and Atlanta-and she is especially poignant when recounting a few traumatic episodes. This tale is filled with half-measures, disappointments and bureaucratic defeats (a far cry from the usual autobiographical victory tour). She cannot justify every administration policy, and she flays many of its most cynical decisions, such as Obama’s broken campaign promise to recognize the Armenian genocide. Power’s apologia is insistent-and unexpectedly compelling. And you can - because Power is unstinting in giving you all the ammunition you need to denounce or defend her. Does that sound like an idealist selling out to hold onto the perks of power, or one who keeps looking to fight another day another way? You decide. Always tilted toward using American power to defend the defenseless, moderate the tyrannical, rescue the needy and inspire and strengthen the forces of decency - but when she loses the argument to do so in one country, she doesn’t resign. The older Power is not at all a cynic, but she is less ramrod straight. The interweaving of Power’s personal story, family story, diplomatic history and moral arguments is executed seamlessly - and with unblinking honesty.

THE EDUCATION OF AN IDEALIST A MEMOIR MANUAL

It’s an unusual combination of autobiography, diplomatic history, moral argument and manual on how to breast-feed a child with one hand while talking to Secretary of State John Kerry on a cellphone with the other.

The education of an idealist a memoir