The Education of an Idealist: A Memoir

“This is a wonderful book.…The interweaving of Power’s personal story, family story, diplomatic history and moral arguments is executed seamlessly―and with unblinking honesty.”
(THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN, The New York Times Book Review )

“[Power] is a very good writer, which makes it more fun and truly engrossing to read a memoir about a former U.S. official….A pleasure to read.” (RACHEL MADDOW, MSNBC)

“Power writes movingly about everything…and she delivers one of the best-written political memoirs of recent years.” (FAREED ZAKARIA, CNN  )

“Amid the flood of memoirs from Obama administration veterans, Power’s stands out as worth reading. For starters, she’s a better writer than a lot of them—she was a Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist and author long before she got into government. She’s also done more that’s worth reading about. Like the best journalists, Power has a gift for finding the perfect anecdote to illustrate a larger idea or theme, and this is the rare political memoir where you definitely shouldn’t skim the “early years” chapters. (Slate)

“Power writes with heart about her upbringing — in Ireland, Pittsburgh and Atlanta — and she is especially poignant when recounting a few traumatic episodes… Still, the book is suffused with humor, and [President Obama] furnishes the funniest anecdotes that don’t come from her charming children…The Education of an Idealist is a moving account of how to serve righteously, or at least how to try.” (The Washington Post)

“Engaging….Power’s memoir is an insider’s account of foreign-policy-making, and an intensely personal one.” (The Economist)

“Lively…and strikingly personal…[Power] writes vividly and lucidly here about her turn in the international spotlight.” (Vogue)

“A foreign policy guru reveals her many selves in a sweeping autobiography” (O Magazine)

“Power is a master story-teller . . . a brilliant self-portrait of an outsider turned insider, who is forced to grapple with the challenges that brings, and does so honestly.”  (The Independent (Ireland))

“A uniquely personal and absorbing account of [Power’s] time at the heart of US foreign policy . . . Power’s book gives a riveting fly-on-the wall insight into the Obama administration’s foreign-policy decision-making and the inner workings of the United Nations.”  (The Irish Times )

Samantha Power is the Anna Lindh Professor of the Practice of Global Leadership and Public Policy at Harvard Kennedy School and the William D. Zabel Professor of Practice in Human Rights at Harvard Law School. From 2013 to 2017, Power served in the Cabinet of President Barack Obama and as US Ambassador to the United Nations. From 2009 to 2013, Power worked on the National Security Council as Special Assistant to the President for Multilateral Affairs and Human Rights. Power’s book “A Problem from Hell”: America and the Age of Genocide won the Pulitzer Prize in 2003. She is also the author of the New York Times bestseller Sergio: One Man’s Fight to Save the World. Power began her career as a journalist reporting from countries including Bosnia, East Timor, Rwanda, and Sudan, and she has been named by TIME as one of the world’s 100 Most Influential People and by Forbes as one of the World’s 100 Most Powerful Women. She immigrated to the United States from Ireland as a child, and lives in Massachusetts with her husband, Cass Sunstein, and their two children.