The Secretary: A Journey with Hillary Clinton from Beirut to the Heart of American Power

by Ghattas, Kim

• ISBN13: 9780805095111
• ISBN10: 080509511X
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2013-03-05
• Publisher: Times Books

Summary

An intimate inside story of Hillary Clinton's time as Secretary of State, anchored by Ghattas's own perspective and her quest to understand America's place in the world Written with the full cooperation of Hillary Clinton and her staff, From Beirut to Washingtonis the first book of its kind: a detailed look at an intensely private woman - arguably the most powerful woman in the world - from an author with both an insider and a global perspective. From Beirut to Washingtontells the story of Hillary Clinton's tenure as Secretary of State: from the first days of the Obama administration, to the drama of Wikileaks, to the "Arab Spring" uprisings, the killing of Osama bin Laden, and the standoff with Iran. Though Ghattas's eyes, we see Clinton under the intense professional spotlight commanded by the world's chief diplomat, but also in the softer lighting of the more personal nuances of foreign relations - cheerfully boarding her plane at 5 AM after no sleep, committing an embarrassing blunder while going off-script at an Israeli press conference, handily working out some limo ride diplomacy between the Turks and the Armenians. Viewed through Ghattas's vantage point as a half-Dutch, half-Lebanese citizen who grew up in the crossfire of the Lebanon civil war - and her personal quest to understand America's place in a rapidly changing global landscape - the book offers a close-up of diplomacy at the highest level while seeking to answer pivotal questions about the United States. Is America still the global superpower? If not, who or what will replace it, and what will it mean for America and the world?

Author Biography

Kim Ghattas has been the BBC's State Department radio and TV correspondent since 2008 and travels regularly with the secretary of state. She was previously a Middle East correspondent for the BBC and the Financial Times, based in Beirut. Ghattas was part of an Emmy Award-winning BBC team covering the Lebanon-Israel conflict of 2006. Her work has also been published in Time magazine, the Boston Globe, and the Washington Post and she appears regularly as a guest on NPR radio shows. She was born in Beirut and currently lives in Washington, D.C.