"When Ellen Johnson Sirleaf won the 2005 Liberian presidential election, she demolished a barrier few thought possible, obliterating centuries of patriarchal rule to become the first female elected head of state in Africa's history. Madame President is the story of Sirleaf's evolution from an ordinary Liberian mother of four boys to international banking executive, from a victim of domestic violence to a political icon, from a post-war president to a Nobel Peace Prize winner. On a continent and in a culture where women are treated as possessions or objects of conquest, the Sirleaf rose to political power is astonishing. Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, bestselling author, and native Liberian Helene Cooper deftly weaves Sirleaf's story into the larger narrative of life for Liberian women. The highs and lows of Sirleaf's life are filled with indelible stories: from imprisonment in a jail cell for standing up to Liberia's military government to addressing the United States Congress, fro