NEW YORK (AP) - Former U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power is writing a memoir about her transition from writing a Pulitzer Prize-winning condemnation of foreign policy to becoming a leading public advocate for the government.
Dey Street Books, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishing, told The Associated Press on Tuesday that it had acquired Power’s “The Education of an Idealist.” A release date has not yet been determined.
Before serving in the Obama administration, Power was known for the 2003 book, “A Problem from Hell,” a Pulitzer winner that had condemned the United States for failing to prevent human rights abuses in Bosnia, Rwanda and other parts of the world. In her new work, she will write about her efforts to live up to her own ideals as the country’s United Nations representative from 2013-2017 and a national security and human rights official during President Barack Obama’s first term, 2009-2013.
“Making the transition from critic of U.S. foreign policy to U.S. government official was not easy, but public service proved the most gratifying experience of my life,” Power, now a professor at Harvard Law School and Harvard Kennedy School, said in a statement. “I am looking forward to stepping back to explore the highs and lows, and to share ideas for how, even in troubled times, we can each do our part to shape a more humane future.”
A former journalist for U.S. News & World Report and other publications, Power was an Obama adviser during the 2008 campaign who made news for calling Obama’s leading primary opponent, Hillary Clinton, a “monster.” The two soon became colleagues. Clinton would become secretary of state under Obama and she and Power would support intervention in Libya, while as UN ambassador Power clashed with Russia over its military actions in Syria and Ukraine. But she and the Obama administration were criticized for not calling the Turkish slaughter of Armenians a century ago an act of genocide, which Turkey has refused to acknowledge. On Monday, Power apologized in a pair of tweets.
“Almost every Armenian-American family was touched in some way by the genocide. Ongoing Turkish denial makes the genocide an open wound,” she wrote. “I am very sorry that, during our time in office, we in the Obama administration did not recognize the #Armenian Genocide.”
Power is the latest Obama official to reach a book deal since the administration ended in January. Others workings on memoirs include Barack and Michelle Obama; former Vice President Joe Biden and his wife, Jill Biden; and former Secretary of State John Kerry.
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