A Different Kind of Power: A Memoir

Ardern, the former prime minister of New Zealand, discusses her road to public service in this upbeat autobiography. She opens with her election, in 2017, as the 37-year-old leader of New Zealand’s Labour government just after learning she was pregnant. She then flashes back to her childhood, which she spent in small New Zealand communities where her father worked as a policeman. Ardern writes of being incensed by the poverty she observed across the country, where essential industries like forestry declined toward the end of the 20th century. She cut her political teeth as a high school graduate campaigning for MP Harry Duynhoven (she jokes that her Mormon faith trained her well to knock on doors and persuade others), then returned full-force to Kiwi politics after graduating from the University of Waikato. Ardern’s prose can sometimes skew toward political platitude, but she offers several fascinating peeks behind the curtain of her administration, particularly regarding its swift passage of gun control legislation after a 2019 shooting at a mosque in Christchurch. It’s an inspiring—if somewhat sanitized—glimpse at the rise and philosophy of a consequential politician. Agents: Mollie Glick and David Larabell, CAA. (June)