Hamid Karzai made history when he became Afghanistan's first democratically elected president.

Hosni Mubarak's presidency has endured many challenges and obstacles, but he has also managed to usher Egypt through a difficult era.

Thabo Mbeki has devoted his life to the people of South Africa, first as a courageous fighter against apartheid and currently as president of his beloved nation, helping to heal the wounds caused by decades of oppression. His success is even more astounding considering the seemingly insurmountable obstacles he encountered early in life.

Born in West Germany but raised in East Germany, Angela Merkel has known both repression and freedom. With the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, Merkel started her meteoric rise to become Germany's first female chancellor and one of the world's most powerful women.

In 2006, Michelle Bachelet made history by becoming the first woman to be elected president of Chile. The daughter of a Chilean Air Force general, Bachelet and her family were gravely affected by the 1973 military coup that derailed the government of Salvador Allende. After the military rule ended, she entered politics, serving as minister of health and later defense minister. During the early part of her presidential administration, she dealt with important issues head-on.

As a serious-minded religious student, Ali Khamenei caught the eye of the Ayatollah Khomeini. Joining Khomeini in his successful revolution against the U.S.-backed Shah of Iran, Khamenei was rewarded with a series of important government and religious appointments. Upon Khomeini's death, Khamenei was named his successor and became the Grand Ayatollah of Iran.

When Hu Jintao became president of China in 2003, very little was known about this enigmatic man. As president of the world's most populous country, he has impressed many with his ability to maintain order and stability in China, but he has angered others with his lack of concern for human rights.

As a child in South Korea, Ban Ki-moon wrote a letter to the UN secretary-general regarding the Hungarian uprising against Russia. A few years later in the US, he met President John F Kennedy. From then, Ban desired to work for peace. This title discusses how his further success in these areas attempts to keep the UN relevant in the complex world.

This work tells how, for a decade, Gordon Brown was Prime Minister Tony Blair's right-hand man - the 'Iron Chancellor' who piloted the British economy through years of growth. But behind the scenes, a bitter power struggle between the two men was rocking the foundations of the Labour Party.

Nicolas Sarkozy was born an outsider. A child of immigrants who grew up outside the circles of the French political elite, Sarkozy beat the odds of slowly climbing up the political mountain until he reached France's highest peak - the office of the presidency. This book explores how he made it to the top.