In October 2003, Ilham Aliyev became President of Azerbaijan. After a career as a scholar and historian, businessman and oil executive, his sudden rise to political power caught many by surprise. Yet eight years on, Azerbaijan is on the crest of an economic wave despite the global recession. The newly independent nation is building a robust civil society, democracy has taken root, poverty rates have dropped dramatically and Azerbaijan is winning international plaudits for transparency and good governance. Ilham: Portrait of a President is the first English-language biography of this...