New York, USA - Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright is writing a book about religion and international politics as part of a two-book deal with Harper Collins, the publisher said on Monday.
The first new book, to be titled "The Mighty and the Almighty: God and Religion in American Foreign Policy," will be published next spring and Harper Collins, a unit of News Corp., said it would be a "very provocative" and personal analysis of the subject.
"Secretary Albright's thoughts on the complexities of foreign policy in an age of religious extremism are required reading: bold, frank, clearly argued, and informed by experience," Jonathan Burnham, senior vice president and publisher of Harper Collins, said in a statement.
Burnham worked on Albright's best-selling memoir "Madam Secretary," published by Miramax Books in 2003. Albright, who was born in Prague in 1937, served as secretary of state from 1997 to 2001 under U.S. President Bill Clinton. In her memoir, Albright wrote about how she learned in 1997 that her family, who fled the Nazis, then the Soviets in Czechoslovakia for the United States, was Jewish, and her grandparents perished in the Holocaust.
The statement said the book on religion would draw on Albright's own experience and U.S. history to examine what Burnham called "the present crisis."
"She'll offer a sharp critique of U.S. policy, condemnation for those who exploit religious fervor for violent ends, and praise for political, cultural, and spiritual leaders who seek to harness the values of faith to bring people together," Burnham said.
The second, as yet untitled, book will be an illustrated book on Albright's collection of decorative pins of historical and personal significance, timed to coincide with an exhibition opening, the statement said.