`We cant do a zigzag, Golda Meir insisted as she drove Israels 1948 Declaration of Independence through a provisional cabinet meeting, gaining a bare majority of 6 out of 10. Two decades later, in 1969, she would interrupt her retirement for another remarkable step - to become the first female leader in the Western world and earn her nickname, `The Iron Lady, as Prime Minister of Israel. Who was she? This deeply-researched standard biography traces Golda Meirs life from her escape from a Russian pogrom in 1906 to her decisive influence on Israel often at a hidden cost to her personal life. Full of behind-the-scenes insights including the 1972 Olympics attacks and choice quotes, Golda Meir is a spell-binding portrait as well as account of the the state she passionately believed in.