Less than a year after leaving German politics a defeated man, Gerhard Schroeder is back with a new memoir brimming with the same swagger and controversy that characterised his seven years in office.
In "Decisions - My Life in Politics", the former German chancellor takes a swipe at US President George W. Bush and blames Germany's trade unions and members of his own party for forcing the early election which led to his defeat.
He chuckles at the election failures of his conservative rivals, painting last year's loss to Angela Merkel as a victory in disguise for his centre-left Social Democrats (SPD), who are now junior partners in Berlin's "grand coalition".
Among the few who escape Schroeder's wrath in the 544-page tome is Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is praised for everything from his political vision and intelligence to his German language skills and superb fitness.
Written in a highly personal tone with a close-up picture of a thoughtful-looking chin-in-hand Schroeder on the cover, the book contains no major revelations.
But it looks sure to thrust its author, who kicks off a four-week book tour on Thursday, back into the spotlight at a time when his successor is under fire for lacking the macho leadership skills Schroeder evidently saw as his strength and is keen to play up in his book.
"The old grizzly has returned from the depths of the forest, and begun swinging at everything around him," the Sueddeutsche Zeitung daily wrote in its Monday edition.
"Of one thing we can be sure. In the coming days and weeks Germany will be enveloped by a tremendous Schroeder-hype."
Written in collaboration with his former spokesman Uwe-Karsten Heye, "Decisions" focuses on Schroeder's seven years as chancellor - an eventful period which saw Germany send troops abroad for the first time since World War Two and break with its long-time ally the United States over the Iraq war.
Schroeder is said to have resisted pressure from friends to wait longer to write about his career. Suggestions from his publisher that he write a broader book spanning his entire life were also brushed off.
As a result, "Decisions" has a freshness to it that is missing from some political memoirs, but also lacks the perspective that only time can bring. Schroeder refuses, for example, to admit that his curious call for an early election last year may have been a mistake, arguing that leftists in the SPD, backed by Germany's powerful unions, would have jettisoned him had he not acted.
"I stand by my position - the decision was politically necessary," he says. Had he not moved up the vote, Schroeder could have claimed credit for an economic recovery in 2006 and ridden the euphoria of Germany's flag-waving World Cup run into an election against a divided conservative camp.
Schroeder also displays few regrets about a foreign policy which some critics say unnecessarily alienated Washington and provided cover for repressive regimes in Beijing and Moscow.
He describes crying as he watched on television people jumping from the flaming World Trade Center towers on September 11. But after backing the US-led invasion of Afghanistan, Schroeder tells of his uneasiness with Bush as the Iraq war approached and the US president appeared to link policies to his religious beliefs.