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4.55 AVERAGE
4.55 AVERAGE
hopeful
inspiring
medium-paced
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
medium-paced
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
Fascinating account by Obama's speechwriter about 10 pivotal days in 2015.
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
challenging
emotional
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
hopeful
informative
reflective
medium-paced
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
There have been a plethora of memoirs that have come out from staffers from the Obama presidency. I have read several of them (and enjoyed), but was a bit burned out on them. Cody Keenan takes a different angle than many of the memoirs by focusing his book Grace on a ten-day period of time in the Obama presidency, centering around what is one, if not his most memorable speeches in his presidency- the eulogy at Reverend Clementa Pinckney's funeral in Charleston after the horrid shooting at the church. Keenan begins in the prologue by highlighting the speechwriting process on another memorable speech (Obama's speech at the 50th anniversary of Selma). Within the book he charts on day one when the news of the Charleston shooting broke through the day of the speech. The reader is able to understand the multiple pressures a speechwriting team is under and the development of a speech over time. Obama is a fantastic writer, but even when he heavily edits a draft of a speech, themes that Keenan has developed are still there. It was enlightening to see the amount of collaboration. Keenan is having to balance Obama's resistance of doing another speech post-gun violence, the racial component to the crime, and the country's lack of progress on meaningful gun reform. What provides the driving theme of the speech is when the families of the victims voice words of grace towards the shooter, a concept difficult to imagine given the circumstances. Overlapping this timespan is the big Supreme Court decisions of the term- up that week are the second challenge to the ACA and the Obergefell (same sex marriage) decision. The speechwriting team have to draft speeches linked to multiple potential outcomes of those decisions. I had forgotten that the same sex marriage decision came down the same day as the Charleston speech. Talk about a wallop of an emotional day. I really appreciated the focused look at the Obama presidency- using a short time span to highlight larger goals, successes, and failures of the administration. In the pile of memoirs from this period, Keenan's stands out. And I will just say the final sentence of the epilogue (no spoilers) hit me with an unexpected emotional wallop.
Thank you to Mariner Books via NetGalley for the advance reader copy in exchange for honest review.
Thank you to Mariner Books via NetGalley for the advance reader copy in exchange for honest review.
i have literally read like maybe four nonfiction books my entire life that i've actually liked. make it five now.