Inside the Obama White House

The World As It Is

A revelatory, behind-the-scenes account of the Obama presidency from perhaps his closest collaborator, and a political memoir about the power of words to change our world.

Ben’s one of the few who’ve been with me since that first presidential campaign. His memoir is one of the most compelling stories I’ve seen about what it’s actually like to serve the American people for eight years in the White House

Ben Rhodes … has written a book that reflects the president he served — intelligent, amiable, compelling and principled … a classic coming-of-age story, about the journey from idealism to realism, told with candor and immediacy … There are anecdotes galore, but they illuminate rather than scandalize … Ben Rhodes is a charming and humble guide through an unprecedented presidency … As a result, his achievement is rare for a political memoir: He has written a humane and honorable book

Vivid, lucid, enjoyable ... A compelling account of life in the Obama White House

A page-turning, unfiltered, altogether human look at Barack Obama’s presidency. Ben Rhodes — one of Obama’s closest and most important advisers — opens up the defining issues of the presidency: from the role of race and the rise of conspiracy theories to the hunt for bin Laden, the Syria “red line” debate, and the secret negotiations Ben himself led to normalize ties with Cuba. Insightful, funny, and moving, this is a beautifully observed, essential record of what it was like to be there.

Samantha Power, Former United States Ambassador to the United Nations

This stylish, beautifully writtenpolitical memoir reminds us that the local and the universal are intimately braided. Ben Rhodes steps into the river of history and charts a course through some of the most significant and alarming landscapes of our times. In this meditation on story-telling and power, Rhodes helps make sense of the bewildering times we currently inhabit. Alongside President Obama, he shakes us out of the ruts of ordinary perception and manages to find hope in the face of most available evidence.

Colum McCann, author of Let The Great World Spin

Ben Rhodes is one of the most brilliant minds and powerful storytellers I’ve ever known. In The World As It Is, he doesn’t just bring you inside the room for the key moments of Obama’s presidency, he captivates you with the journey of an idealistic young staffer who becomes the President’s close friend and advisor – a journey that both cynics and believers will find riveting and hopeful.

Jon Favreau, former Director of Speechwriting for President Obama

More than any other White House memoirist, Rhodes is a creature of the man he served

This is that rare beast, an engaging and wonderfully written book on foreign policy

[Ben Rhodes’s] achievement is rare for a political memoir: he has written a humane and honourable book

Part of the charm of Rhode’s story is that he doesn’t try to hide the extent to which this was largely about his own crisis of identity. The book is engagingly honest in its self-centredness… Rhodes understands the anomalousness of his own situation

Rhodes explores some of the darker elements of speechwriting… [and shows] communications is often a battle between a two-dimensional and a three-dimensional view-point

‘One of the most compelling stories I’ve seen about what it’s actually like to serve the American people’ BARACK OBAMA 
 
 
 A revelatory, behind-the-scenes account of the Obama presidency and a political memoir about the power of words to change our world 
 
 
 This is a book about two people making the most important decisions in the world. One is Barack Obama. The other is Ben Rhodes. 
 
 A young writer and Washington outsider, Rhodes was plucked from obscurity aged 29. For nearly ten years, he was at the centre of the Obama Administration – first as a speech-writer, then a policy maker, and finally a close collaborator. 
 
 Here, Rhodes tells the full story of his partnership – and, ultimately, friendship – with a historic president. From the early days of the Obama campaign to the final hours in the Oval Office, he puts us in the room at the most tense and poignant moments in recent history. 
 
 ‘Vivid, lucid, enjoyable… A compelling account of life in the Obama White House’ 
 Justin Webb, The Times 
 
 ‘A stylish, beautifully written political memoir’ 
 Colum McCann

Ben Rhodes

A wonderful book – fascinating, thought-provoking and full of insights. Essential reading

Ben Rhodes is a true wordsmith, both consummate and passionate. All We Say is a marvellous, highly readable reminder of how words – both written and spoken – can make history and determine a nation’s identity

Sir Peter Westmacott, author of They Call It Diplomacy

All We Say is a brilliant conceit — explore the longstanding debate over American identity through a close examination of fifteen exceptional speeches and the people who delivered them — and Ben Rhodes carries it off beautifully in this generous, trenchant, urgently needed book

Fredrik Logevall, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Embers of War

An absorbing primer of the argument we can’t escape, the history of a question our nation is still trying to answer, All We Say is — like its author — brilliant, generous, and wise. At a time of moral and political drift, Ben Rhodes reminds us what American greatness actually sounds like, and what it means

Throughout American history, we have used words to try to discern what it means to live righteously in this land. How fortunate we are then to have this assembly of speeches and this uncommonly wise understanding of our past. All We Say is a book that asks us to remember that oration is always a form of moral suasion, and here Rhodes – an authority on speechwriting and having courage – demands that we not become petrified by the immensity of what is at stake in this country

Rachel Kaadzi Ghansah, Pulitzer Prize-winning essayist

PRAISE FOR THE WORLD AS IT IS 
 
One of the most compelling stories I've seen about what it's actually like to serve the American people

A stylish, beautifully written political memoir

A classic coming-of-age story ... His achievement is rare for a political memoir: he has written a humane and honourable book

A beautifully observed, essential record of what it was like to be there

A History of the United States in Fifteen Speeches

What does it mean to be American? Who gets to decide? 
 
This sweeping history of the United States through fifteen key speeches relives the battle for American identity – from a New York Times bestselling author and one of President Obama’s former speechwriters. 
 
For 250 years, America has debated what it means to be American. The question shaped the compromises in their constitution and the arguments they’ve had ever since, spawning abolitionism, secession and civil war, populism, mass migration and global leadership, movements for reform and the backlashes to them. All We Say tells the story of the United States through fifteen speeches – some iconic, others long forgotten, all pivotal – from its founding to the intense divisions of our times. 
 
Through riveting and beautifully rendered accounts of the people, movements and moments that produced these speeches, Rhodes traces the history of America's battle over identity. The result is a singular and revealing portrait of the United States: a nation divided between two stories – one of inheritance, power, and exclusion, the other of equality, striving, and belonging. Drawing on a decade writing for Barack Obama, Ben Rhodes also reveals how words can redirect a nation, what makes a speech enduring, and why oratory is a unique form of persuasion in a democracy. 
 
From Benjamin Franklin’s call for compromise at the Constitutional Convention to Alexander Stephens’ case for white supremacy as the cornerstone of the Confederacy, from Martin Luther King’s dream of true equality to Donald Trump’s rallying cry against democracy itself, these speeches remind us that history is a living argument. At a time when American identity – and truth – is contested, All We Say offers a fresh and powerful look at who America really us, and who it could still become.

Ben Rhodes

Praise for All We Say

A wonderful book – fascinating, thought-provoking and full of insights. Essential reading

Ben Rhodes is a true wordsmith, both consummate and passionate. All We Say is a marvellous, highly readable reminder of how words – both written and spoken – can make history and determine a nation’s identity

All We Say is a brilliant conceit — explore the longstanding debate over American identity through a close examination of fifteen exceptional speeches and the people who delivered them — and Ben Rhodes carrie ...

A wonderful book – fascinating, thought-provoking and full of insights. Essential reading

Ben Rhodes is a true wordsmith, both consummate and passionate. All We Say is a marvellous, highly readable reminder of how words – both written and spoken – can make history and determine a nation’s identity

All We Say is a brilliant conceit — explore the longstanding debate over American identity through a close examination of fifteen exceptional speeches and the people who delivered them — and Ben Rhodes carrie ...

A wonderful book – fascinating, thought-provoking and full of insights. Essential reading

Ben Rhodes is a true wordsmith, both consummate and passionate. All We Say is a marvellous, highly readable reminder of how words – both written and spoken – can make history and determine a nation’s identity

All We Say is a brilliant conceit — explore the longstanding debate over American identity through a close examination of fifteen exceptional speeches and the people who delivered them — and Ben Rhodes carrie ...

Books by Ben Rhodes

Follow penguin

Follow ladybird

Follow puffin

Sign up to the Penguin newsletter