The World as It Is: A Memoir of the Obama White House

· Sold by Random House
4.2
10 reviews
Ebook
480
Pages
Eligible

About this ebook

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From one of Barack Obama’s most trusted aides comes a revelatory behind-the-scenes account of his presidency—and how idealism can confront harsh reality and still survive.

“The closest view of Obama we’re likely to get until he publishes his own memoir.”—George Packer, The New Yorker  

NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY THE GUARDIAN

For nearly ten years, Ben Rhodes saw almost everything that happened at the center of the Obama administration—first as a speechwriter, then as deputy national security advisor, and finally as a multipurpose aide and close collaborator. He started every morning in the Oval Office with the President’s Daily Briefing, traveled the world with Obama, and was at the center of some of the most consequential and controversial moments of the presidency. Now he tells the full story of his partnership—and, ultimately, friendship—with a man who also happened to be a historic president of the United States.
 
Rhodes was not your typical presidential confidant, and this is not your typical White House memoir. Rendered in vivid, novelistic detail by someone who was a writer before he was a staffer, this is a rare look inside the most poignant, tense, and consequential moments of the Obama presidency—waiting out the bin Laden raid in the Situation Room, responding to the Arab Spring, reaching a nuclear agreement with Iran, leading secret negotiations with the Cuban government to normalize relations, and confronting the resurgence of nationalism and nativism that culminated in the election of Donald Trump.

In The World as It Is, Rhodes shows what it was like to be there—from the early days of the Obama campaign to the final hours of the presidency. It is a story populated by such characters as Susan Rice, Samantha Power, Hillary Clinton, Bob Gates, and—above all—Barack Obama, who comes to life on the page in moments of great urgency and disarming intimacy. This is the most vivid portrayal yet of Obama’s worldview and presidency, a chronicle of a political education by a writer of enormous talent, and an essential record of the forces that shaped the last decade.

Praise for The World as It Is

“A book that reflects the president [Rhodes] served—intelligent, amiable, compelling and principled . . . a classic coming-of-age story, about the journey from idealism to realism, told with candor and immediacy . . . His achievement is rare for a political memoir: He has written a humane and honorable book.”—Joe Klein, The New York Times Book Review

Ratings and reviews

4.2
10 reviews
IG Music
January 11, 2021
Commander in war is all he was. The peace prize he won has about as much merit and meaning as a chocolate coin on a string. Talked many times of ending wars in the middle east, never ended one and in fact created and aided in multiple wars in the region. Funded a nation who is known to sponser terrorism and allowed them to possess nuclear material and a path to possesing a bomb. Allowed a european ally to have land annexxed by russia which hadnt been seen by any modern nation since 1990. Not to mention his whole drone program which had violated international humanitarian laws between 2011- 2012. The only way Obama was anything next to peaceful was because he bent over backwards and smiled to other nations and leaders as they did want they wanted with next to no consiquences.
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Ashley Wallace
July 30, 2018
Inspiring at times, heart wrenching at others, The World as It Is takes you through 10 years with Barack Obama. From change we can believe in to a reality we can hardly believe, this book gives insight into foreign policy under the Obama administration and the painstaking commitment required to make diplomacy work in order to give peace a chance.
4 people found this review helpful
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Brian Bieger
August 4, 2018
An excellent book and, at times, an uncomfortable reminder of how far we came and how far we still need to go.
3 people found this review helpful
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About the author

From 2009 to 2017, Ben Rhodes served as deputy national security advisor to President Barack Obama, overseeing the administration’s national security communications, speechwriting, public diplomacy, and global engagement programming. Prior to joining the Obama administration, from 2007 to 2008 Rhodes was a senior speechwriter and foreign policy advisor to the Obama campaign. Before joining then–Senator Obama’s campaign, he worked for former congressman Lee Hamilton from 2002 to 2007. He was the co-author, with Thomas Kean and Lee Hamilton, of Without Precedent: The Inside Story of the 9/11 Commission. A native New Yorker, Rhodes has a BA from Rice University and an MFA from New York University.

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