In a new memoir, former White House speechwriter Cody Keenan will tell the story of 10 of the most fraught days of Barack Obama’s presidency.
Mariner Books will publish Grace: President Obama and Ten Days in the Battle for America this fall, the HarperCollins imprint announced in a news release. The book will cover the period in June of 2015 when the country was reeling from the mass murder at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina.
Mariner calls the book “the propulsive story of ten days in June 2015, when Obama and his chief speechwriter Cody Keenan composed a series of high-stakes speeches to meet a succession of stunning developments.”
Keenan became the White House director of speechwriting in 2013 after his predecessor Jon Favreau left the job to become a consultant. He worked with Obama on one of the most memorable speeches of his presidency, his eulogy for Clementa Pinckney, the pastor and South Carolina state senator who was murdered, along with eight other Black people, at the Charleston church he led.
Toward the end of the eulogy, Obama began to sing “Amazing Grace,” one of the most iconic moments of his presidency.
“In the rarest of White House memoirs, Keenan masterfully narrates the propulsive story of those ten days and illustrates what they tell us about America—where we’ve been and where we can go,” Mariner says. “And with the make-or-break 2022 elections almost upon us, Grace becomes more than a gripping read, but a timely roadmap for bending our American journey toward progress and hope.”
Grace is slated for publication on Oct. 4.
Michael Schaub, a journalist and regular contributor to NPR, lives near Austin, Texas.
