THE WORLD AS IT IS

Ben Rhodes, Bodley Head, $35

This is the most arresting book I’ve read all year. At 29, Rhodes joined Barack Obama, then an Illinois senator, as his speechwriter. When Obama became President, Rhodes was appointed Deputy National Security Advisor. “My role was to... talk and fill the quiet space — to test out the logic of his own ideas,” he writes. Obama needed a confidant and Rhodes was allowed exceptional access. They travelled to 20 different countries; there were relationships to establish in each. In the US, there was unprecedented opposition sometimes from within the loyal but nervous White House team. Day by day, situations altered and what had once made sense needed constant tweaking. Rhodes is today free to reconnect with his wife and two daughters who willingly let him serve in what might as well have been an extraterrestrial posting. Here in Australia we often struggle to comprehend what’s going on elsewhere. This memoir helps.