A white supremacist shooting. A national reckoning with race and the Confederate flag. The fate of marriage equality and the Affordable Care Act. This is the propulsive story of 10 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. Through behind-the-scenes moments—from Obama’s suggestion that Keenan listen to some Miles Davis and “find the silences,” to the president’s late-night writing sessions in the First Family’s residence—Keenan takes us inside the craft of speechwriting at the highest level. This book is the most intimate writing that exists on the rhetorical tightrope our first Black president had to walk, culminating with an unforgettable high point: Obama stunning everybody by taking a deep breath and leading the country in a chorus of “Amazing Grace.”