First published 2018
Beck works as a stenographer in the Obama White House, recording every presidential word and witnessing history from the shadows. She travels on Air Force One, sits in on crucial meetings, and observes the machinery of power up close. The job offers unprecedented access but demands invisibility. Beck struggles between her professional duty to remain unnoticed and her personal desire to matter in the corridors she walks daily. She watches colleagues advance while she remains tethered to her transcription machine. The work provides a front-row seat to democracy but leaves her questioning her own significance. As presidential terms wind down, Beck must decide whether proximity to power satisfies her ambitions or whether she needs to step out of the background to find her own voice in a city that values influence above all else.
Genres: american, contemporary, memoir, non-fiction, biography-memoir, 21st-century
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: fish-out-of-water, found-family
Setting: Air Force One, Washington DC, White House
Period: 21st Century
Paperback · Rowohlt Taschenbuch