The Center Holds, by Jonathan Alter

Jonathan Alter continues the comprehensive chronicle of the Obama presidency he began with The Promise: President Obama, Year One. Alter is a former Newsweek editor and columnist with connections to both the Obama and Romney campaigns. Opening on the night of the 2010 midterm elections, the book follows the second half of Obama’s first term and reelection campaign, shedding light on the infamous “Cave” of data analysts, the Bin Laden raid and Obama’s woeful debate preparation and revealing a president who is “surprisingly good at the hard things, and surprisingly bad at the easy things.”