Based on original interviews and in-depth reportage, Forcing the Spring is the work of Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist Jo Becker, after she was exclusively embedded with the plaintiffs’ legal team for more than four years, attending every day of the trial and every appellate argument. Offering behind-the-scenes coverage on the Obama administration’s role—with access to all the key players in the Justice Department and the White House—Becker reveals the true story of how the president came around to embrace marriage equality and play a surprisingly critical role in the Supreme Court battle. Following the lawyers in the chambers, the political operatives in the strategy rooms, and the heroic couples at the center of this historic lawsuit, Becker weaves together the many threads of the campaign into an inspirational and eye-opening narrative.

An exclusive account of a national civil rights struggle, Forcing the Spring carries readers from the first efforts to stop Proposition 8 and the campaign to undermine the Defense of Marriage Act all the way to the final suspenseful moments in the Supreme Court. A multi-angled work of journalism that examines all sides and all participants of this groundbreaking movement, Forcing the Spring is the definitive account of the fight to win the rights of marriage and full citizenship for all.