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His Very Best
His Very Best: Jimmy Carter, a Life | Jonathan Alter
4 posts | 3 read | 1 to read
The first full-length biography of Jimmy Carter, the Georgia peanut farmer who became President of the United States and a Nobel Prizewinning humanitarian. Drawing on fresh archival material and five years of extensive access to Carter and his entire family, New York Times bestselling author Jonathan Alter tells the epic story of a complex man of faith and his improbable journey from barefoot boy to global icon. Growing up with black playmates in one of the meanest counties in the Jim Crow South, Carter is the only American president who essentially lived in three centuries: his early life on the farm in the 1920s without electricity or running water might as well have been in the 19th; he was connectedbefore, during, and after his presidencyto many of the major events and transformative social movements of the 20th; and his astonishingly active post-presidential life of service has inspired millions in the 21st. Alter paints an intimate portrait of a flawed but underrated president of decency, vision, and peace. We learn how Carter evolved from a short, timid kid nicknamed Peewee into a stellar officer in Admiral Hyman Rickover's nuclear navy and an indefatigable born-again governor of Georgia; howstraddling two worldshe miraculously advanced from obscure outsider to the presidency; how he failed politically amid the bad economy of the 1970s and the seizure of hostages in Iran but succeeded in forging peace between Israel and Egypt, protecting the environment as never before, moving the government from tokenism to diversity, setting a new global standard for human rights, and normalizing relations with China, which made possible the growth of the global economy. Throughout, he fulfilled his promise never to lie to the American people. After leaving office, Carter revolutionized the post-presidency with bold initiatives in global health, conflict resolution, and democracy-promotion all the while building houses for the poor in his mid-90s. This meticulously-researched and colorful account by a master story-teller will change our understanding of perhaps the most misunderstood president in American history.
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fredthemoose
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Pickpick

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Whooo… this one was chunky (30+ hours), but really good. I thought it did a great job of providing insight to who Jimmy Carter is and his quirks as well his tremendous capabilities and drive. He is a much more impressive person and president than I had realized. Definitely worth a read if you have any interest in presidential biographies or 20th century American history.

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fredthemoose
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My September #bookspin bingo board! Excited about this, but just got the tagged book earlier than expected from the library, and at 31 hours, it is a chunky monkey and is going to take some time to get through. Goal is to get through my book spin and double spin and get at least one bingo…

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JoyBlue
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Panpan

What book did the rest of y'all read? I want my time back! I was super-psyched leading up to publication, and even more so after reading the prologue. I get not wanting to sugarcoat a historical figure's failings, but this goes above and beyond. [more]

JoyBlue In fact, I'd say there was more painting Carter as petty, vengeful, and overly demanding than there was describing his significant political successes (and failures) and humanitarian work (which is truly given short-shrift). That is, the 800 pages seem skewed toward Carter's personality and demeanor. [more] 4y
JoyBlue So, how about this? “Author's note: Jimmy Carter has always been a two-faced, racist, petty, vengeful, demanding so-and-so.“ Then, see if this puppy couldn't get cut down to around 200 pages. Better yet, just fill however many pages are actually necessary to describe the substance of Carter's political and humanitarian work, without making him sound like the devil incarnate. 4y
Ericalambbrown You aren‘t the first I‘ve heard say this about this book. I think I‘ll pass on this one. 4y
See All 7 Comments
JoyBlue @Ericalambbrown Really?! I'm glad I'm not alone. Pretty much everyone on Goodreads raved about it. 4y
iread2much So this book is a hit job on President Carter? 4y
JoyBlue @iread2much I'm not sure that I'd go quite that far, but I'm really confused about the stark difference between the tone of the prologue and the rest of the book. The author took pretty much every opportunity (each time a new topic was started) to criticize Carter's personality. People operate and react to each other differently. It's very personal/subjective. Books of this type should focus on factual reporting of the events and their impact. 4y
iread2much @JoyBlue I agree, unless he knows Carter intimately as a friend, he can‘t even really guess about Pres. Carter‘s internal workings. Thanks for the reply and the summary! 4y
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LTOC
Pickpick

Fantastic and comprehensive biography of a Jimmy Carter. Gives a new appreciation for the long lived former President and humanitarian; as well as of the 70s