First published 2020
Jonathan Alter presents the thirty-ninth president of the United States as a misunderstood figure whose life spanned three centuries of American experience. Carter grew up without electricity or running water in Jim Crow Georgia, raised partly by a Black farmhand. He transformed from a shy, bookish child into a naval nuclear engineer, then returned home to run the family peanut farm. His guilt over remaining silent during civil rights struggles drove his later pursuit of racial justice. As an unknown born-again governor, Carter launched a brilliant 1976 campaign that destroyed the racist wing of the Democratic Party and carried him to the White House. His presidency faced economic turmoil and the Iran hostage crisis, yet achieved landmark successes including Middle East peace, environmental protection, government diversity, and human rights advocacy. After leaving office, Carter eradicated diseases, built homes for the poor, and taught Sunday school into his nineties. Alter argues that Carter represents a moral exemplar whose decency, intelligence, and commitment to truth make him an underrated president whose post-presidency humanitarian work earned him global reverence and a Nobel Prize.
Genres: history, 20th-century, biography-memoir, 21st-century, american-history
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: moral-exemplar, underrated-president
Setting: Georgia, United States
Period: 19th-Century, 20th-Century, 21st-Century
795 pages · Kindle Edition · Simon & Schuster