A New Look at Our Oldest Living Former President

You may be too young to remember when Jimmy Carter was President, or you may have just been too busy to have cared. I was pulling for him to do a good job because Georgia is my ‘adopted’ home state, and I was sick and tired of people making fun of him because he was from Plains, GA and had a Southern accent. Some very unkind people who went so far as to say that his staff and appointees were ‘hicks’ and that his entire presidency was a ‘joke’.

Jimmy Carter has redeemed himself since leaving office in 1981. He has worked harder as a private citizen than any other former President, and most of us absolutely do know about his efforts around the world and in our own country. He’s still giving interviews even though he has slowed down some having reached the age of 96. He and Rosalynn have just celebrated their 75th wedding aniversary.

Taking a second look at Carter’s Presidency:

Kai Bird, along with Sam Roberts, published The Outlier in June of 2021. Bird is a well respected Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer who argues persausively that not only was Carter a Washington ‘outsider’ but he was also an ‘outlier’, whose legacy has been deeply misunderstood.

Jonathan Alter’s book, His Very Best, hasn’t gotten as much publicity as the Bird biography, but it certainly has gotten excellent reviews from The New York Times and other respected publications. So, if you are interested in learning more about former President Jimmy Carter, you have two books to choose from.