Barnes & NobleHis Very Best - Jimmy Carter, a Life by Jonathan Alter

A Balaned Full Life Biography

I read “His Very Best” in preparation for a class on Jimmy Carter. I found a full-life biography, through its writing in in 2020. I appreciate it as a balanced examination of the full man in his upbringing, family relations, education, romance, business, political and post-political dimensions. I call this work balanced because it is neither hagiographic nor condemnatory. It presents a man who essentially lived in three centuries. Born on a farm in the 1920s in nineteenth century conditions without electricity or running water, living through the twentieth century as a nuclear scientist, serving as president and, into the twenty-first century, as an advocate for health and peace. Carter is portrayed as a Southern politician who succeeded in a segregated world, while nudging it gradually toward integration. Not a great president, but a significant one whose administration is underrated. A striving former president whose achievements are often overrated. This tome touches the bases of the Carter saga. The upper class, for his community, childhood deprived of much of what we would consider basics, surrounded by playmates he, and we, would consider poor. It narrates the decision to attend the Naval Academy, his marriage to Rosalynn, his decision to leave the Navy return to Plains and the family business, much to Rosalynn’s disappointment, his entry into politics, his struggle against corrupt machines, his governorship, campaign and presidency and return home. Author Jonathan Alter has crafted a readable, though long, biography. He presents evidence for his claim that Carter’s presidency is underrated by listing its accomplishments. Not since the Camp David Accords have Egypt and Israel traded shots in anger. Carter’s assertion of human rights has become a staple of American foreign policy every since, as has energy conservation that he brought to the fore. He spearheaded the deregulation of interstate air and road transportation and energy. Elements of his reorganization of the Executive Branch of the Federal Government have endured. This was all accomplished despite Carter’s limited understanding of the world of Washington politics that he, erroneously, believed ended at the Oval Office Door. I am glad I read “His Very Best”. I feel I have a much better understanding of Jimmy Carter and his life than I did when I first opened it. I recommend it as a good thorough introductory Carter biography. Do not be intimidated by its length. It is worth it.