Rating: Summary: Jimmy Carter is no Rick Bragg Review: I eagerly awaited the arrival of this book being a great fan of all Southern writings and writers. I especially enjoyed the wonderful It's All Over But the Shoutin' by Pulitzer Prize winner Rick Bragg.Let me say I have always admired Jimmy Carter; he seems a man of virtue and honor. Unfortunately he can't write and someone should have told him. I found the book repetitive and monotonous and in need of an editor with the best organizational skills. Carter jumped from one subject to another continously without any hint of where he may be going.
Rating: Summary: A Joy to Read Review: Not since I read (on April 11, 1986) Russell Baker's Pulitzer-prize-winning Growing Up has there been a book of this genre which has so moved me. I spent a rural boyhood myself, but I cannot say it was as rich and varied and interesting as Jimmy Carter's, and it was not spent in Georgia. This is a very pleasant book to read, and you will never regret spending a little time reading this well-written book, full of insight and nostalgia. I hope it wins this year's (or next year's)Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography, as Russell Baker's delightful book did in 1983.
Rating: Summary: Aw Shucks! Review: I didn't realize I was being so partial. I'm the only one whose voting buttons were blanked out. It IS a GOOD read!
Rating: Summary: Me. Back in Madison County, VA Review: One of the best books I will probably read in the next couple years. Eating possum and rabbit, plowing the fields and fishing made my mind orbit back to my early childhood. The book made me feel as though I actually played with and shared the experiences with Jimmy Carter. This book "seals" my thoughts about Jimmy Carter being a swell person. I would like to tip may hat to him on a book well written. This should be in every school library across the nation. It's good for race relations and adhers to the biblical code of during unto others as you would want done unto you.
Rating: Summary: Scenes from 'Our American Childhood' Review: Possibly the kindest written work I have ever read. I have enjoyed this and will be giving it as gifts, I feel like President Carter has given us a gift of himself in this book. You simply cannot put it down until the last page. Thank-You for this great book!
Rating: Summary: Sweeps Us Away To An America Time Has Past On Review: Although I have mixed feelings of Jimmy Carter as a president, I bought this book by him and I'm absoultly attached to reading his childhood accounts. The book takes you the simpler America in his boyhood home in Georgia that understandbly Mr. Carter has some nostalgia for. It was an America where the simple joys like fishing, hunting, and just having good time with friends made your day. It was an America where people worked hard in the fields or a shop to make a living. Yet it was also segregrated America that would somewhat confuse a young boy. And Mr. Carter beatifully tells all those aspects and more of his boyhood America in Georgia through the telling of real human-molding experiences of his youth in a way that will enrap and entertain you into a time that many has forgotten. And simply its one of the most heartfelt and interesting account by any person about there youth that I have ever read.
Rating: Summary: Americana in the form of the written word Review: This well-written book gives a unique look at the "memories of a rural boyhood." I'd always read that Jimmy Carter was poor in his youth. However, compared to his neighbors and tenants, he was well-off. Furthermore, when one looks at the love and respect lavished upon him, as well as the adventures he had, one can only conclude that he was quite wealthy. Carter was President of the United States when I was in grammar school. The information about him that I learned from school projects and Current Events was favorable. It is obvious that the experiences that are recalled in "An Hour Before Daylight" shaped this man into the leader he became. It's also evident that these experiences gave him the empathy that makes him work for Habitat for Humanity. In summary: this book is a valuable history of not only Jimmy Carter's boyhood, but also an era of the United States that I never learned about in any class. I highly recommend it.
Rating: Summary: A wonderful, wonderful story... Review: What a beautifully written book! It has some gritty details in it, but it intimately brings to light what life was really like while growing up in the Deep South during the Depression. Impressive to hear how in the midst of all the confusion and turmoil he experienced as a child, his love for family and close friends never wavered. I especially enjoyed reading about the simple things he took joy in doing and experiencing. I have a new found respect for the former President, and for the simple pleasures in life that I now want to relish in and pass along to my children. Magnificent. Highly recommended. Cris
Rating: Summary: An hour before daylight Review: I really enjoyed this book, it is a fast and easy read. You can almost hear Jimmy Carters voice telling you the stories. You almost see the poverty and pain of the times and how they went into the making of the man, Jimmy Carter.
Rating: Summary: Memories of Southwest Georgia Review: Jimmy Carter's account of his early days in Depression Days farm country of Southwest Georgia parallels closely the experience of my wife, who grew up not too far from Plains. "Did you have 'kit fish' for breakfast?" I asked. "We didn't call it kit fish but salted fish with grits was a favorite at our breakfast table, ... and was it GOOD!" Sitting in a porch swing hung from the ceiling, talking with family and friends rocking in rocking chairs on the ample front porch watching the passing scene was a pleasant part of her early days. And as Jimmy Carter continues, floods of familiar memories course through one's mind. Those bittersweet days of youth are with us again. Even today vestiges of that long gone time retain their marks on the society of that region today. President Carter does us the service of recording the scene for our children to share their invisible roots in a time long gone. He is an outstanding storyteller. His book is a pleasure.
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