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Summary: A book you must get!!!!!
Review: I just finish this book. What an incredibly written book. I really enjoyed it. An insightful and interesting book you must see. Not very captive at the beginning, but eventually lead you to the point that you keep attentive. It¡¦s an awesome book with a lot of great information, a must read from cover to cover and a material for daily use. Filled with very colorful vivid illustration will capture one¡¦s mind from beginning to end.
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Summary: Janet Sturm
Review: I am in the process of reading this book and it is excellent! Reminds me somewhat of growing up in the late 30's and 40's. Running barefoot in the newly toiled soil and helping in the fields. Jimmie Carter is a down to earth writer and greatest of all he is a Christian.
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Summary: A President Remembers
Review: In a memoir originally started as a remembrance for his grandchildren, President Carter recalls the story of his boyhood in Plains Georgia. His was a youth spent in a farming community during the period of the great depression of the 1930's and before civil rights legislation changed the social fabric of the nation. Carter states that the book was written "to understand and explain myself better, to recount interesting experiences, and perhaps to bring some perspective to our rapidly changing circumstances as we enter a new millennium."There is no doubt that the circumstances of his youth had a profound effect on his attidtudes and his performance during his presidency, especially as it related to his stands on social programs. He confesses embarrassment about the treatment of his black neighbors by his family and others in a society in which those actions were the the norm of his time, and he makes it clear that his life and the life of his family was deeply rooted in the land and the customs of the area. Written in an easily flowing and personal style, the book is an interesting insight into the roots of the thirty-ninth President of the United States. It is a very worthwhile read which led me to view President Carter in a new light.
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Summary: An Incredible Journey
Review: This book is one of the best you'll read this year, guaranteed. It's a glimpse into the former President's youth, a life which was never easy, but never one that was complained about. Rather than writing a diatribe railing against growing up without having been born with the silver spoon found in so many of the other Presidents' mouths, Mr. Carter explores and celebrates the small trials he faced and which, eventually, molded him into the man who became President. "Angela's Ashes" as written from Georgia? Why not? This book makes an outstanding gift, if only to yourself!
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Summary: Excellent history
Review: I find that President Carter's writing gets better and better with each book. Along with his book of poetry, his book about the outdoors, and of course about his faith, this may be his best as it reflects so much of what he is about and the forces that shaped him. It is is an important cultural history about the rural south, and as many have written, about the relations in close quarters between blacks and whites, but also the importance of that magical teacher that instills a love of learning.
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Summary: A wonderful book!
Review: I couldn't put it down...What a remarkable life Jimmy Carter has led, and what rough times people had during the Depression. I really enjoyed other books by Jimmy Carter, but I think this one is my favorite. I'm very glad he became President of the U.S....he is a man of character.
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Summary: History Comes to Life
Review: I never really knew the president until I read the book. It provided insight and valuable understanding into the development of his ideals and lifelong commitment to community. Every night as I tucked my three darling sons into bed, we would cast aside Harry Potter for Hour Before Daylight. What a wonderful way to share our history with the family.
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Summary: A Great Story
Review: Former President Carter has produced a wonderful story of his early years in Plains, Georgia. His father was a powerful man by local standards who owned a large farm which was cropped on shares by the poor blacks of the area. Mama was a nurse and it is clear that she was very much admired by her children. Carter gives an unvarnished account of life in south Georgia in the 20s and 30s. There are vivid accounts of Mama, Daddy, Uncle Buddy, and the farmers who sharecropped on the Carter's land and who became close friends. The social ways of the rural south are written about and Carter shows that it was a place where things are not always what they seem and good church going Baptists can look the other way when it meets their needs. This is a strong work, well written and a joy to read.
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Summary: Needs a colorful cover
Review: This was a wonderful book. Mr. Carter tells the story about how he grew up in a warm and candid manner. He grew up in rural Georgia during the depression era. He tells about the farm life and the chores and the cold mornings when he and his siblings would rush to his parents bedroom, the room with the heater, to get dressed. When he was on the farm he would play with black children and was close to the black families on the farm, but if he went to town to the movies with one of his black friends as soon as they got on the train they would seperate and go to different seating areas and when they got off they would walk to the theatre together and then again go to different seating areas. That was the way it was at that time. He talks about his family and how they interacted with each other. He doesn't try to mince his words, he gives an honest account of his youth. His family is a lot like most families {although not too many have one who was president), with some ups and downs, but underlying it all you can feel the love they have for each other. When you read this book you will understand the man, from the history of his youth. When I got done reading this book, I was left with a good feeling and a more positive attitude about the world. Jimmy Carter, through his religious beliefs, has done a lot of wonderful things for the people.
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Summary: Memoirs of a decent man
Review: Jimmy Carter, throughout his political career and since his defeat by the seeminly revered Ronnie Reagan, has demonstrated again and again his basic decency and humanity. In this book, he vividly demonstrates where those traits originated. Carter grew to manhood in rural GA, about as rural as you get, in a society dominated by racists and bigots, but also populated by loving, charitable individuals and families much like the Carters, who, Mr. Carter shows were not entirely free of their own prejudices and bigotry. He describes the members of his community and family in usually loving terms, even as he details many of their human foibles. My favorite passage in the book is when, during Carter's campaign for the presidency in 1976, his colorful and much loved brother, Billy, in answer to some reporters questions about his family and why he seems to be such an anomalie in his family, says something to the effect that, "Well, my mother was a 70 year old peace corps volunteer in India, one of my sisters rides motorcycles all over the country and the other goes around the world preaching, my brother thinks he's going to be president and I run a filling station. Now you tell me, out of that bunch, who do you think is normal?" Well, the normal one certainly wasn't Jimmy Carter, who has proved himself an exceptional human being over a lifetime of achievement and striving for the betterment of humanity. This book tells us a little bit about how this truly exceptional man came into being while giving those of us with different life experiences a glimpse of what life was like in most of the rural south during his formative years. It is a delightful book and goes a long way toward explaining why Jimmy Carter has become America's most admired ex-president, and presents such a high standard for other ex-president to aspire to. Great and inspiratioal book for children and young people and a rare pleasure to read. wfh
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