Jimmy Carter, America’s 39th president, has been much maligned for being a weak president. Certainly, there are things he wishes that he could redo. Nonetheless, it is interesting to see in this memoir what positive things he did accomplish and how honest he is about the unresolved problems of our world.
Carter has been called the most-successful ex-president our country has ever had. He founded the Carter Center at Emory University and has spend a lot of time coordinating efforts for peace, safe and fair elections, and global health. He has also spent a lot of time writing books. He writes with a great deal of clarity and precision of thought.
In this presentation, he is honest about his weaknesses and fair to those who have helped him – most notably his wife Rosalynn. Their marriage spans an era of change vis-a-vis our national view of women. Jimmy has successfully adjusted from being an authoritarian husband with a dependent wife into a more egalitarian co-leader. He details several big instances in his presidency where Rosalynn not only took the lead but also succeeded in ways that Jimmy himself could not.
Although a memoir written at ninety by a global leader is, de facto, interesting, this account seems to lack a great deal of depth. Perhaps it is because he is exploring the past instead of blazing a path for the future. Still, in order to have a greater appreciation for how the son a farmer in the deep South could become an American president, this book deserves attention and an audience.
A Full Life: Reflections at Ninety
by Jimmy Carter
Copyright (c) 2015
ISBN13 9781501115639
Page Count: 257
Genre: Memoir, US Presidential History
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