An Hour Before Daylight - by Jimmy Carter (Paperback)

About the Book

Born on October 1, 1924, Jimmy Carter grew up on a Georgia farm during the Great Depression. In "An Hour Before Daylight", the former president tells the story of his rural boyhood and paints a sensitive portrait of America before the civil rights movement. 37 photos.

Book Synopsis

"An American classic." --The New Yorker

In An Hour Before Daylight, Jimmy Carter, bestselling author of Living Faith and Sources of Strength, recreates his Depression-era boyhood on a Georgia farm before the civil rights movement forever changed it and the country.

Carter writes about the powerful rhythms of countryside and community in a sharecropping economy, offering an unforgettable portrait of his father, a brilliant farmer and a strict segregationist who treated black workers with respect and fairness; his strong-willed and well-read mother; and the five other people who shaped his early life, three of whom were black.

Carter's clean and eloquent prose evokes a time when the cycles of life were predictable and simple and the rules were heartbreaking and complex. In his singular voice and with a novelist's gift for detail, Jimmy Carter creates a sensitive portrait of an era that shaped the nation and recounts a classic, American story of enduring importance.

Review Quotes

"A love story of a man's passion for his home, his family, and...for his fellow man...Will stay in the mind long after the last page is read."-- "United Press International"

"A lovely and haunting piece of work...conveys with quiet passion...its author's love for the place in which he grew up and where, he says, he expects to rest for eternity."-- "Jonathan Yardley, The Washington Post Book World"

"An American classic."-- "The New Yorker"

"Captivating."-- "Jesse Birnbaum, Time"

"More than just an engaging memoir, this book is first-rate social history, a portrait of a subculture of America...a genetic road map of the making of a president."-- "Ray Jenkins, Baltimore Sun"

About the Author

Jimmy Carter was the thirty-ninth President of the United States, serving from 1977 to 1981. In 1982, he and his wife founded The Carter Center, a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the lives of people around the world. Carter was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002, and was the author of thirty books, including A Full Life: Reflections at Ninety; A Call to Action: Women, Religion, Violence, and Power; An Hour Before Daylight: Memoirs of a Rural Boyhood; and Our Endangered Values: America's Moral Crisis. He died in 2024 at the age of 100.