The Literary Legacy of Jimmy Carter - by Mark I West & Frye Gaillard (Hardcover)

About the Book

The Literary Legacy of Jimmy Carter brings together original essays about the thirty-two books that President Jimmy Carter wrote over the course of his life. Since Carter wrote most of these books after completing his term as president, this collection sheds light on Carter's remarkable post-presidency years.

Book Synopsis

Jimmy Carter's expansive body of writing ranges across the genres of memoir, commentary, children's literature, poetry, and a novel about the Revolutionary War. Editors Mark I. West and Frye Gaillard have assembled a group of award-winning journalists, poets, historians, and literary scholars to reflect on this substantial - and to some, unexpected - dimension of Carter's legacy. Collectively, these essays, including several by the editors themselves, document a through-line of ethical integrity, perspective, and insight that runs through Carter's writing - from his controversial trilogy on peace in the Middle East to his personal reflections on his Georgia boyhood. Carter never used a ghost writer. As a result, his distinct voice and point of view comes through in every book that he published.

Review Quotes

"A huge thank you to the essayists who have curated Carter's extraordinary body of work in this tribute to a literary life that began with his first campaign memoir, Why Not the Best?. Carter flourished in all forms, memoir, poetry, religion, aging, even an historical novel. It is an honor to add my voice to his long overdue recognition as a writer." --Eleanor Clift, commentator for MSNBC and The Daily Beast, former White House correspondent for Newsweek

"Elegant and thoroughly researched, this collection of essays on President Jimmy Carter provides an intimate and inspiring look into the remarkable legacy of a statesman, humanitarian, poet, and writer. TheLiterary Legacy of Jimmy Carter is the sharing of mind and spirit that illumines, to paraphrase John Henry Cardinal Newman, the best that has been thought and said about our 39th President of the United States. A must-read book for every American." --Sue Brannan Walker, former Poet Laureate of Alabama, and founding editor of the award-winning journal, Negative Capability Press, which published Jimmy Carter's poetry

"Jimmy Carter is celebrated for his monumental impact on humanity, but his literary contributions reveal an equally profound legacy. With over thirty books spanning poetry, memoirs, and fiction, Carter's writing offers an intimate glimpse into the extraordinary breadth of his mind and imagination. The Literary Legacy of Jimmy Carter presents a collection of essays that delve into this often-overlooked facet of his life, offering readers a captivating exploration of the literary dimension of a truly remarkable American figure." --Patti Callahan Henry, NYT Bestselling author, winner of the Harper Lee Award

"Jimmy Carter, who did not use ghostwriters, published more books in his lifetime than any other president except Theodore Roosevelt. Reading The Literary Legacy of Jimmy Carter: Essays on the President's Books, I felt that I had experienced an intensive and rewarding symposium on the writer and his life." --Alabama Writers' Forum

"Jimmy Carter is surely among our most well-read Presidents. Novelist William Faulkner and theologian Reinhold Niebuhr, for example, wrote from a depth of authentic engagement with issues of faith, culture, spirit, and politics that helped engender Carter's own rare capacity reflected in these pages. Carter's literary legacy deserves the honor herein. As a white Southern clergyman who came of age in the civil rights movement and has wrestled in that arena ever since, I give special thanks for this volume." --Doug Tanner, cofounder and former chief executive of the Faith and Politics Institute in Washington, DC

"Instead of paid speeches, corporate boards and celebrity golf, Jimmy Carter made his living after leaving office writing books, each a reflection of a different part of his astonishing life as a Renaissance Man. These essays illuminate the 39th president's large and eclectic literary output and bolster the broad reassessment of Carter now underway." --Jonathan Alter, Author of "His Very Best: Jimmy Carter, a Life"

About the Author

Mark I. West is a professor of English at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, where he has taught since 1984. He is the author or editor of over twenty books, including Theodore Roosevelt on Books and Reading (2023) and Theodore Roosevelt and His Library at Sagamore Hill (2022).
Frye Gaillard, former writer in residence at the University of South Alabama, is a journalist-historian who has written more than 30 books. His award-winning titles include A Hard Rain: America in the 1960s (an NPR best book of 2018); Cradle of Freedom: Alabama and the Movement that Changed America; and Prophet from Plains: Jimmy Carter and His Legacy.