Category Archives: Books

Jimmy Carter Biography

A Biography About Jimmy Carter

I just finished reading His Very Best: Jimmy Carter, A Life by Jonathan Alter. This a biography about Jimmy Carter, the thirty-ninth president of the United States. Here are a few of my thoughts relating to the book.

Much of what formed Jimmy Carter’s personality came from growing up in the center of the Jim Crow South, Plains, Georgia. He grew up on a farm without electricity or running water. The detail of the information in this book is astounding. Jonathan Alter was fortunate to have access to the 2017 posting of twelve million additional pages of recently declassified documents on the CIA Records Search Tool (Crest) system. This included declassified minutes of key National Security Council meetings.

Carter’s message was integrity and decency. After the Nixon scandal, his notion of wanting “a government as good as its people,” was a welcome message. I am sure it was hard to get that message across, especially as the media was more focused on Carter’s colorful family than on what he was accomplishing for the country.

Miss Lillian, Carter’s mother, had celebrity status and was a favorite guest on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. You can watch the June 1979 interview with Johnny and Lillian on YouTube. It is quite evident that Johnny adored talking to this gracious southern lady. Lillian’s career was in nursing. It is impressive that she joined the Peace Corps at age 68. She worked in India with patients who had leprosy.

Gloria Carter Spann was the second daughter of Lillian and James Earl Carter, Sr. She was best known as a motorcycle enthusiast and the first women inducted into the Harley-Davidson’s 100,000 Mile Club. Out of all the Carter siblings, she managed to stay out of the media spotlight the most.

Ruth Carter Stapleton was the third of four children in the Carter family. She was well known as a Christian evangelist. Ruth was quite involved in Jimmy Carter’s political campaigns. Her celebrity and ability to motivate her supporters was an incredible help to the campaigns.

Billy Carter, Jimmy’s younger brother, also had celebrity status, his due to outlandish public behavior. I remember Billy Beer from the period Carter was in office. Carter always supported Billy, even as Billy created embarrassing situations during his political career.

A terribly sad family trait is the predominance of pancreatic cancer, taking Carter family members at a noticeably young age. Father, James Earl Carter, Sr., died of pancreatic cancer at age 58 in 1953. Carter siblings that died of the same cancer: Gloria Carter Spann at age 63, Ruth Carter Stapleton at age 54 and Billy Carter at age 51.

I was surprised to learn of Jimmy Carter’s feelings on the separation of church and state, especially with his strong Christian background. His break from the Southern Baptist Convention was brought about when ultra conservative leaders turned the SBC into a political organization in the 1980’s. Harry S. Truman was also a big proponent of separation of church and state. If you enjoy reading about U.S. presidents, I highly recommend reading The Accidental President: Harry S. Truman and the Four Months That Changed the World by A.J. Baime.

The acceptance speech that Jimmy Carter gave at the 1976 Democratic Convention resonates in the current political climate:

“Our Country has lived through a time of torment. It’s now a time for healing.

We want to have faith again!
We want to be proud again!
We just want the truth again!”

As stated in the book, the theme was how to recover from the “moral decay [that] has weakened our country.” Of the 782 pages in this book, this speech stood out more than any other section. Our country in 2020 is so divided and in need of healing. Post-Watergate (Nixon) era, people lost faith in the U.S. government. I recall the division of the population during the Vietnam era. 2020 feels remarkably like that period. I am hopeful for 2021. In 2020, we have the added stress and insecurity of the COVID-19 Pandemic. Carter did not have anything like that to contend with. COVID-19 vaccines have started to arrive throughout the country. Medical staff dealing directly with COVID-19 patients are the first to be inoculated. I look forward to getting together with friends and family this time next year, without the worry of getting infected.

Carter believed in peace, human rights, the environment and ethics in government. A main issue in accomplishing these ideals, he truly was not a politician. The basic premise of playing well with others seemed to have alluded him.

Another big surprise to me after reading the book, Carter was much tougher, rigid, intelligent, and more complex than I had viewed him. He truly was an underrated president.

MA's Gift Books

Discovering Everyday Matters by Danny Gregory

Twice a year I attend a used book fair put on by the Friends of the Loveland Public Library. My delight during the outing is finding little gift books to give to my friends throughout the year. At each event, I fill a big bag with gift books. When I return home, I sit in my over-stuffed chair and place all the books on the ottoman that goes with the chair. I then proceed to read through the books and match up the books to the special people in my life.

Occasionally, I come across a book in the pile that I simply cannot pass along and I end up adding it to my own collection. This year, as I was reading through the pile of books on the ottoman, I discovered Everyday Matters a Memoir by Danny Gregory. The memoir starts out with an extreme tragedy. I had the thought that this book couldn’t possibly have any bright moments if it revolved around the tragic event that occurs in the beginning of the book. I was pleasantly surprised to discover it was filled with bright spots.

The illustrations in Everyday Matters are whimsical and inspiring. They encourage me to start carrying a journal and begin to draw the everyday things in my own life; the little things that are easily overlooked. I have become an instant fan of Danny Gregory and will now look for other books he has written.

The Weight of Water

The Weight of Water…a haunting book

I have just finished reading the book, The Weight of Water by Anita Shreve. What led me to this book was reading another book by this author, The Pilot’s Wife. I acquire many of my books at the semi-annual Friends of the Loveland Library book sale. To be honest, I grabbed The Pilot’s Wife because it had the Oprah’s Book Club stamp on the cover. I never have the amount of time that I would like to read novels. So I added this book to the many other books that I intend on reading one day.

During the course of the year, I get into purging moods to keep up with the clutter that so easily accumulates. I have moved The Pilot’s Wife book to quite a few different locations over the years. During my latest purge, I was tempted to pass this book along to someone else since it seemed I was never going to actually read the book. But then I said to myself, “This is a short read, just stop what you are doing and read the dang book.” I finished the book a few days ago. When the last page was turned, I headed to the library to find another book by this author. I chose The Weight of Water; I liked the title and had no idea what to expect.

The Weight of Water revolves around the brutal murder of Karen Christensen and her sister-in-law Anethe Christensen by Louis Wagner. Speculation as to whether someone other than Louis committed the murders continues to this day. I tend to enjoy historical fiction and biographies for my reading pleasure. This book was right up my alley. Anita Shreve uses great artistic license in creating the characters of the book. She has said the book is opposite of what is traditionally known as historical fiction. Historical facts interwoven into the story line will wet your whistle and entice you to explore further.

At one point in the book, Maren and Anethe were sleeping in the same bed on the night of the murder. The intimate interaction between them seemed to cross a line, with regards to how the author embellished their personalities. These were real people and the author portrayed them in a way that could cast a dark shadow on how they are remembered. Anita’s writing is intriguing and the author does give fair warning that it is a fictitious story; albeit based on actual events. Read the book yourself and come up with your own conclusions.

After I finished reading The Weight of Water I went searching on the internet to find out more about the gruesome murders. The articles that I found captivated me as much as the book did. A Memorable Murder by Celia Thaxter was published just one month before the convicted murderer, Louis Wagner, was hanged in Maine. Celia’s style of writing was magnificent. Do a Google search for Maren and John Hontvedt or the Smuttynose Murders. You will find plenty of fascinating articles about the events that occurred on May 6, 1873.