Literary Legacy of Jimmy Carter

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.

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.

• AcknowledgementsIntroduction: Reflections on President Jimmy Carter’s Career as an AuthorMark I. West and Frye Gaillard1. Jimmy Carter’s Books from His First Presidential Campaign: Why Not the Best and A Government as Good as Its PeopleMark I. West2. Reflections on Jimmy Carter’s Keeping Faith: Memoirs of a PresidentFrye Gaillard3. The Blood of Abraham: Jimmy Carter’s Search for Peace in the Middle EastBen Cohen4. Finding Our Way Again: An Essay on the Carters’ Memoir Everything to Gain: Making the Most of the Rest of Your Life Charlotte Pence5. Baptism by Fire: Jimmy Carter’s First Election as Recounted in Turning PointKaye Lanning Minchew6. Absorbed in the Wilderness: Jimmy Carter’s An Outdoor JournalMarilynn S. Olson7. A President’s Poetic Journey: Always a ReckoningEmily Seelbinder8. The Litle Baby Snoogle-Fleejer: Jimmy Carter’s Story for ChildrenPaula T. Connolly9. A Firm Foundation: Jimmy Carter’s Reflections on His Life in A Living Faith and Sources of StrengthRonald F. Lunsford10. Thinking Out Loud: Jimmy Carter’s Thoughts on Aging in The Virtues of Aging and A Full LifeBoyd Davis and Meredith Troutman-Jordan11. An Hour Before Daylight and Christmas in Plains: Jimmy Carter’s Narratives of HomeJeffrey B. Leak12. A Presidential First: The Hornet’s Nest, Jimmy Carter’s Historical NovelPaula Gallant Eckard13. Sharing Good Times: Jimmy Carter on Making Lasting MemoriesDaniel Shealy14. A Voice Crying in the Wilderness: Jimmy Carter’s Our Endangered ValuesMichael J. Brown15. Cri de coeur: Jimmy Carter’s Palestine Peace Not ApartheidNancy Mitchell16. Beyond the White House: Jimmy Carter’s Reflections on His Post-Presidency YearsCynthia Tucker and Frye Gaillard17. A Remarkable Mother: Jimmy Carter’s Tribute to Miss LillianKathy Merlock Jackson18. A Jimmy Carter Sequel: We Can Have Peace in the Holy LandFrye Gaillard19. Jimmy Carter’s Day-to-Day Life as President: White House DiaryOrville Vernon Burton20. Challenging Patriarchy: Jimmy Carter’s A Call to ActionRichard W. Leeman21. Working with His Hands: The Craftsmanship of Jimmy Carter and The Paintings of Jimmy CarterFrye Gaillard and Caroline Gebhard22. Swansong: Jimmy Carter’s Parting Gift of Faith: A Journey for AllMark A. Lempke23. A Selective Bibliography of Jimmy Carter’s WritingsCamille McCutcheonIndexAbout the EditorsAbout the Contributors