His Very Best: Jimmy Carter, A Life

From one of America’s most-respected journalists and modern historians comes the first full-length biography of Jimmy Carter, the thirty-ninth president of the United States and Nobel Prize–winning humanitarian.

“His Very Best” is a fascinating book, and Alter tells Carter’s life story beautifully and with admirable fairness — he treats Carter as a real person, as flawed as anyone else, and not as a saint.

Alter’s pacing is wonderful; his accounts of some of the more dramatic events in Carter’s presidency are thrillingly told, but this never comes at the cost of the humanity of the people involved.

It’s a book that’s bound to fascinate anyone with an interest in American history, and an excellent look at the man whom Alter considers, justifiably, ‘perhaps the most misunderstood president in American history.’”

-NPR

Beyond his work as an author, political analyst and filmmaker, Jonathan Alter publishes an unusual newsletter called OLD GOATS: Ruminating with Friends, which gives him license to have fun but meaningful conversations with his friends and acquaintances. These "ruminations" with people of wisdom and experience help readers grapple with a wide variety of historical, political and cultural questions in written form. The aim is to stimulate thought and "significant contention" inside this new community.
Photograph ©️ Molly Alter

About Jonathan Alter

An award-winning author, political analyst, documentary filmmaker, columnist, television producer and radio host.

Jonathan Alter is the author of three New York Times bestsellers: “The Center Holds: Obama and His Enemies”(2013), “The Promise: President Obama, Year One” (2010) and “The Defining Moment: FDR’s Hundred Days and the Triumph of Hope”(2006), also one of the Times’ “Notable Books” of the year. Alter released his latest book: “His Very Best: Jimmy Carter, A Life” in 2020.
Since 1996, Alter has been a contributing correspondent and political analyst for NBC News and MSNBC. In 2019, he co-produced and co-directed the HBO documentary, “Breslin and Hamill: Deadline Artists,” winning the 2020 Emmy for Best Historical Documentary.
In 2021, Alter launched a newsletter called “OLD GOATS, Ruminating with Friends” devoted to conversations with accomplished people of wisdom and experience.
Directors Jonathan Alter, John Block and Steve McCarthy bring New York columnists Jimmy Breslin and Pete Hamill’s courageous writing to life, celebrating the acclaimed journalists and the city they loved.

Breslin and Hamill: Deadline Artists won the 2020 Emmy for Outstanding Historical Documentary.

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