Throughout his lifetime, Jimmy Carter held many titles: 39th president of the United States, Nobel Peace Prize winner, philanthropist, humanitarian, artist —and writer.
In his role as an author, Carter wrote mostly nonfiction, on everything from war and peace to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to faith, personal reflections on his childhood and aging — and even fishing. But he also dabbled in fiction — with a children's book, Little Baby Snoogle-Fleejer, illustrated by his daughter, Amy, and a novel, The Hornet's Nest: A Novel of the Revolutionary War.
Carter published his first book, a campaign autobiography titled Why Not the Best? in 1975. Since then, he's written more than 30 works. "Of all our modern Presidents, Jimmy Carter was America's most protean author," his publisher Jonathan Karp, president and CEO of Simon & Schuster, said in a statement issued in late February 2023. "In all of his books, he maintained a voice of great integrity and intellectual honesty."
Here are five of Carter's most widely read books:
An Hour Before Daylight: Memoirs of a Rural Boyhood (2002)
Carter's memoir details his childhood in a segregated rural Georgia during the Great Depression. He reflects on living in a sharecropping economy, as he paints a portrait of his community and family.
Our Endangered Values: America's Moral Crisis (2006)
Published in 2005, Carter offers a defense of the separation of church and state, as well as his takes on contemporary issues such as women's rights, abortion, terrorism and the death penalty.
Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid (2007)
Written post-White House, Carter presents his views on the Israel-Palestine conflict — sharing his knowledge of the history of the Middle East and offering an assessment of solutions towards peace going forward.
A Full Life: Reflections at 90 (2015)
Even at 90 years of age, Carter didn't stop writing. In A Full Life: Reflections at 90, Carter looks back at his long life — from growing up in rural Georgia to realizing causes he's most passionate about — and shares the lessons he's learned along the way.
Faith: A Journey For All (2018)
As a devout Baptist, religion has always been a key pillar in Carter's life. But his book Faith: A Journey For All is about much more than that. In it, Carter explores faith's broader meanings, the different ways that it sustains our lives, and how to find faith even in the darkest of times.
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