'His Very Best' review: A stirring bio of Jimmy Carter

You might think you know the story of Jimmy Carter: failed president, outstanding ex-president.

It's a lot more complicated than that, as journalist and historian Jonathan Alter makes clear in "His Very Best: Jimmy Carter, a Life," a deeply researched, carefully evenhanded and engagingly written journey through the life of a highly complex man. Alter's work is based on several hundred interviews (including more than a dozen with Carter, now 96) and countless documents.

The book delves into Carter's childhood in rural Georgia, where he was shaped by his parents: demanding, conservative Earl and adventurous, liberal (for the time and place) Lillian. Carter's prodigious work ethic and deeply felt religious faith grew from these earliest days.

Second to Carter himself, the most dominant figure throughout the book is his wife, Rosalynn. They met when Jimmy was 3, a couple of days after Miss Lillian, who was a nurse and midwife, delivered Rosalynn. Jimmy didn't notice her much until he came home on leave from the Naval Academy and was smitten by the 18-year-old beauty. Alter documents their deeply interdependent, 74-year marriage.

The book covers Carter's years at Annapolis, his Navy career and his relationship with Adm. Hyman Rickover, one of the biggest influences on his life. (The book's title comes from a question Rickover asked Carter.)

Alter relates Carter's run for the state legislature and, in short order, the governor's mansion. That victory signaled a turning point in Carter's stance on race. Although his win was aided by support from outright racists like Lester Maddox and George Wallace, in his inaugural speech he shocked Georgians by declaring that "the time for racial discrimination is over."

Alter's recounting of Carter's presidential run is fascinating. It began almost as soon as Carter was elected governor of Georgia, even though he was unknown to most of the nation. Assisted by a young, irreverent cadre of campaign advisers, he was the first presidential candidate to emphasize the Iowa caucuses, and he became the first to voluntarily release his tax returns, setting a standard that every subsequent candidate would meet, save one.

One of the biggest factors in Carter's narrow victory over Gerald Ford was his outsider status — after the crimes and corruption of the Watergate scandal, many voters longed for someone untouched by Washington. Carter's promise to Americans that he would not lie to them might have been a tad optimistic, but it resonated.

Carter brought human rights to the forefront in U.S. foreign policy. He appointed unprecedented numbers of women and minorities to federal courts and increased diversity throughout the government. Alter offers a remarkably detailed account of Carter's signature achievement, the Camp David Accords between Israel and Egypt.

But those achievements were often overshadowed by other problems that shaped public opinion; his favorability ratings as president ranged from 75% to 28%. When he took office in 1977, Carter inherited a dismal economy, plagued by high rates of inflation and unemployment and soon escalating into an energy crisis.

And then there were the unforced errors. Alter describes the interview with Playboy magazine in which Carter said that although he didn't cheat on his wife, he sometimes "lusted in his heart" over other women. These days that seems almost quaint, but at the time it threw the whole country into a swivet.

When Islamic radicals raided the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, Iran, in 1979, taking 52 Americans hostage, it sparked a crisis that lasted for more than a year despite Carter's intense diplomatic and military efforts. The hostages were not released until Jan. 20, 1981, minutes after new President Ronald Reagan completed his inaugural address.

As always, though, the resourceful Carter came up with a Plan B. In 1982, Alter writes, Carter woke in the middle of the night with a map for the rest of his life. His presidential library would not be a repository of documents and mementos for tourists; it would be a center for global activism, led by him and Rosalynn.

In 2002, Carter won the Nobel Peace Price for a lifetime of achievements. He has published 32 books; well into his 90s, despite major health crises including cancer and broken bones, he helped build houses for Habitat for Humanity and taught Sunday school classes in Plains.

They are housebound there now by another global health crisis, Alter writes. Carter has "come full circle" after "constantly reimagining himself and what was possible for a barefoot boy from southwest Georgia with a moral imagination and a driving ambition to live his faith."