The Outlier: The Unfinished Presidency Of Jimmy Carter,New

Important . . . [a] landmark presidential biography . . . Bird is able to build a persuasive case that the Carter presidency deserves this new look.The New York Times Book ReviewAn essential reevaluation of the complex triumphs and tragedies of Jimmy Carters presidential legacyfrom the expert biographer and Pulitzer Prizewinning coauthor of American PrometheusFour decades after Ronald Reagans landslide win in 1980, Jimmy Carters oneterm presidency is often labeled a failure; indeed, many Americans view Carter as the only expresident to have used the White House as a steppingstone to greater achievements. But in retrospect the Carter political odyssey is a rich and human story, marked by both formidable accomplishments and painful political adversity. In this deeply researched, brilliantly written account, Pulitzer Prizewinning biographer Kai Bird deftly unfolds the Carter saga as a tragic tipping point in American history.As president, Carter was not merely an outsider; he was an outlier. He was the only president in a century to grow up in the heart of the Deep South, and his bornagain Christianity made him the most openly religious president in memory. This outlier brought to the White House a rare mix of humility, candor, and unnerving selfconfidence that neither Washington nor America was ready to embrace. Decades before todays public reckoning with the vast gulf between Americas ethos and its actions, Carter looked out on a nation torn by race and demoralized by Watergate and Vietnam and prescribed a radical selfexamination from which voters recoiled. The cost of his unshakable belief in doing the right thing would be losing his reelection bidand witnessing the ascendance of Reagan.In these remarkable pages, Bird traces the arc of Carters administration, from his aggressive domestic agenda to his controversial foreign policy record, taking readers inside the Oval Office and through Carters battles with both a political establishment and a Washington press corps that proved as adversarial as any foreign power. Bird shows how issues still hotly debated todayfrom national health care to growing inequality and racism to the IsraeliPalestinian conflictburned at the heart of Carters America, and consumed a president who found a moral duty in solving them.Drawing on interviews with Carter and members of his administration and recently declassified documents, Bird delivers a profound, cleareyed evaluation of a leader whose legacy has been deeply misunderstood. The Outlier is the definitive account of an enigmatic presidencyboth as it really happened and as it is remembered in the American consciousness.