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Customer Reviews (18)

1979- the worst year
Professor Mattson provides an evenhanded chronicle of President Carter's escapadades during what was probably the worst year of the twentieth century (with the possible exception of the Great Depression years, I suppose)-- 1979. What a disaster- OPEC embargo, gas lines, shuttered gas stations, a nationwide trucker strike, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, the Iran hostage crisis. And awful music and bad hair. If you were around in 1979, which I was, you'll remember 1979, through this slim volume, ruefully. If you're too young to remember 1979, you'll be startled to read how appallingly bad things were.

Talk about a book about nothing
In an attempt to scold us---a good word, seeing that was what Jimmy Carter wanted to do to the American people---for not "appreciating" the "speech that SHOULD (emphasis on should) have changed the country," the author jumps through hoops and contorts himself beyond imagination. The disco riot at Comiskey (not "Cominsky," as Obama would say) Park is tied to "angry truckers and Levittown rioters" because the "long-haired working-class guys" had "problems affording the [disco] paraphernalia." Really? Fake gold is expensive?

Again and again the author insists that it was the American people who just didn't get it---that WE should have put up with outrageously high gas prices and lines. Oh, and did he tell you? Jimmy Carter was brilliant. Yep, the man who (before Obama) arguably goes down in the history books as the WORST American president was soooooo intelligent. And the author quotes almost every liberal to remind us, too.

All in all, it's one of those books that you say, "Wow. A publisher really released this?"

Interesting idea, dumbed down a bit
This is a good look back at an interesting and chaotic time, but it could have been a lot better.For one thing, an editor was needed: there are problems of grammar and punctuation (starting on the first page), consistency (on p. 66 he contradicts the chronology of California governors he established one page earlier, and there are some other examples that escape me now), and so on.These are things editors were born to catch.I'll also add that the book goes on a little too long, repeating its basic points over and over.These flaws don't sink the book but they are indications of sloppiness, shoddiness and possibly a national malaise in publishing.Tune in for my speech tonight.

The central message, though, is very simple and, in my eyes, very true, and it's something I myself have said for years: Jimmy Carter in 1979 was very honest with us and told us about some not-so-pleasant flaws in our national character.At first we took the medicine well (which surprised me...I'd thought the speech was rejected right off) but quickly the resentment boiled, and populist politicians who were willing to sink morally lower than Carter (while, ironically, positioning themselves on higher ground, as is usually the case) twisted the meaning of the speech to score points with a nation raised on "I'm OK, You're OK" and that crap about America's manifest destiny.

An appendix in the back of the book reproduces the (in)famous speech, and in it Carter voices his concern that we do not have a coherent energy policy, that we are consuming more than we are producing, that we are becoming accustomed to immediate gratification without sacrifice, and that this is unsustainable long-term.Well, Ronald Reagan came to power shortly thereafter and basically, through word and deed, laughed off all of this warning, appealing instead to Americans' dreams of exceptionalism and ever-increasing bounty.As the 80s wore on Reagan's dreams themselves turned into narcissism, though of a different sort, one clothed in patriotism, religion, and love of country.The Right calls that American Exceptionalism, and it's good, because it's blessed by God.

Thirty years later, and we still don't have a coherent energy policy, we still consume far far more than we produce, we still feel we are "entitled."We get angry at "others" when we can't automatically have what we believe is ours by birthright.In short, Carter's warnings have come home to roost, after thirty years of subsequent presidents dodging Carter's very real moral and spiritual concerns by more or less charging the future to the country's credit card.Now that card is due and we don't have the money to pay the bill.Don't fret, though--China is offering us a "payday" loan.Just don't ask about the interest rate.

Kevin Mattson makes these points well, but he stretches them rather than digging in depth.This is a good but rather superficial book.I was a mere child when this stuff was happening, and I haven't studied it in any depth since then (which is why I so eagerly-awaited this book) but I didn't get too much I didn't already know just through the osmosis of hearing my parents talking about it back in the late 70s.I guess I was waiting for a David Halberstamian depth of analysis, which I only got in spots, such as a few sections of Chapter 5.

There are some sections of sloppy or lazy writing that bothered me.Sometimes Mattson writes in very broad statements that use slang and are nonsensical, such as stating at points that the president's staff "went insane" when they heard some news or something bad happened.Now, they literally didn't go clinically "insane," so it would have been nice if he'd gotten into detail about what they *did* do.More annoying, though, was the author's frequent references to pop cultural of the time: his links of songs, films and other events to the politics and the speech in question are weak at best.Too much is made of the "meaning" behind Blondie and "Heart of Glass," the decadence of Studio 54, Apocalypse Now, and Woody Allen's New York, and if I read one more reference to The Deer Hunter I was going to throw the book across the room.But amazingly, there is one really major cultural link that begs for inclusion, and the author completely misses it.And it came out in December of 1979, right during the period he chronicles, and it deals with a feisty but weak president who is preparing a big speech for a distressed nation and who travels to the mansion of a rich friend for advice and council.It's eerie today how well Hal Ashby's brilliant satire Being There, starring Peter Sellers, captures the mood and parallels many of the events Mattson describes.Yet he overlooks this movie entirely.(Anyone curious enough to read this far into the reviews for this book should do themselves a favor and rent the film as well.)

Despite my reservations, I would actually recommend this book for people interested in this time and this president, and for all that's gone wrong since then, simply because there aren't a lot of competing works to choose from.But, with a little more effort, "What the Heck" could have been a better book, a true classic.Maybe the author needs to reread Carter's speech exhorting us to be better and work harder, and apply it to himself just a bit.

How Jimmy Carter gave one of the toughest speeches in the history of presidential speeches
""What the Heck Are You Up To, Mr. President?"" is on the ROROTOKO list of cutting-edge intellectual nonfiction. Professor Mattson's book interview ran here as the cover feature on February 8, 2010.

Good Read, Good History, Wrong Lessons
Mattson serves up a quite readable history of 1979.He catalogs many of Carter's failures that year, including this speech, without much effort to excuse those failings.What is obvious in Mattson's writing is that Carter had no executive skills, minimal political skills and was thus incompetent for the job.Mattson's failure is that, after repeatedly criticising others counterfactual approaches, Mattson closes with a counterfactual wish of his own. A "what could have been" wish that, of course, would depend on Carter acting like a leader, and even the text of the speech shows that he couldn't do that.This book gives all the explanation needed for why so many of us who voted for Carter in 76 turned to Reagan's leadership in 80.Mattson, possibly because of his youth, doesn't remember or chronicle the very serious media and wonk drumbeat in 79 and 80 that America had become too compex and divided for one man to govern effectively (so it wasn't Carter's fault).Commentators even discussed splitting the Presidency into two jobs.It is funny that all of that blather evaporated after Reagan reminded us what leadership is. ... Read more

Product Description
Fresh from the success of his highly praised volume of poetry, Always a Reckoning, former president Jimmy Carter now pens his first children's book, illustrated by his daughter Amy. Young Jeremy, who cannot walk, is abandoned at the seashore one day when the others flee at the sight of a terrifying sea monster. With no choice but to face this horror, Jeremy is surprised to discover a kindred spirit in the little baby Snoogle-Fleejer. (All Ages) ... Read more

Customer Reviews (8)

Not a hint of anti-semitism
I braced myself for the usual Jimmy Carter jew-bating in this book, but was pleasantly surprised to find out that the Snoogle-Fleejer wasn't a Zionist oppressor and roadblock to mideast peace.Good job, Jimmy!

ALL GOOD
Good price, on-time shipping, book in excellent condition!Couldn't ask for better.Very, very pleased!

good book
very sweet book.I bought the book because I like to support JC and encourage books to my children.Nice pictures and story, imagination is very much encouraged in this book!

Kids love this book
My kiddos got this book as a gift.I took my daughter's copy to school and read it to her kindergarten class and the whole class LOVED it!The teacher loved it so much that I bought her a copy for her class.

A really great story with awesome illustrations!

awesome
A tremendous story with subtle morals everywhere.Spectacular color and imagry in the artwork.It's the kind of work that nobody can have too much of. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

The Book Was Carter's Introduction to the Public
The book is Jimmy Carter's autobiography.It was written in 1976 and served to introduce him to the American public, when he was a little-known former Governor of Georgia, running for the office of President of the United States.Carter tells of his early years growing up in and around Plains, Georgia, his entry into the United States Naval Academy, his marriage to Roslyn, his brief career as an officer in the U. S. Navy, and his decision to end his naval career so that he could return to Plains to operate the family peanut business following the death of his father.He also describes his own effort to overcome the then-prevalent views in the South regarding the status of black people.Carter also describes his entry into Georgia politics, his determination to become President, and he also provides us with insights as to his personal and political philosophy.

The book also relates the story of Carter's religious conversion experience and gives clues as to his extremely self-righteous attitude and his inability to tolerate or even attempt to understand points of view that differ from his own.

For example, prior to the 1960's, the Georgia General Assembly (legislature) was apportioned on the basis of the county unit system, which was an attempt to balance the interests of the rural areas of the state with those of the urban areas.Completely unable or unwilling to see the rural point of view in the matter, Carter describes the county unit system as "corrupt," but provides no evidence of that.Considering that attitude, and the fact that the book was written to coincide with Carter's initial effort to become President, I have given the book 3 stars. ... Read more

Product Description
Eleven dolls depict former governor of Georgia, his wife Rosalynn, their four children and other family members, while 25 costumes recreate a Presidential family wardrobe: casual wear, suits, inaugural tuxedo, sportswear, gowns, daytime dresses and more. A fact-filled introduction and descriptive notes complete this charming collection. 11 dolls and 25 costumes. 16 plates. Introduction. Notes.
... Read more

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This book reveals a man who has been given a dangerously free pass by historians, but who in reality is not only a failed ex-president, but as vindictive as he is egotitical, and a self-righteous busybody who leaves diaster in his wake. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (111)

this is ridiculous.
Alright, this is completely ridiculous. Calling Jimmy Carter our "worst ex-president" is so far off base, I don't even know where to start. How can you say Carter was the worst when there were people like Reagan, running up our national debt hugely to build unrealistic "star wars" defense initiatives? Not to mention Reagan cruelly cut back funding for environmental causes, while Carter worked to protect our earth, as anybody with half a brain should (do you know anything about what a dire state our planet is in?). But this isn't about the environment. It's about the fact that this book should never have even been published. Do not buy it.

Glaring errors and lies
I will not waste my energy not one moment more than needed. As a request to a friend, I read his copy.

There are so many factual errors and misrepresentations, you could almost laugh out loud except that this is the nature of the lazy writer today.

A cheap, empty shot written by an ignorant fool. Even referenced materials are taken out of context. If you have access to a copy. check for yourself. It proves me right.

Carter's Watch
A good detailing of probaby the most failed President in modern political memory.The nadir of modern liberalism, he boldly led this country into a downward spiral despite what the experts said: that it was impossible to have double-digit inflation, interest rates and unemployment at the same time.Jimmy Carter proved them all to be dead wrong.If you are imcompetent enough, you can achieve success.This was the same man who with the strength of character and conviction told the American people that he was unpopular because they were sick.Who else but Jimmy Carter could take two stalwart allies and turn them into bitter enemies?No one, I think.An anti-Semite and proud of it, Carter strove mightly to ensure that Israel would have enduring peace -- albeit the peace of the grave.At the height of the Cold War he consistently pursued policies at would lead to America's defeat.Is it any wonder that Carter, in 1980, suffered the most savage political beating of any sitting President in modern history?After the last rally on the eve of the election, while on Air Force One, when told by his aides he could not win he showed his mettle: he sat down with his wife and they wept.A visionary, he conceeded the election before the polls closed in the west, thus ensuring the defeat of many in his own party.We shall not see his like again -- or perhaps we have.He's in the White House now.

A polemic, but not a worthless one
This book was obviously meant to be anti-Carter, based on the subtitle and the short length (at less than 250 pages before the index, I was disappointed), but it seems to be accurate. Having been born in 1980, I am fascinated by the 1970s, and I find Jimmy Carter more interesting than Bill Clinton, whose presidency I grew up in. Carter appears to be a sincere Christian, and more principled than Bill Clinton--it's just that he has different faults. Instead of being a weak man of appetites, Carter is principled, but is also arrogant and self-righteous, to the point of interfering in the diplomatic affairs of presidents Reagan, Clinton and W. Bush; but his being principled obviously didn't help him conduct an effective presidency (the author relates in this book that Carter had a bunch of average people flown to Camp David so he could ask them what to do); and the author claims that despite being Christian, Carter is generally a malicious person, and eternally bitter about losing to Ronald Reagan in 1980.
This is a worthy book, but don't make it the only biography or criticism of Carter you read. If you can find it, read the out-of-print book *The President Who Failed: Carter out of Control*, by Mollenhall, written in or around 1980.

Jackass Jimmy exposed
This book exposes Carter for the man he is--a naive, idiotic moron.Instead of writing books and commenting on foreign policy on TV, Carter should be shucking goobers and guzzling Billy Beer down in Georgia.We ALL would be better off! ... Read more

Product Description
The late Edward Kennedy's liberal credentials were unimpeachable, and perhaps never as much on display as when he challenged incumbent Jimmy Carter for the presidency. Most accounts of modern U.S. politics view Ronald Reagan's landslide election in 1980 as a conservative realignment of the American public-and Kennedy's defeat in the Democratic primaries as the last hurrah of New Deal liberalism. Now an astute observer of the American scene reexamines those primary battles to contend that Kennedy's insurgent campaign was more popular than historians have presumed and was defeated only by historical accident and not by its perceived radicalism.

Timothy Stanley takes a new look at how Jimmy Carter alienated his own supporters, why Ted Kennedy ran against him, what the Kennedy campaign has to say about America in the 1970s, and whether or not the 1980 election really was a turning point in electoral history. He tells the story of a struggle for the soul for a party bitterly divided over how to respond to economic decline, cultural upheaval, and humiliation overseas. And in the telling, he offers both a comprehensive narrative of the primaries and a joint biography of the two men who struggled for their party's leadership.

Stanley's comprehensive research draws on more than a dozen archives as well as interviews with nearly thirty key historical players--including George McGovern, Walter Mondale, Gary Hart, and Mike Dukakis--and also makes creative use of polling data to recreate the ebb and flow of the election season. What emerges is not only the story of a campaign but also a revisionist history of a misunderstood decade-one most often defined by religious reawakening, chronic inflation, and the tax revolt that revived Republican fortunes. Yet Kennedy's crusade to rebuild the ailing New Deal coalition of ethnic minorities, blue-collar conservatives, and firebrand liberals was popular enough to suggest that Americans were neither liberal nor conservative but, instead, anxious, angry, and desperate for leadership from any direction.

Kennedy vs. Carter provides a unique analysis of how support shifted from Carter to Reagan right up to election day, with Reagan elected largely because he was not the unpopular incumbent. By showing how Kennedy was a far more popular politician than orthodox historiography has suggested, Stanley argues for a more nuanced understanding of what really determines political outcomes and a greater appreciation for the enduring popularity of American liberalism. ... Read more

Product Description
Former President Jimmy Carter has won the respect and affection of millions for his long career as a humanitarian, a peacemaker, and a model of faith in action. The Sunday school classes he leads at his hometown church in Plains, Georgia, are legendary. "These weekly sessions . . . are remarkable for the ability of regular folks to walk in, grab a seat, and exchange views with the thirty-ninth president of the United States," says The New York Times. "But they are also remarkable for what Mr. Carter has to say."
For Sources of Strength, President Carter has culled fifty-two of his favorite Bible lessons--one for each week of the year--from the fifteen hundred or so he has taught over the decades. A thoughtful and inspiring book, Sources of Strength captured the heart of the country when it was published in hardcover, and became an immediate national bestseller. Now available in paperback, it can be enjoyed on its own or as the companion volume to Carter's bestselling spiritual autobiography, Living Faith. Jimmy Carter was president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. He is the author of thirteen other books, including Always a Reckoning, The Virtues of Aging, and Living Faith. In 1982 he founded the Carter Center, a nonprofit and nonpartisan organization in Atlanta that addresses national and international issues of public policy. Carter and his wife, Rosalynn, live in Plains, Georgia. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (12)

Great Book to Read Over Time
Thoughtfully written, this is one of those books to keep on the night stand and read one chapter a night and meditate upon the lesson set forth in the chapter.Highly recommend.

Wise words from a great Christian man
This is a great devotional that draws on a wide range of scripture and also on President Carter's long, interesting, diverse, and meaningful life. Not only is Carter a good exegete of scripture, but his genuine faith comes through in every page. He writes in a very personal style that makes you feel like you're studying the scriptures with a favorite uncle...who happened to be the leader of the free world some years back.

The book is divided into 52 short sermonettes, I suppose so you can read one a week for a year (though you will almost certainly want to read it faster than that). These sections are further subdivided into 9 sections: The Word Became Flesh, His Healing Touch, Who is my Neighbor?, What We Believe, Christians in the World, To Know and Worship, God's Riches at Christ's Expense, When the Road is Rough, and God's Call. The messages are broad enough that you can likely find a word of hope or encouragement or challenge somewhere in here, depending on what it is that you need to hear.

The meditations are intellectually stimulating, yet simple enough that I have used some of them as reading for my youth group.

In his life, Jimmy Carter has shown what is means to live out your faith. In this book, he reflects on what that can look like for us.

Beautiful, sensational, clear and to the point
This is the very first book I read of Carter. I never expected that an ex-president, supposed to be pragmatic and rational, can have written such a beautiful, sensational, clear and to the point spiritual book. Not a few messages, but fifty-two meaningful and insightful ones in this 241 page book. The format is traditional, with three to four pages of elaboration on a particular biblical verse. Nevertheless, the impact is great and you really feel your faith and spiritual strength being enhanced through reading it, of course with intermittent prayers in between for optimal effect. I dont want to comment it as a tool book, but it does serves its purpose really well.

In short, a great read not to be missed! It's the best and the least difficult spiritual book I had read in months, after the intense round of five to six Philip Yancey books I read about half a year before, which I still deem them the very best amongst all christian books.

p.s. Below please find two good passages for your reference:-

Pg 74: The context for Jesus's stories about the Samaritans, ...For Samaritan, substitute black, Muslim, AIDS, Haitian - or perhaps roll them all into one! ... His acknowledging the gratitude of the healed leper and using a Samaritan's actions as epitomizing the Golden Rule are powerful lessons against prejudice.

Pg 112: We argue incessantly about separation of church and state, the priesthood of believers, ordination of women, prayer in schools, gay rights, predestination ... and any number of other "crucial" issues. Perhaps worse than the Corinthians, we forget the solid, unquestionable, unifying foundation of our faith in in the gentle Jesus, full of grace and truth. As Cecil Sherman has said, "Too many churches are majoring in the minors."

One of my most prized books
I cannot express in words how important this book is to me. I started reading it during a very difficult time in my life and it really helped me. Many people look for spiritual guidance, but let's face it, the bible can be a difficult read. Jimmy Carter takes passages from the bible and explains what he thinks they mean. However, Carter does it in a very loving and objective way. Mr. Carter speaks of the compassionate and forgiving Christ. There is no finger pointing and moralizing here. Mr. Carter simply tries to relay what God's message is and how me might live it. Although I am not a Baptist like Jimmy Carter, I really felt in tune with what he had to say. If the bible by itself has not helped you to understand God's greater message, maybe this book will.

I Highly Reccomend Sources of Strength
I gained a respect for Jimmy Carter that until now was only a fair assessment of the man.I know he wrote this with the intention of being a once a week reading, but I have just about finished it in just under two weeks with intentions to reread it many many more times.His style of writing has left me with the desire to read many more of his works. One cannot help but to find ones faith taken to a higher level after reading his Bible Teachings. ... Read more

Product Description

The maverick politician from Georgia who rode the post- Watergate wave into office but whose term was consumed by economic and international crises 

A peanut farmer from Georgia, Jimmy Carter rose to national power through mastering the strategy of the maverick politician. As the face of the "New South," Carter's strongest support emanated from his ability to communicate directly to voters who were disaffected by corruption in politics.

But running as an outsider was easier than governing as one, as Princeton historian Julian E. Zelizer shows in this examination of Carter's presidency. Once in power, Carter faced challenges sustaining a strong political coalition, as he focused on policies that often antagonized key Democrats, whose support he desperately needed. By 1980, Carter stood alone in the Oval Office as he confronted a battered economy, soaring oil prices, American hostages in Iran, and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.

Carter's unpopularity enabled Ronald Reagan to achieve a landslide victory, ushering in a conservative revolution. But during Carter's post-presidential career, he has emerged as an important voice for international diplomacy and negotiation, remaking his image as a statesman for our time.

Customer Reviews (2)

Very Brief but Fair
The American President Series intends to provide concise but useful biographies of American Presidents. In that sense, this particular volume is successful. There were certainly some aspects of President Carter's career that were glossed over such as his achievements in the Navy, some aspects of his family life and a number of events during his presidency. Curiously, the tone of the book also changes with the flow of the material. In the first half of the book, Carter is portrayed as being honest and refreshingly anti-establishment. In the second half, which documents his slide from popularity, the books tends to highlight his lack of flexibility in dealing with other power figures. In any case, this book is a pretty good overview of the main issues surrounding President Carter's life and career so far. He is probably one of the most harshly-judged political figures of recent times. This book can help readers see some of the nuances behind the man and give a bit better perspective on what he attempted to do beyond the stereotypical views of his shortcomings. Two of the lasting impressions one can take away from reading this book are first, that President Carter was one of the few presidents to make an honest and long-term attempt to improve the energy regime of the US, and second, that he he has maintained a strong dedication to human rights and diplomatic solutions to international relations. I do recommend this book, but anyone who has a serious interest in the Carter presidency will most likely want to go beyond the very concise coverage of it in this book.

Accessible biography of Jimmy Carter
A nice addition to this series of brief biographies of American presidents. The focus here is Jimmy Carter. The author has no reservations about being critical where such is appropriate, so the book has a bit of an edge (but not inappropriately so, in my judgment). The book begins by outlining Jimmy Carter's background, his first efforts at politics, his success as a candidate for governor, and his strategic approach to running for president.

Then, his presidency. From a promising beginning to more difficult sledding. Finally, the problems of the last part of his presidency, including the hostage crisis and the economic stagnation facing the country. Unlike many presidents, there has been an active, visible, and controversial post-presidential career.

The book, overall, does a good job of presenting Jimmy Carter, assessing his body of work, and doing so in rather brief fashion, making this accessible to people who do not want a one thousand page biography.
... Read more

Product Description
How did Jimmy Carter help people? What jobs did he have before he became president? How did Jimmy show friendship toward others? Read this book to discover the answers! ... Read more

Customer Reviews (15)

PRESIDENT JAMES EARL CARTER: A WORLD ICON OF ULTRUISM....
Read it for yourself and be inspired to get out there and make the world a better place; President Carter certainly has and continues to. Be inspired!!!

DON"T LISTEN TO WHILE DRIVING!
The audiobook on CD that I purchased was one of many.I do a lot of driving.This book, as read by past-president Jimmy Carter, has a monotone, droning quality that is likely useful for meditation or as a sleep aid.Do not listen to while driving.Having said that, the content is very good.Purchase experience was very good.

A great survey of Jimmy Carter's life since the White House!
It seems if you blink there's yet another book from former President Carter, easily perhaps our most prolific former President.And while "Beyond the White House" is about his post-Presidential activities, it serves more as a survey level course in what he's been doing rather than an in-depth probe of the minutiae.Needless to say Jimmy Carter has been one busy man in many parts of the globe and in many aspects of society."Beyond the White House" seeks to sum up these activities, but needless to say almost any one of them warrants a book of their own.Like the recent commercials, Jimmy Carter is likely the most interesting man in the room, he's always doing something very interesting and intriguing.Whether it's combating nuclear arms proliferation, witnessing elections, immunizing citizens, brokering diplomatic negotiations, or what, Jimmy Carter always seems to pop up.At times the chapters scream out for more details and I have no doubt Jimmy is secretly banging out a book as I wait and ponder.You start to wonder if the man ever sleeps.Reading over his biography on his mother "A Remarkable Mother" you understand where he gets that deep reserve of energy and drive!

"Beyond the White House" ultimately serves as a sort of survey level introduction to what Jimmy Carter has been doing since 1981, and ultimately it screams out for more details.No doubt there are books about every facet of his life to come, but this is a nice introduction for those too young to remember him as President or his early years of attempting to redeem himself.By turns inspirational and challenging, "Beyond the White House" is a great read for anyone who wants to do more with their lives or who wants to better understand what motivates and drives Jimmy Carter.

A highwayscribery "Book Report"
Ex-Presidents enjoy many privileges and "Beyond the White House" demonstrates that one of them is getting mediocre books published.

"Beyond the White House," has the feel of many loose-ends, however interesting and worthy of recounting, carelessly stitched together.

There is no narrative to speak of. Only the single-thread of a post-presidency binds these tales of the Carters' (husband and wife) forays into battle against disease, dictatorship and poverty.

As writer/politician, Carter lacks President Barack Obama's literary gift, but his mind is organized and his prose sparing to the good.

This book provides a window on the world of philanthropy with accounts of how money is raised, how staffing is done, and how people who used to have important, official titles (eg; Colin Powell) later leverage them for the benefit of others.

Carter's accounts of political work in places like Haiti, North Korea, and the Sudan make for good inside stuff (if at times dated). Things get particularly interesting when his interventions require vetting or consultation with a sitting American president.

Carter's efforts in fighting disease are simultaneously stomach-churning and heart-warming.

For those not indoctrinated, the reports on the nasty ailments plaguing millions of people in the undeveloped world thanks to ignorance, cultural resistance, or hapless governments give pause and reason for thanks.

The solutions, at times, are mind-numbingly simple and enough to make one curse the world for not applying them more readily.

Carter has done a lot of good in these areas. And so, by the way, have the major drug-makers he prodded into financing massive, free distributions of badly needed medicines in forgotten and miserable backwaters around the world.

In "Beyond the White House," the ex-president pats his own back, but there's no denying his level of achievement and commitment to the less-fortunate. One can't lead by example if nobody's aware of what they're up to.

There are things in "Beyond the White House" worthy of absorbing for Carter fans, presidential scholars, or politics junkies, but on the whole, there is no whole.

So, if you're so inclined, go forth with this brief foreshadowing of what lies ahead.

Jimmy... Take a Break
Jimmy Carter has had a lot of unfair accusations thrown at him over the years, but he really needs to chill. The Carter Center was originally a good idea,but now it sounds more like endless nagging to me, (similar to the Max Headroom commercials in the late 80's or accidentally chewing on aluminum foil while eating a Toblerone candy bar). No matter how hard he tries, the Repugs make him look like a loser, and as long as they can do that, why bother? He's always been too honest and nice for politics... ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Hilarious!
Wow, everyone sure seems to love ol' Jimmy Carter right about now!Kinda makes you wonder why we ever voted the grinnin' Ghandi out of office.Well, no, not really.Not if you're unlucky enough to still be cursed with memories of what it was actually like when Jimmy Carter was President.Anyway, for those of us still suffering malaise-inspired nightmares, Gary Allen's acidic (and, unlike Carter's writing, short-and-to-the-point) 1976 "biography" is a wonderful antidote.Inside, you will find the details of Carter's life before he was a virgin.Allen writes with a venemous wit and there's something delightfully cathartic in reading his sarcastic take on our 39th President, especially with all the recent talk of Carter being our greatest ex-President.(Though this is perhaps true if you consider Carter's greatest act within the White House was to eventually leave it...) ... Read more

Product Description
As president, Jimmy Carter was renowned for abandoning Washington protocol. Ousting presidential pomp and circumstances and elitism, he banished the presidential limousines and carried his own bags. Following his political convictions, he saw himself as a public trustee, determined to play a dominant role in government and undertake a number of bold initiatives. In the process, argues Burton Kaufman, he tried to do too much too quickly in foreign and domestic policy and ignored political process regardless of the consequences.

Despite being considerate, compassionate, well informed, and one of the nation's most intelligent presidents, Carter was at best a mediocre president and at worst the head of a failed administration, Kaufman contends. He came to the White House long on intentions but short on know-how, Kaufman maintains, and although he worked diligently to win support for his policies and programs, he failed to establish the base of public and political legitimacy he needed to be a successful trustee president.

Although some revisionists are now suggesting Carter's contemporary critics misjudged the administration or applied unfair standards in evaluating Carter's presidency, Kaufman believes the original evaluations were essentially correct. Unlike those revisionists' writings, The Presidency of James Earl Carter, Jr., is based on newly available files and papers in the Carter Library.

Concentrating on the major issues of the Carter administration, including arms control, the energy crisis, inflation, affirmative action, and the Iranian hostage crisis, Kaufman illustrates how this complex, inconsistent, and often contradictory president never adequately articulated an overarching purpose and direction for his administration.

This book is part of the American Presidency Series. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Fair and thorough presentation of his White House years
Having read a biography on each prez up to Carter, I was a little disappointed to find this book as the best reference on Carter the President.I had hoped for a well written book on his whole life, but since it's not over yet... The author seems to present the subject in an objective fashion. At times I felt he was trying hard to make Carter look better than he was, but the subject just wouldn't allow it.In the end, I didn't feel any better about Carter's term - just justified in my disapointment with his abilities as a leader.I can now say that I respect him as a man, but not as a President.

Carter as he was, mostly failure but some major successes
Several years ago, a young co-worker asked me about Jimmy Carter and my response was that he was a much better ex-president than he was a president. His subsequent work in areas such as Habitat for Humanity as well as international relations has been excellent. He has served as a goodwill ambassador, election monitor and has negotiated several international agreements that favored the United States. He has also continued to be a champion of human rights causes throughout the world.
Contrasting his success after his presidency with his performance while in office demonstrates the reasons why his presidency is generally assigned a mediocre grade. His idealism in championing human rights was the most obvious example of the truism that idealism may help get you elected, but it gets in the way of governing effectively. In the age of the cold war and international tensions, a cold, heartless pragmatism seems to be the only thing that works.
I found Kaufman's explanations of the Carter presidency to be the most even-handed and honest that I have read. Carter made many mistakes, had some made for him and in other cases was just the victim of circumstances. Nevertheless, he did have some striking successes, the two most notable being the Camp David accords between Israel and Egypt and the treaty relinquishing the Panama canal. In these events, Carter showed how much potential he really had as a president. I remember when the networks pre-empted their regular programming as Carter, Sadat and Begin came back from Camp David with the agreement in hand. It was a stunning achievement and it amazed the world. The magic of that moment is captured in the book, as well as the subsequent problems that continue to plague the region. Despite all the violence in the area of Palestine and Lebanon in the years since the accords were signed, the fact that Israel and Egypt still continue to have formal relations and are at peace show how sturdy those agreements are.
As someone who lived through those years and followed the Carter presidency in great detail, reading this book brought back a great deal of memories. Without attempting to boast, I do have an excellent memory, and the recounting of the events are all exactly as I remember them.
The author closes with a very important and often overlooked point. Carter's presidency is considered a failure, and yet he refused to negotiate away anything in order to release the hostages in Iran. Reagan's presidency is considered a success and yet he attempted a bribe for the release of the hostages in Lebanon by selling armaments to Iran. There is no doubt that on that point, Carter bests Reagan.
I would like to close this review with a personal point. Yes, Carter's pushing of human rights did create problems. But, when you consider that some of those whose rights were being violated, Walesa in Poland and Havel in the Czech Republic, rose to the leadership of their nations, perhaps he was just ahead of his time. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

From The Inside Flap:
Dasher - that was his Secret Service code name when he ran for President - and the facts of his life are well known: schoolboy, naval officer, peanut farmer, defeated candidate, Governor, President. He's spoken millions of words to us citizens of the United States, and lots of us still wonder who he is. James Wooten has known him for a long time - as Atlanta bureau chief, as campaign correspondent, and now as White House Correspondent for The New York Times. He's talked to Dasher, to his mother, Miss Lillian, his sister Gloria, his brother Billy, and to a lot of other people around the country and in the White House, so by now he's not fooled by words - or by politics either. DASHER: THE ROOTS AND THE RISING OF JIMMY CARTER gets down to the man behind the face - at last.
... Read more

Product Description
In the first full-scale biography of America's 39th president since 1980, Kenneth Morris shows readers that any conclusions about Carter's leadership and the adequacy of his challenges as a president cannot ignore the moral quandary that vexed the nation. 35 photos. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

American Moralist in the White House
"Jimmy Carter - American moralist" is an excellently researched and well written biography of the 39th American president. It provides us with a fine introduction to the ex-president's private and public life. The book is very detailed in exploring Carter's childhood and early political career. Although I found that part interesting to read, I wish it had been as detailed on the account of his presidency. As a born-again Christian there is no doubt that morality played (and still plays) a major role both in Carter's private as well as public life. Unfortunately, strong moral and ethics is not enough to make a good leader and president (I think Bill Clinton is the best example on that...)

President Carter endured the lowest poll ratings ever to be recorded. And after leaving office he spent years as America's favorite guy to pick on. He dedicated himself to volunteer work, especially working with the organization "Habitat for Humanity". More than a decade would pass before he again, in the mid-90'ies, would enjoy life in the public limelight. In 1994 Atlanta Georgia, he got his (long overdue) tribute in bronze, his public ratings was again soaring, and he received invitations to join peace negotiating teams etc.

"Jimmy Carter - American moralist" (together with Powell's "My American Journey") was my introduction to reading about American politics and history. In this book, the author strikes a perfect balance between political jargon, facts and figures. And the result is a biography easy to read, even for lay readers like me. I learned a lot from reading this book, and it inspired me to continue to explore the field further.

An interesting biography!

A fresh look at a forgotten president
Jimmy Who?That was the question many American asked themselves during the 1976 presidential campaign.Who was this obscure southern governorpositioning himself into the highest office in the land?Twenty-five yearslater, many Americans find themselves asking this exact same questiondespite a presidential term and a prominent life in volunteer work.Whilea full understanding of Jimmy Carter is impossible, Mr. Morris provides afine introduction to his life.The author puts a strong emphasis on therole morality played both in Carter's private life and public image.Thebook is especially strong in exploring Carter's childhood and earlypolitical career - a topic that is neglected in every other Carter book. Less emphasis is placed on Carter's presidential term.Major incidentsthat shaped the late 1970s receive only a few pages each.What are we tomake of Jimmy Carter's presidency?Even though the Southern Baptist mayhave been the most ethical and decent man to occupy the White House thiscentury, the record is wanting, at best, miserable at worst.This isbecause Carter lacked any core vision of where he wanted to take hiscountry.He never explained to voters or to himself the direction hewanted to take us.Further, in cases where Carter was more assertive, likeenergy policy, he was inexperienced in how Washington politics worked.Hestumbled badly in his Congressional relations and he never constructed aloyal constituency out of the American public.There were some positives,such as the Egypt-Israel peace accords and legislation deregulating theairline and trucking industries.The Iran Hostage affair was a perplexingsituation that would have frustrated any leader. But on economics and ColdWar relations, the most important issues of Carter's term, hisadministration was especially inept.Even though Carter had privatemisgivings about Keynesianism, he couldn't bring himself to repudiate thetenets of social liberalism.Government spending surged under Carter'sterm.Inflation proved resistant to his wage and price contols.UnderCarter's foreign policy team, detente continued to be a one-way streetworking to Moscow's advantage.It took a man with a far differentperspective of the world, Ronald Regan, to reverse Carter's shortcomings. It is unfair to label Jimmy Carter a failure.Only the harshest critic canlabel a man who rose to the highest office in the land - and served withhonesty and integrity- as a "failure."But Carter's presidencywas constrained by a lack of vision, competence, and a failed ideology. The responsibility for this situation lies solely with this farmer's sonfrom Plains.

Needs more facts, less analysis
Although Morris writes and interesting biography, the strength of the book is when he's telling Carter's story and the environment in which Carter acts.I found the psychoanalysis less compelling.I would have preferredif the author drew his conculsions in the text and relegated hisdescriptions of the school of sociological thought that a particular Carterbehavior might have fit to the endnotes.Sociology too often interfereswith a good story that Morris generally tells well, especially Carter'schildhood.I wish the book had a more detailed account of Carter'sPresidency.What's there is good, but more is needed.I thought theauthor offered many interesting political insights, but found hiscomparison of the economic record of Carter and his neighboring Presidentsvery poor.The economic analysis relies too heavily on comparing 4-yearaverages of certain indicators rather than describing what the trends were,what the causes were, and how well Carter acted to address the trends.

Fine Biography for Carter's Childhood.
The strength of this book lies in the depth of it's treatment of Jimmy Carter's formative years.It falls short on details of his governing years.Many conclusions are transparently flimsy but, for someone comingin with little knownledge of Carter's life like myself, it was aninformative read. ... Read more

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Presents a biography of Jimmy Carter ... Read more

Product Description
Since his earliest days in the White House, Jimmy Carter has demonstrated an untiring passion for pursuing peace in the Middle East. His formation of the Carter Center and his continuing prominent role in world affairs has done nothing to dampen that passion. In this new edition with an updated afterword and chronology, President Carter demystifies the history of the political expectations of each nation in the Middle East, the reasons for their different goals, and the nature of their prime concerns. His landmark study provides an enlightened and reconciling vision for all--Jews, Muslims, and Christians--who share the blood of Abraham. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

BLOOD OF ABRAHAM: JIMMY CARTER
THIS IS AN EARLY BOOK WRITTEN BY EX-PRESIDENT JIMMY CARTER. EVEN AT AN EARLY STAGE IN HIS POLITICAL CAREER, MR. CARTER WAS NOT ASHAMED TO PUBLISH HIS ANTI-JEWISH AND ANTI-ZIONIST SENTIMENTS! TO UNDERSTAND MR. CARTER's CURRENT ANTIPATHY FOR THE JEWISH PEOPLE, ONE NEEDS TO READ HIS EARLIER WRITTINGS ON THE SUBJECT. MR. CARTER HAS BECOME THE DARLING OF THE "HATE ISRAEL" MINDSET. CERTAINLY MR. CARTER PRAISES THE JEWISH PEOPLE, BUT ONLY AFTER THEY ARE DEAD. HIS POST-MORTEM OF JEWS IS EXCELLENT, BUT I WOULD RATHER BE PRAISED IN LIFE; THAN EULOGIZED!
A SPECIAL READ FOR HISTORIANS, WHO WANT TO UNDERSTAND U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT POLICY TOWARDS THE MIDDLE EAST.

President's Carter shares his Idealistic Views
This book is a summary by the former President on his experiences negotiating the Camp David Accords, his visits to the Middle East, and portraits of the Arab and Israeli leaders through his eyes. The former president actually maintains that peace in the Middle East must be based on Israeli recognition of the Palestinians' right to self-determination and Arab recognition of Israel's right to exist. If you wish to start to see how our Former President saw the Middle East, it is worth reading.

Want an informed opinion on the middle east?
A must for understanding the middle east. Everything Jimmy Carter said in 1983 is still true today... "only more so."
A perfect blend of ancient and modern histories. His personal experience makes it come alive.
I couldn't believe how clear it was. Very understandable.

You gotta love Jimmy's Determination!
Jimmy Carter begins his demystification of the political, religious, and ethnic turmoil in the Middle East with a comprehensive chronology of the history of the region, dating from circa 9000 BC to the publication date of the book (1985). His introduction elaborates on the historical timeline and then branches out into his main thesis, a concise and personal explanation of the interrelational conflict between the countries of the Middle East, including Israel, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, and Palestine. The consummate southern gentleman, Carter recounts his experiences with the kind of well-mannered, even-tempered prose to which Americans have become accustomed. The author deconstructs the complex issues of the Middle East with an open-minded, balanced approach in which he portrays each country's paradigm as legitimate. Not only does Carter give validity to each country's concerns, he also believes that each religious affiliation -- Christianity, Judaism, and Islam -- have legitimate claims in the various conflicts brewing in the Holy Land.

Former President Carter is one of the very few American statesmen whose words are taken in an unbiased manner by Jews, Muslims, and Christians alike, both in the Middle East and here at home. Perhaps this is why Carter was able to negotiate an Egyptian-Israeli peace deal between Anwar Sadat and Menachem Begin. This moderate, cooperative persona of Carter can be seen patently throughout The Blood of Abraham.

Carter is known for having the tendency to be overly idealistic at times, but I found his approach in his book to be quite honest and forthcoming. Carter is not out to avoid hurting peoples' feelings, but does temper his criticisms by giving the benefit of the doubt to each sides ability to eventually reach a compromise. This is illustrated on page 47 of The Blood of Abraham where he calls the Israeli mindset intransigent, but then later in the same paragraph discusses how he believes most Israelis do long for a plurality that will be accommodating to both sides. Carter even hints that he believes the Israeli government relies far to casually on excessive military might which exacerbates the conflict. He also gently talks about how Israel's racist minority - or perhaps majority - must avoid treating the Palestinians as second-class citizens without rights. To Jimmy Carter, the most attractive option is granting autonomy and the right of self-determination to the Palestinians within most of the West Bank and Gaza areas, provided substantial demilitarization of the area occurs and there are adequate guarantees that Israel and Jordan's security will not be threatened.

Other neighboring countries viewpoints of the situation are also discussed. The general theme that Carter portrays of the near Arab countries is that Israel creates illogical reasons to expand it's scope of power. He believes local Arab countries have the viewpoint that Israel is a domineering country that continues to occupy new lands and sends excessive military power to reside in native, non-Judaic areas permanently to protect their Jewish minority. They believe that the blood shed by innocent Palestinians is not considered to have any value by the Israelis and the supporting American Government. Carter illustrates how the local Arab countries fear that Israel has become a pawn for the United States to dominate the Middle East for it's own economic gain and belief in it's own cultural superiority. Many Arabs must be appreciative of a former American president validating their strongest concerns and granting importance and concern for their struggles.

Jimmy Carter's writing shows strong Christian inflections. His deep, sincere belief in his faith is responsible for the connection he feels with the past and present events in the Christian, Muslim, and Jewish Holy Land. In Christian tradition, a lasting peace must be achieved in Jerusalem before their savior, Jesus, returns in glory and creates a new heaven here on earth. Understanding Carter's deep religious convictions may help the reader understand how somebody like Carter who grew up far removed from the Middle East situation in Plains, Georgia could be so passionate and proactive about a lasting peace there.

As the title suggests, Carter believes this conflict originates all the way back to the biblical story of Abraham and Sarah. Sarah was supposedly not fertile and Abraham decided to have a child with his wife's servant Haggar. They had a child and his name was Ishmael. He was a wild sort according to the passages. Abraham later had another son with his wife Sarah when she become fertile again. Their son was called Isaac. Modern Arabs, according to some traditions, are descendants of Ishmael. Modern Jews, according to those same traditions, are descendants of Isaac. There is a prophecy in the holy scriptures which foretells that Ishmael and his descendants will always strike the heels of the descendants of Isaac. I believe the title shows that Carter takes this prophecy literally and wants to illustrate the interconnectedness of events in the Middle East, as a process that is under the control of God and his will. Although Carter's book begins with a historical timeline of the events, he never divides the history of the Holy Land into segments. He is more concerned with dividing the dissertation into near-timeless ideas represented by different countries and how to resolve them.

Because this is a personal account about Carter's ideas and experiences regarding the Middle East peace process, he doesn't often refer to secondary sources. In the appendix however, Carter includes many important documents, treaties, and speeches which are pertinent to what he discusses including Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338 and the Camp David accords of 1978 to create a lasting peace between Israel and Egypt.

This book is by no means complete in itself. It is only one man's view of the major problems and contentions the various ethnic groups in the area have and more specifically, the experiences that the author has had in trying to resolve them and what he has learned from them. The lasting impression one gets after reading The Blood of Abraham is the unflinching dedication of Jimmy Carter to the peace process, and his innocent, idealistic view on the capacity of the human nature to be cooperative even in the most competitive circumstances.

Great Insights to MIddle East
This book gives good insights and makes you under stand the middle east where the countries in the middle east are coming from.He examens Israel, Syria, Lebanon, The Palestinians, Jordan, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia and tellwhat there interests are.If you want to understand the Middle East betteror are just interested in polotics, or history I would Highly reommend thisbook. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

A pleasant surprise - very enjoyable
Brief product details: Houghton Mifflin hardcover, 370 pp; includes glossy photo plates and index.

This is the memoir of First Lady Rosalynn Carter, written after Jimmy Carter's reelection loss to Ronald Reagan, and published in 1984. Just a few years prior, the relatively young couple left the White House defeated and returned home to Plains to find their finances, held in trust during the presidency, had evaporated. They were unemployed and deep in debt. They had to plan for and raise funding for a presidential library - a huge undertaking. President Carter's mother and his sister Ruth had both passed away. The period of time in which this book was written must have been an extremely difficult and challenging one for the Carters.

Despite all of this, "First Lady From Plains" is a nicely written, upbeat memoir. Rosalynn Carter really opens up with this book, and for the first time I felt like I was getting to know this seemingly shy and private person. Mrs. Carter's writing style is thoughtful and intimate, and quite often through this book it seemed as if a close friend was sharing personal memories with me.

"First Lady From Plains" begins with Rosalynn's childhood in Plains, Georgia. Rosalynn and Jimmy Carter grew up in the same small community at the same time, but the differences in perception between the two become crystal clear through reading this book and Jimmy Carter's biography "An Hour Before Daylight." Their recollections never contradict each other, but it is most interesting to see events through Rosalynn's unique viewpoint.

I enjoyed "First Lady From Plains" very much because of this new perspective with which we see Jimmy Carter, the people and events of his presidency, his term as Governor of Georgia, and the Carter family. Rosalynn's alternate yet compatible viewpoint provides genuine warmth that is sometimes missing in Jimmy Carter's writings, one of which was described as "wooden."

Jimmy Carter has written prolifically over the last 38 years, but only "First Lady From Plains" provides detailed information about their early married years and their term in the Georgia Governor's Mansion. Rosalynn also brings readers inside the emotional highs and lows of campaigning, the joys and inconveniences of being in the public spotlight, as well as when and how she has had to stand up for herself over the years.

This is really the story of a woman's journey from a typical insecure childhood into confident maturity - discovering who she really is - painted against the backdrop of a family's meteoric political rise followed by the world falling down around them. Today, we know the Carter story only gets better from there, and is long from being finished.

Rosalynn is lovable and sincere, yet firm and unapologetic. She is true to herself, her family, and her readers. This book was highly acclaimed 25 years ago when it was released, and Rosalynn Carter's story is still as enduring today as it was then.

Rosaylnn Carter
She was an ideal first lady.And she's written the best look at a president's term through the eyes of his wife. ... Read more

Product Description

The New York Times bestselling author of The Case for Israel takes on the greatest threats faced by Israel today

In addition to Hamas, which provoked the recent war and Gaza with its rocket attacks on Israeli civilians, Alan Dershowtiz argues that Israel's most dangerous enemies include Jimmy Carter and other western leaders who would delegitimize Israel as an apartheid regime subject to the same fate as white South Africans; Israel's academic enemies, led by professors Stephen Walt and John Mearsheimer, who would accuse supporters of Israel of dual loyalty and indeed disloyalty to America; and Iran, led by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, which threatens Israel by its development of nuclear weapons, which it has publicly threatened to use against the Jewish state.

• Persuasively argues that Jimmy Carter and other enemies of Israel are also enemies of peace, imperiling not only Israel but the rest of the world
• Sparks controversy and lively discussion across the entire spectrum of opinion on the Middle East
• Passionate and outspoken: "As always when Israel needs to be defended . . . Alan Dershowitz speaks with great passion and personal courage."-Elie Wiesel

Alan Dershowitz is at his outspoken, thought-provoking best in The Case Against Israel's Enemies, changing both the tone and the focus of the debate about Israel's adversaries at a time when the future existence of Israel is increasingly imperiled. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (24)

REINVENTING TRUTH!
Dershowitz feels the urge to attack anybody who criticizes Israel. Criticizing any state ensure they remain accountable. Criticizing Israel is not antisemitism as Dershowitz call it. I find his arguments hopelessly dishonest! As a very skilled lawyer (OJ Case), he remodels the truth at the convenience of ISRAEL

He argues that:

1. Israel has always been willing to trade land for peace, but Palestinians haven't. LIES: ISRAEL BELIEVES IN CONSTANT EXPANSION TOWARDS THE GREATER ISRAEL. THE SETTLEMENT POLICY IS EVEN DECRIED BY ITS CLOSEST ALLIES.

2. Israel has the right under international law to take a proportionate response to attacks on its territory and citizenry.LIES: THE RESPONSES ARE NEVER PROPORTIONATE AND ISRAEL IS THE AGGRESSOR, NOT THE RESPONDER.

3. Muslims, Arabs, and Christians have more rights in Israel than they do in Muslim countries.LIES- NON JEWS ROUTINELY FACE EVICTION NOTICES OR SEE THEIR HOUSES AND LAND GRABBED FOR SETTLERS.

4. Palestinian opposition to the Jewish presence in what is now Israel dates back to the Nazi era and includes collaboration in the Holocaust.NOT EVEN WORTH COMMENTING! ZIONIST WERE COMMITTING ATROCIOUS CRIMES AND SCARING LOCAL POPULATION INTO FLEEING. ISRAEL WAS FOUNDED ON TERRORISM!

5. Most of the current social problems that Palestinians experience are a result of Arab nations not wanting to accept them in their countries rather than mistreatment by Israelis. THEY ARE LIVING ON THEIR ANCESTRAL LAND! WHERE DO YOU WANT THEM TO GO? WHY DON'T WE LET MEXICANS BACK INTO TEXAS THEN?


The book is an astonishing collection of lies and fabrication.

Excellent.
An excellent, well-reasoned and well researched response to the anti-Israel canards that have gained far too much credence.

Exposing the hatemongers
We are living in times of a bottomless hatred of Israel and it's people and friends that is frightening in it's irrational venom.
It certainly resembles the hatred of Nazis for Jews in the 1930s and 40's in it's sheer viciousness, what a Jewish women who witnessed Kristallnacht as a child on that excellent documentary Obsession: Radical Islam's War Against the West as 'the type of hatred that makes your hear beat faster'.
Liberal Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz, describes being attacked by a mob of Israel-haters outside Faneuil Hall in Boston points out that this hatred is unexplainable on any rational basis. Phyllis Chesler describes this hatred as 'eroticized'.
Desrhowitz agrees and says that the hatred he saw there was 'passionate hatred, ecstatic hatred, orgasmic hatred, it was beyond mere differences of opinion'.
Again the type of hatred on would have seen at Hitler's Nuremberg rallies or during Kristallnacht.
Dershowitz points out that for a tiny country the size of New Jersey, with a population of 6 million , no other country has as many destructive enemies as Israel.
No other country has been targeted with divestment and boycotts, been the object of so many hostile UN resolutions, been singled out for editorial abuse in the international media , been the victims of as many aggressive protests on colleges and universities and been threatened with annihilation and physical destruction and genocide against it's people.
As an example of the genocidal rhetoric aimed at Israel's population, Hamas MP Ahmed Abu Halabiya speaking from a large mosque in Gaza in June 2003 thundered "Have no mercy on the Jews no matter where they are in any country...Wherever you are kill those Jews and those Americans who are like them...We will not give up a single inch of Palestine from Haifa to Jaffa'.
British MP Clare Short actually said that Israel will cause the end of the human race diverting attention away from global warming! Not China or the USA, but tiny Israel, one of the most environmentally conscious countries on this planet.

Dershowitz devotes one of the chapters in his book to condemning Jimmy Carter for his canards against Israel in his shameful and slanderous book 'Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid'
Carter has demanded that the European Union and the United States recognize the mass murderous and racist terror organisation Hamas, and has had cordial meetings with Hamas and Hezbollah leaders and has described Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal and Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah as very nice.
Dershowitz (who supports peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians a two state solution and territorial compromise) actually has discovered that Carter had pressuring Palestinian leaders to take the maximalist position of rejecting compromises and effectively settlement that Israel could reasonably accept without risking it's existence.

Carter played a role in persuading Arafat in 2000 to reject the then Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak's generous offer of a contiguous Palestinian state including all of Gaza, 95 % of the West Bank and parts of Jerusalem. Arafat rejected the offer and launched the intifada that has led to loss of thousands of Israeli and Arab lives.
Therefore far from preaching and pointing fingers Carter should hang his head in shame for the blood on his hands.
Most importantly Dershowitz demolishes the charge by Carter of Israel practising Apartheid (the system of rigid racial segregation that was exercised by the government in South Africa between 1948 and 1994). He quotes two prominent Black South African woman ,who have courageously stood up against the violent tsunami of anti-Israel hatred and the campaign slander and libel against Israel, Rhoda Kadalie and Julia Bertelsmann : "Israel is not an apartheid state...Arab citizens of Israel can vote and serve in the Knesset. Black South Africans could not vote until 1994. There are no laws in Israel that discriminate against Arab citizens of separate them from Jews. South Africa has a job reservation policy for White people; Israel has adopted pro-Arab affirmative action programmes in some sectors. Israeli schools , universities and hospitals make no distinction between Jews and Arabs. An Arab citizen who brings a case before an Israeli court will have that case decided on the basis of merit, not ethnicity. This was never the case for Blacks under Apartheid"
Carter has accused Israel of genocide while referring to the genocide in Rwanda as 'ancient history' and condemned those who use the word 'genocide' in reference to the mass murder by Sudan's government in Darfur in which hundreds of thousands of Black Africans have been butchered, millions displaced and hundreds of thousands of women raped.
Derhshowitz also has a chapter condemning both extreme Left anti-Israel bigots (such as John Dugard, Richard Falk, Noam Chomsky, Norman Finkelstein and Michael Lerner) and extreme right anti-Israel bigots (such as Pat Buchanan, Robert Novak, Neo-Nazi David Duke, Joseph Sobran and Taki Theodoracopulos).
He confronts such leftwing extremists as South African UN commissioner John Dugard who has justified suicide bombings against Israeli women and children and compared Arab terrorists who target Israel women and children to the resistance movements that fought against Nazism during World War II.UN commissioner Richard Falk (a supporter of Hamas and Hezbollah and well as a variety of despotic regimes including Iran and Zimbabwe) who has compared Israel's defensive actions in Gaza to the Nazi Holocaust.
Norman Finkelstein has stated that Israel's human rights record is worse than that of Nazi Germany and called on the world to support openly genocidal terrorist and anti-Semitic organisation Hezbollah whose leader leader Hassan Nasrallah said of the Jews after the 2006 Lebanon War "If they gather in Israel it will save us the trouble of going after them worldwide"
Hezbollah carried out the 1994 bombing of the AMIA Jewish community center killing 87 men, women and children.
One of the most important chapters is the Case Against Boycotting Israeli Academics, taking on a vile and racist campaign by far-left academics to ban any co-operation between their universities and Israeli universities and to ban all Israeli academics (regardless of their political views) as well as the campaigns for divesting from Israeli businesses.
The author points out the hypocrisy of these boycotts in attacking the campaign by Britain's largest labour union, UNISON, for an economic, cultural sporting and economic boycott on Israel.
As Dershowitz points out: "These unions (and other institutions) did not call for boycotts of any other countries such as China (which has occupied Tibet for over half a century and denies academic freedom to Tibetan critics, among other abuses), Russia (which has brutally suppressed the Chechens) North Korea (which is probably the most oppressive, closed and tyrannical state on earth) , Iran (an oppressive theocracy and supporter of terrorism whose president often threatens genocide against Israel, or tyrannical regimes in Myanmar, Saudi Arabia, Cuba, Syria, Belarus, Libya, Zimbabwe and so on".

The author points out that the terrorist organizations that Israel is defending her population against (such as Hamas, Hezbollah and Islamic Jihad) not only deliberately and predominantly target Israel's civilian population but also deliberately put their own civilians in the line of fire, knowing that casualties among Arab populations will result in more strident hype against Israel in the world.
Therefore for the terrorist groups, both Arab and Israeli casualties are a win-win situation. Israel has done more than any other nation in modern warfare
to avoid civilian casualties . Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza in 2008/2009 was a reaction to thousands of missiles fired at Israel population centers, often targeting school and Israeli children on their way to school. The reason Israeli deaths have been lower than the Palestinian terror networks have intended was because of Israel's measures taken to protect her own civilians and in many cases what could only be put down to miracles (as if Israel must apologize that more of her people have not died), and the fact that Palestinian spokesmen have counted among their casualties the suicide bombers themselves armed terrorists, terrorist leaders, Arabs killed by Palestinian terror bands themselves, bomb makers whose bombs have exploded prematurely and those killed in the vicinity , Arabs hit by rockets aimed at Israel and even people killed in the gunshots fired at Palestinian rallies.

This book is vital to read for those who want to investigate the vile charges levelled against Israel and the motivations and moral turpitude of her enemies.
Highly recommended.

More of a personal agenda than any information
After reading Imperial Hubris and Palestine Peace Not Apartheid I was looking forward for this book to get some insight from Israel's perspective but I was quite dissapointed reading this book. At the end it came across as a personal agenda and just a anger release vessel book instead of some clarification or any historical facts.

And I also did some research on the author to see his credibility (just a habit I have adopted, it helps to see what is author's personality). I came accross this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KxYOEdbF1mA. (And many others). For me it is important how a person interacts with the audience and people he disagrees with.

Alan Derschowitz come across quite a rude person, anyone who disagrees with him he starts calling them bigot and liar. I am surprised that he is a professor at Harvard. Harvard needs to review his attitude and watch Doha Debates. Its a shame that such prestigious schoool hires people with Garbage attitude. Jimmy Carter and his wife are basically the ambassadors for peace in middle east not to mention Noble Peace Prize winners, while Mr. Derschowitz have no such awards. After doing some research on him and reading his book it doesn't come accross to me that he is looking for peace in Middle East.

Extremely disappointing book. Very badly written with nothing to prove. I would not recommend this book at all due to its personal anger towards the people author disgrees with. He seems like a confused man, trying to confuse the readers as well. Even a 10th graders can write better books than this.

Jimmy Carter dealt directly with Israel and Palestinian diplomats/public and shared his experience in his book. Scheuer was the CIA agent and had sevreal documents to quote while I don't think Mr. Dershowitz even had any dealing with any leaders from these countries neither seemed to communicate with the public of both countries. Save your $10-$15 for a better book. This is total garbage.

As it says, a case against Israel's enemies
If you're looking for an "introduction" to the pro-Israel side of this debate (or the debate itself), this isn't it (try Dershowitz' The Case for Israel). If you're looking for an answer to Israel's enemies, this is it. This is a refutation of certain (of course, not all -- there are too many out there for one book to refute them all) accusations against Israel; also, it examines the motives of many of the "champions" of the anti-Israel movement. (It's so very interesting how the holocaust deniers and hate-mongers flock to the anti-Israel movement...coincidence?) This does not read as smoothly as some of Dershowitz' other books, because he addresses a number of topics throughout; but, for anyone even vaguely familiar with the topic, it should be an easy read.
Even when I disagree with him, I've always found Dershowitz to be a brilliant, reasonable thinker; and this book is no exception. 5 out of 5 stars
... Read more