The Outlier

I've read one or two of Carter's autobiographical works, the biography by Jonathan Alter, and now this one. From what I can remember of Alter's work, that is the one I still highly recommend, but there's no reason you should read just one Carter bio, and this one is also comprehensive, I would say lighter on the childhood and early years (in fact, the section covering his early political career seemed so choppily written I speculated the author was impeded by a bout of covid, the timing seems right, or an overly aggressive editor), but really digs in through the presidential years, especially, a topic painful to my heart, the likelihood that the Reagan campaign sabotaged the Iranian hostage release. The post-presidential years are some consolation, and my e-reader told me there was another 20 percent of the book covering that but was misled, a huge chunk of that is the acknowledgements (well worth reading, too), bibliography, photo gallery, and book notes, so I guess I'd like to see a book devoted to the post-presidential accomplishments - this one highlights Carter's cowboy diplomacy negotiation of a nuclear freeze with North Korea (to the benefit and irritation of the Clinton administration) just as American troops were about to be sent over, but doesn't mention his similar dealing in Haiti that also obviated the need for an American troop landing, which I only know because I read it in the Alter bio. So again, for this president, one bio is not enough.