A Full Life by Jimmy Carter

Title:  A Full Life:  Reflections at Ninety

Author:  Jimmy Carter

Narrated by:  Jimmy Carter

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio

Length: Approximately 7 hours and 40 minutes

Source: Checked out with Libby through the Kewaunee Public Library.  Thank-you!

 

What historical figure would you like to learn more about?  I realized even though I was born during Jimmy Carter’s presidency, I knew little about him.  With him being in the news for entering hospice, I thought it was time that I learned more about him.

A Full Life is narrated about Jimmy Carter and was written by him when he turned ninety.  It was great having the author narrate his own memoir.

Carter was very hard working from a young age.  He showed that he was sharp by buying rental homes after an undertaker died and rented them out while he was still in high school.  He did the maintenance on the buildings himself.  He studied naval engineering at the naval academy and graduated in 1946.  In the Navy, Carter experienced a different world and racial equality experiences that didn’t match his own in Georgia.  His Dad did not approve of his changing views on racial equality.

Carter loved nuclear engineering but became a farmer after his father passed away.  Rosalynn was not happy and didn’t speak to him for a couple of weeks after he made this decision without her.  He learned that for a happy marriage, you need to discuss major decisions with your spouse. 

Carter also loved square dancing and it changed his love.  He also lived in a “haunted house.” His  kids found a hidden room with a chair in it.  They believed that a mentally impaired lady was kept there in the past. 

The book had an interesting discussion of Carter’s faith and his work spreading the faith.  Confusion on this hindered items during his presidency.

Carter was a good man, and he was very smart, but he was not good at the back room dealing it took to be an effective president.  He still seemed sad in this book and didn’t understand what happened with the hostages in Iran and why they didn’t release them until Ronald Reagan became President.  He also was hurt when the Obama administration didn’t utilize him as a past president.

This audiobook did get a little slow in the end when Carter gave a summary of all of the books he had written. 

Overall, it was a very informative audiobook, and I am glad that I read it.  I learned a lot!