Customer Reviews

Turning Point: A Candidate, a State, and a Nation Come of Age

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Being a young boy, and native Georgia, during the Carter presidency, I didn't have an understanding as to who the man really was. I heard the stories about him being a peanut farmer from south Georgia and just couldn't imagine how he ended up in the white house. This book really doesn't explain that, but it does show how his early political life really shaped who he is. His struggles with the political "machine" during that time help to explain his involvement in foreign election monitoring. Other social commentary shows the compassionate man who really did want to help in his community.

President Carter is a terrific storyteller, and has some great stories to tell. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in a fun, easy and political read, whether you're a Deomcrat or like me, a Republican.

President Carter has in this book painted an extremely clear portrait of the world of rural southern politics. A world that has changed some since the 1962 election he describes in this work, but not much. Just last year in my own House district the Republican primary candidate from the smaller of the two counties in the district won the election after no returns came in from his county until all the returns were in from the larger county. Officials in the smaller county then knew the margin they needed, and they delivered. The results weren't contested but a few years ago when the results of an election were contested it was found that many of the votes cast in this small county were cast by the dead. Just like in Quitman County.

Carter tells the story of his first run for public office in a very comfortable and easy to read style. Even though I knew the outcome I couldn't put the book down because I just had to know what happened next. From the time he starts his campaign one can sense history unfolding, not just as the election laws of Georgia change, but also as a naïve candidate slowly begins to learn the lessons that will eventually take him to the White House. Carter does miss one important point though that deserves some attention. The heavy weight given to rural votes in the south was not only an attempt to keep blacks out of politics but revealed the strong influence Thomas Jefferson still held on the south. Jefferson I think would have been very happy to see the votes of small farmer's carry more weight than the votes in urban areas. Add to that the strong influence of the Populists in the turn of the century south and the system in place in 1962 Georgia makes perfect sense. Basically, liberal thinkers had put in place the system the new liberals wanted to change.

Reading this book, along with some of the former President's other works have made me feel as if I have known the man for years. Honest, compassionate, sensitive, intelligent, and indeed somewhat bullheaded are all words that come to mind when trying to describe the man from Plains. If you don't get to know this great American it will be a loss to no one but you and to get to know him you need this book. It is a book you will enjoy.

Riveting read. Unexpectedly good and important. A story about Jimmy Carter I didn't know. An absolutely crucial moment of transition between the Old and New South told by one who was there. It shaped his whole career. Stories of voting fraud and political intrigue worthy of the Chicago machine, used against anyone who threatened reform. In this case, the reform was one man, one vote and equality under the law for African Americans -- revolutionary concepts for rural Georgia. Ends with a taut courtroom scene worthy of any good movie. Well written and not overly long. Carter is a good storyteller and has a spare, elegant literary style.

Although I don't agree with him on many issues, and I find his writing about as fluid as grease, Jimmy Carter here, at least, has written a fascinating account of his first election to office in the 1962 campaign for the Georgia Senate. 1962 was the first year after the Supreme Court mandated "one man-one vote" rules which outlawed the prior Georgia practice of having three counties share a senator, but only one county would get to vote every three elections. This allowed party bosses to entrench their candidates through favors and corruption. In 1962, they may not have needed either to defeat Carter, who was notorious for helping blacks to register, but they used both and won the popular vote. A recount, however, found that a great many voters voted in alphabetical order, including those who had died since registering. A three-judge Federal court panel ruled that the election abuses were so pervasive that it ordered Carter be declared as winner. The story is riviting and rises above Carter's heavy-handed prose.