Jimmy Carter's Georgia hometown has been the one constant in his life, and he pays tribute to it with Christmas in Plains, a collection of holiday memories from his childhood through his Navy days, his time as Georgia governor and U.S. president, and his very active retirement. As a schoolboy, Carter looked forward to painting many-colored magnolia leaves to mix in with the holly on the mantle. His favorite way to collect mistletoe "usually at the top of oak or pecan trees and on the ends of slender limbs, was to shoot into the clump and let the bullets or buckshot cut off some sprigs." And when his godmother went to Cleveland, Ohio, one December, he asked her to bring back a snowball. It was quite some time before he realized that the large white marble she gave him was not "a real petrified snowball." Carter's memories of holding onto faith during the Christmases of his presidency are often poignant, taking place in the context of the Iranian hostage crisis and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. And his postretirement experiences of Christmas are strangely, comfortingly familiar, characterized by jealousy of in-laws and generosity towards neighbors. --Michael Joseph Gross


From Publishers Weekly
This slim yet deeply textured memoir detailing former president Carter's Christmases as a boy in rural Georgia, as a naval officer, a politician and president serves as an excellent companion to his earlier, bestselling memoir, An Hour Before Daylight, but can also be read on its own as a tribute to family and a reminder that economy of gifts doesn't have to mean economy of generosity. Told in clear, honest language, these engaging vignettes range from endearing stories from his boyhood using the tinfoil from his father's cigarette packs to make tinsel for the tree as well as revealing ones Carter's thoughts and feelings during the hostage crisis in the Middle East toward the end of his presidency. These are the humble and heartfelt experiences that shaped and reflect his character: stories of his close black friends in the pre-civil rights era, of one memorable holiday involving a truckload of grapefruit, of another at Camp David, of trying to spend some quiet moments alone with his family in Plains even with the Secret Service in tow. The message illustrated throughout could not be more timely that gifts from the heart are the most important kind and should not be restricted to one's own family. (Nov.)Forecast: Comforting and inspiring, this should have very big sales among readers of Carter's previous book and bring him new readers as well.Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.


From Library Journal
This is the 18th book by the nation's 39th president, whose previous works ranged from complex policy and political analyses to highly personal poetry and reflections on life. Here, Carter reflects on Christmas from childhood to his presidency and beyond, intermingling holiday (Christmas), place (mostly Plains, GA), and people (family, friends, and neighbors). Recollections range from the surprisingly personal to the political, as he discusses everything from his painful bout with hemorrhoids in 1978, to Christmas during the difficult days of the Iran hostage crisis, to the post-1980 election holiday, to a recipe for eggnog. The result is high on personal reflections but low on deep insights. Critics will see a great deal of "fluff" here, but others will appreciate getting a closer glimpse of a decent man who brought humanity and humility to the White House and to his life after politics.- Michael A. Genovese, Loyola Marymount Univ., Los Angeles Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Booklist
"Christmas, family, and Plains--the three are inextricable," the former president fondly muses in this series of remembrances of Christmases past, ranging chronologically from his Georgia childhood, through his years in the navy, his tenure in the governor's mansion in Atlanta, his years as president in the White House, and his eventual return to his beloved hometown. Carter stresses the religious aspects of the holiday season as he records early Christmases set in the "incredible poverty" of southwest Georgia during the Depression. His father was a farmer, and the seasons of the year "controlled priorities" on the farm. The author remembers one particular highlight of his boyhood Christmases now forbidden by law: fireworks! His father's recipe for eggnog is followed by recollections of his favorite Christmas presents. Then Carter recalls a hair-raising flight back to Plains for Christmas when he was in the Naval Academy during World War II. Once he married and had a family, Carter and his wife, Rosalynn, used his holiday off-duty time "to re-create the family customs that we remembered from our childhood." We learn of his surprise, during his first Christmas in the White House, at how many social responsibilities he had to meet during the holiday season. The chapter "Best Christmas of All" is a particularly poignant conclusion to a charming book (with illustrations by Carter's daughter, Amy). Brad Hooper
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved


Review
Jonathan Yardley The Washington Post A lovely and haunting piece of work...that conveys with quiet passion...its author's love for the place in which he grew up and where, he says, he expects to rest for eternity.

Richard Pretorius United Press International A love story of a man's passion for his home, his family and...his fellow man....[It] will stay in the mind long after the last page is read.

Nancy Mitchell The News & Observer (Raleigh) A true memoir, a book steeped in memory and organized in part by memory's principles: the vivid takes precedence....A moving reminder of how dramatically a child can grow beyond his roots and remain at the same time profoundly attached to them.


Review
Nancy Mitchell The News & Observer (Raleigh) A true memoir, a book steeped in memory and organized in part by memory's principles: the vivid takes precedence....A moving reminder of how dramatically a child can grow beyond his roots and remain at the same time profoundly attached to them.


Review
Nancy Mitchell The News & Observer (Raleigh) A true memoir, a book steeped in memory and organized in part by memory's principles: the vivid takes precedence....A moving reminder of how dramatically a child can grow beyond his roots and remain at the same time profoundly attached to them.


Book Description
In a beautifully rendered portrait, Jimmy Carter remembers the Christmas days of his Plains boyhood -- the simplicity of family and community gift-giving, his father's eggnog, the children's house decorations, the school Nativity pageant, the fireworks, Luke's story of the birth of Christ, and the poignancy of his black neighbors' poverty. Later, away at Annapolis, he always went home to Plains, and during his Navy years, when he and Rosalynn were raising their young family, they spent their Christmases together re-creating for their children the holiday festivities of their youth. Since the Carters returned home to Plains for good, they have always been there on Christmas Day, with only one exception in forty-eight years: In 1980, with Americans held hostage in Iran, Jimmy, Rosalynn, and Amy went by themselves to Camp David, where they felt lonely. Amy suggested that they invite the White House staff and their families to join them and to celebrate. Nowadays the Carters' large family is still together at Christmastime, offering each other the gifts and the lifelong rituals that mark this day for them. With the novelist's eye that enchanted readers of his memoir An Hour Before Daylight, Jimmy Carter has written another American classic, in the tradition of Truman Capote's A Christmas Memory and Dylan Thomas's A Child's Christmas in Wales.


Book Info
A collection of holiday memories from Jimmy Carter's childhood through his Navy days, his time as Georgia governor and U.S. president, and his very active retirement.


About the Author
Jimmy Carter, who served as thirty-ninth president of the United States, was born in Plains, Georgia, in 1924. After leaving the White House, he and his wife, Rosalynn, founded the Atlanta-based Carter Center, a nonprofit organization that works to prevent and resolve conflicts, enhance freedom and democracy, and improve health around the world.

FROM OUR EDITORS

In the last half century, former president Jimmy Carter has spent almost every Christmas in Plains, his cozy, rural Georgia hometown. This memoir, which possesses the sweet nostalgia of a Jimmy Stewart movie, recaptures the holidays of Carter's youth, with their handmade decorations and their simple, home-crafted gifts. The beloved ex-president pays tribute to small-town virtues and the lessons unselfconsciously in the midst of family celebrations.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

In this acclaimed bestseller, President Carter returns to his early years in Plains, Georgia, the same locale that enchanted readers of An Hour Before Daylight, which The New Yorker called "an American classic." He remembers the Christmas days of his boyhood and later years, re-creating here the simplicity of community and celebration with family and friends. Jimmy Carter has written another American classic in the tradition of Truman Capote's A Christmas Memory and Dylan Thomas's A Child's Christmas in Wales.

SYNOPSIS

During his Navy years, when he and Rosalynn were raising their young family, they spent their Christmases together re-creating for their children the holiday festivities of their youth: family and community; gift-giving; eggnog; the school Nativity pageant. Jimmy Carter has written an American holiday classic.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

This slim yet deeply textured memoir detailing former president Carter's Christmases as a boy in rural Georgia, as a naval officer, a politician and president serves as an excellent companion to his earlier, bestselling memoir, An Hour Before Daylight, but can also be read on its own as a tribute to family and a reminder that economy of gifts doesn't have to mean economy of generosity. Told in clear, honest language, these engaging vignettes range from endearing stories from his boyhood using the tinfoil from his father's cigarette packs to make tinsel for the tree as well as revealing ones Carter's thoughts and feelings during the hostage crisis in the Middle East toward the end of his presidency. These are the humble and heartfelt experiences that shaped and reflect his character: stories of his close black friends in the pre-civil rights era, of one memorable holiday involving a truckload of grapefruit, of another at Camp David, of trying to spend some quiet moments alone with his family in Plains even with the Secret Service in tow. The message illustrated throughout could not be more timely that gifts from the heart are the most important kind and should not be restricted to one's own family. (Nov.) Forecast: Comforting and inspiring, this should have very big sales among readers of Carter's previous book and bring him new readers as well. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Library Journal

This is the 18th book by the nation's 39th president, whose previous works ranged from complex policy and political analyses to highly personal poetry and reflections on life. Here, Carter reflects on Christmas from childhood to his presidency and beyond, intermingling holiday (Christmas), place (mostly Plains, GA), and people (family, friends, and neighbors). Recollections range from the surprisingly personal to the political, as he discusses everything from his painful bout with hemorrhoids in 1978, to Christmas during the difficult days of the Iran hostage crisis, to the post-1980 election holiday, to a recipe for eggnog. The result is high on personal reflections but low on deep insights. Critics will see a great deal of "fluff" here, but others will appreciate getting a closer glimpse of a decent man who brought humanity and humility to the White House and to his life after politics. [Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 7/01.]-Michael A. Genovese, Loyola Marymount Univ., Los Angeles Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews