'His Very Best' Calls Jimmy Carter 'Perhaps The Most Misunderstood President'

Anyone who's even vaguely familiar with Jimmy Carter has heard the assessment of his career that's become something of a political cliché: His presidency was largely a failure, but he's the best ex-president the country's ever had.

Like many well-worn bromides, there's a grain of truth to it: He left the Oval Office with dismal approval ratings, but in the 40 years since, he's developed a reputation as one of the country's most beloved humanitarians.

But the truth, argues Jonathanis more complicated. Carter was "a surprisingly consequential president — a political and stylistic failure but a substantive and far-sighted success" whose personality is deeper than his reputation as a modest, timid and somewhat prude Southern gentleman might suggest. Alter makes his case convincingly his fifth book — and his best one to date.