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'Saturday Night' feeds on the energy, and insanity, of the very first 'SNL' episode

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3 months ago

October 11, 2024

'Saturday Night' feeds on the energy, and insanity, of the very first 'SNL' episode

‘Saturday Night’ feeds on the energy, and insanity, of the first ever ‘SNL’ broadcast : NPR

‘Saturday Night’ feeds on the energy, and insanity, of the first ever ‘SNL’ broadcast This expertly cast film captures the rehearsals and the logistics that lead up to opening night. It’s a nonstop joy ride — and a testament to the adage that the show must go on.

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10 essential books about Jimmy Carter

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3 hours ago

December 30, 2024

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Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter holds up a copy of his book Faith: A Journey For All at a book signing event at Barnes & Noble bookstore on March 26, 2018.

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Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter holds up a copy of his book Faith: A Journey For All at a book signing event at Barnes & Noble bookstore on March 26, 2018.

Drew Angerer/Getty Images

Throughout his lifetime, Jimmy Carter held many titles: 39th president of the United States, Nobel Peace Prize winner, philanthropist, humanitarian, artist – and writer.

In his role as an author, Carter wrote mostly non-fiction, on everything from war and peace to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to faith, personal reflections on his childhood and aging – and even fishing. But he also dabbled in fiction – with a children’s book, Little Baby Snoogle-Fleejer, illustrated by his daughter, Amy, and a novel, The Hornet’s Nest: A Novel of the Revolutionary War.

Carter published his first book, a campaign autobiography titled Why Not the Best? in 1975. Since then, he’s written more than 30 works. “Of all our modern Presidents, Jimmy Carter was America’s most protean author,” his publisher Jonathan Karp, president and CEO of Simon & Schuster, said in a statement issued in late February 2023. “In all of his books, he maintained a voice of great integrity and intellectual honesty.”

Carter wrote books about his life and his beliefs. But writers and historians alike have been fascinated with examining and re-examining Carter as a president, his post-Oval office impact, and his legacy. Here, we look at 10 of the best-known titles by or about Jimmy Carter.

5 of Carter’s most widely read books

Covers of a few books written by President Carter.

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An Hour Before Daylight: Memoirs of a Rural Boyhood (2002)

Carter’s memoir details his childhood in a segregated rural Georgia during the Great Depression. He reflects on living in a sharecropping economy, as he paints a portrait of his community and family.

Our Endangered Values: America’s Moral Crisis (2006)

Published in 2005, Carter offers a defense of the separation of church and state, as well as his takes on contemporary issues such as women’s rights, abortion, terrorism, and the death penalty.

Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid (2007)

Written post-White House, Carter presents his views on the Israel-Palestine conflict – sharing his knowledge on the history of the Middle East and offering an assessment of solutions towards peace going forward.

A Full Life: Reflections at 90 (2015)

Even at 90 years of age, Carter didn’t stop writing. In A Full Life: Reflections at 90, Carter looks back at his long life – from growing up in rural Georgia to realizing causes he’s most passionate about – and shares the lessons he’s learned along the way.

Faith: A Journey For All (2018)

As a devout Baptist, religion has always been a key pillar in Carter’s life. But his book Faith: A Journey For All is about much more than that. In it, Carter explores faith’s broader meanings, the different ways that it sustains our lives, and how to find faith even in the darkest of times.

5 of the most-read biographies on Carter

Covers of five biographies written about President Carter.

Meghan Collins Sullivan/NPR

The Unfinished Presidency by Douglas Brinkley (1998)

Brinkley’s The Unfinished Presidency focuses on Carter’s resurrection after his defeat to Ronald Reagan in 1980. Brinkley provides observations of Carter’s complex relationships with international figures, as well as his lifelong commitment to world peace.

Jimmy Carter by Julian Zelizer (2010)

Princeton history professor Julian Zelizer examines Carter’s strategy as a maverick politician who was successful at communicating with and rallying voters disaffected by politics, but who faced challenges building a strong political coalition once in office. Post-presidency, Carter remade his image as a key voice for diplomacy and negotiation.

President Carter: The White House Years by Stuart Eizenstat (2018)

Authored by Carter’s chief domestic policy adviser, President Carter: The White House Years provides an in-depth look at the Carter administration. The account draws on more than 5,000 pages of notes from meetings, as well as 350 interviews of major players of the time.

His Very Best: Jimmy Carter, A Life by Jonathan Alter (2020)

In His Very Best: Jimmy Carter, A Life, journalist Jonathan Alter traces the evolution of Carter’s life – from being raised on a farm to working as a naval nuclear engineer to his presidency and its aftermath – painting a portrait of a president who was flawed but committed to uplifting and serving the American people.

The Outlier: The Unfinished Presidency of Jimmy Carter by Kai Bird (2021)

Pulling from interviews with Jimmy Carter, his administration, and relevant documents, Bird’s The Outlier: The Unfinished Presidency of Jimmy Carter aims to redefine the legacy of the Carter administration, arguing that the 39th president has been largely misunderstood.

Lifestyle

The Best of BoF 2024: Designer Reboots and a Rocky Market

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3 hours ago

December 30, 2024

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The Best of BoF 2024: Designer Reboots and a Rocky Market

The luxury industry was under pressure in 2024 as customers pulled back on high-end purchases. Brands from Chanel to Valentino to Fendi changed their creative lineups, hoping to jump-start demand. But the struggles at Gucci and Burberry show how tricky executing a designer relaunch can be.

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These were the most-borrowed books from public libraries in 2024

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10 hours ago

December 29, 2024

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These were the most-borrowed books from public libraries in 2024

A woman looks at books in a library in 2024.

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Some of the most checked-out books in public libraries across the country in 2024 include Kristin Hannah’s The Women, Rebecca Yarros’ Fourth Wing, and Emily Henry’s Happy Place.

These books landed on the year-end wrap lists of public libraries in New York City, Cincinnati, Seattle and other cities.

Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow, by Gabrielle Zevin, was the most checked-out adult book in New York City and the second-most popular adult fiction book in Denver. There, The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store was number one; that novel by James McBride also made the most-borrowed lists at libraries in San Francisco, Westport, Conn., and Louisville, Ky.

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Other popular titles in 2024 included Tom Lake by Ann Patchett, Think Twice by Harlan Coben and Camino Ghost by John Grisham. One of the most-borrowed non-fiction titles from 2024 was The Demon of Unrest: A Saga of Hubris, Heartbreak and Heroism at the Dawn of the Civil War by Eric Larson.

NPR scanned the most-borrowed lists of 18 public libraries across the country. Not every library publicizes its year-end borrowing data, and there’s no master list released by the American Library Association. Some libraries only released their five or 10 top-borrowed books overall; others sorted the year’s most popular loans into fiction, non-fiction, books for children and other categories.

Libby, the app libraries use to provide e-books, audiobooks and magazines, has not yet released its data from 2024.

A number of 2024 books were also 2023 books

While many of 2024’s top books are new, a scan of titles revealed a striking number of repeats that also appeared on numerous most-borrowed lists in 2023, including Fourth Wing Rebecca Yarros, The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese, Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus, A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas and the memoir I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy.

“I think people are just looking for something that’s going to comfort them a little bit,” observed Roosevelt Weeks, director of the Fort Bend County library system in Texas. He pointed to the novel James, by Percival Everett, as a top title he particularly enjoyed this year. It made the most-borrowed lists at public libraries in Broome County, N.Y. and Boston’s Codman Square branch.

But Quinn McQueen, director of marketing and communications for the City Library in Salt Lake City, said public library users sometimes have to wait for in-demand e-books and audiobooks.

“Sometimes libraries can be a little behind,” she said. “We try to buy as many books as we can.”

Some publishers, she noted, restrict the number of popular e-books that libraries can buy during their first year of release. And even after an e-book is purchased, they sometimes require ongoing payments tied to the number of check-outs. “So that can go through our budget pretty quickly,” she said.

McQueen said one of her library’s most-borrowed nonfiction books this year and last year was Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer, which was published in 2013.

“I just finished it and I recommend it,” she said. “[Kimmerer] has her PhD in botany and is also an indigenous woman and a poet. And I think what’s so interesting is it’s showing people’s desire to be connected to our natural world, to figure out a way to live reciprocally with nature and to be kind and appreciative. So that one’s really interesting and impressive.”

Braiding Sweetgrass also appeared on the most-borrowed lists this year at public libraries in San Francisco, Seattle and Amherst, Mass.

Book covers of: All Fours, Come & Get It, Fire Exit, Funny Story, The God of the Woods, How to End a Love Story, James, Margo's Got Money Troubles, Martyr!, The Ministry of Time, Real Americans, and The Women.

Year-end lists are fun to parse, but it’s important to keep perspective, said Brian Bannon, the Meryl and James Tisch Director at the New York Public Library. He oversees the 88 neighborhood branches of the nation’s largest library system.

“Even though we published our top ten, none of these books made up more than 1% of our overall circulation,” he said. “When you actually look at what people read in New York City, it wasn’t like 20% of our audience were only reading these books. It’s only 1%. There is still interest in a broad range of subject areas in the city, a lot of other genres: poetry, history, different types of fiction. To me, that’s actually really heartening that we’re not just driven by what happens to be popular or what’s making its way into the mainstream media, but people are actually tracking their own interests and finding what they love at the library.”

And in case you were wondering, 2024’s most-borrowed poetry collection at the New York Public Library was Ocean Vuong’s Time Is A Mother, about the loss of a parent and the Covid-19 pandemic.

If you are looking for your next book to read, head over to Books We Love. Our site has more than 4,000 recommended titles from the last 12 years.