Jimmy Carter: Elected President with Pocket Change and Peanuts

Padgett offers front porch%E2%80%93style storytelling in this memoir of serving former president Jimmy Carter as a loyal campaign worker. In an informal and nostalgic style, Padgett recounts key moments in Carter's political life: his inauguration as governor in 1971, his announcement of his presidential run in 1974, and the fund-raising and planning of the Carter Library and Museum, which opened in 1986. Though a discussion of Carter is her goal, Padgett's strength is in stories of Carter's dedicated campaign workers. Padgett, an organizer of the famed Peanut Brigade, recounts the Georgia group's experiences as they traveled from state to state, knocking on doors, charming prospective voters with their Southern accents and manners, and helping Carter win key primaries. The stories have wit and exude the fervor and excitement of the times. Padgett provides extraordinary recollections of her time on Carter's campaigns and in his administrations, pinpointing minute specifics for long-past events. However, the inclusion of often superfluous details and exposition undermines the pace and effectiveness of her storytelling. Padgett is a Carter devotee, lavishing praise in her assessment of Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter's lives while withholding significant critique (such as of Carter's early silence on segregation), and her impressive portrait of her subject is unfortunately two-dimensional. (Sept.)