The Outlier

The Unfinished Presidency of Jimmy Carter

By: Kai Bird

Narrated by: Arthur Morey

“Important...[a] landmark presidential biography.... Bird is able to build a persuasive case that the Carter presidency deserves this new look.” (The New York Times Book Review)

An essential re-evaluation of the complex triumphs and tragedies of Jimmy Carter’s presidential legacy - from the expert biographer and Pulitzer Prize-winning co-author of American Prometheus

Four decades after Ronald Reagan’s landslide win in 1980, Jimmy Carter’s one-term presidency is often labeled a failure; indeed, many Americans view Carter as the only ex-president to have used the White House as a stepping-stone to greater achievements. But in retrospect the Carter political odyssey is a rich and human story, marked by both formidable accomplishments and painful political adversity. In this deeply researched, brilliantly written account, Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer Kai Bird deftly unfolds the Carter saga as a tragic tipping point in American history.

As president, Carter was not merely an outsider; he was an outlier. He was the only president in a century to grow up in the heart of the Deep South, and his born-again Christianity made him the most openly religious president in memory. This outlier brought to the White House a rare mix of humility, candor, and unnerving self-confidence that neither Washington nor America was ready to embrace. Decades before today’s public reckoning with the vast gulf between America’s ethos and its actions, Carter looked out on a nation torn by race and demoralized by Watergate and Vietnam and prescribed a radical self-examination from which voters recoiled. The cost of his unshakable belief in doing the right thing would be losing his re-election bid - and witnessing the ascendance of Reagan.

In these remarkable pages, Bird traces the arc of Carter’s administration, from his aggressive domestic agenda to his controversial foreign policy record, taking readers inside the Oval Office and through Carter’s battles with both a political establishment and a Washington press corps that proved as adversarial as any foreign power. Bird shows how issues still hotly debated today - from national health care to growing inequality and racism to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict - burned at the heart of Carter’s America, and consumed a president who found a moral duty in solving them.

Drawing on interviews with Carter and members of his administration and recently declassified documents, Bird delivers a profound, clear-eyed evaluation of a leader whose legacy has been deeply misunderstood. The Outlier is the definitive account of an enigmatic presidency - both as it really happened and as it is remembered in the American consciousness.

©2021 Kai Bird (P)2021 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

“This beautifully written book will take its place alongside other superb one-volume biographies of American presidents. The Outlier will raise readers’ estimates of Jimmy Carter’s term in office.” (Robert Dallek, New York Times best-selling author of Franklin D. Roosevelt and An Unfinished Life)

"An ‘outlier’ among politicians, Carter shows what democratic politics could be, if the power-hungry, dishonest figures would just get out of the way. Bird’s book offers a rich and compelling account of Carter’s sincere efforts to make American policies match the nation’s ideals.” (The Washington Post)

“A bracing reminder that the 39th president was a man of probity, decency, high hopes, and high moral standards.... Bird’s take on whom he calls ‘our most enigmatic president’ is relentlessly fair-minded. [The Outlier] redeems [Carter’s] presidency and reminds us of how callous we might have been during his years in office.” (The Boston Globe)

Review

Arthur Morey was masterful. Great book, but not quite as great as “His Very Best, by Johnathan Alter.

An easy listen very informative and thoughtful

I greatly enjoyed this easy going, clear yet thorough retelling of the Carter years. Carter’s unique background and approach are reflected in this well written book.

Honest Assessment of the Carter Presidency

This books discusses the Carter Presidency in detail.

It gives an honest assessment of what went right and what went wrong.

The Jimmi Carter song of praise

The auther is extremely biased towards Carter. Every one of the many mistakes Carter made were attributed to his stuff, the media and the circemstances. Every one of the successes, and there weren't many of them, were solely attributed to Carter and no one else.
When the auther cliamed that his major achievement was to put a solar panel in the roof of the white house, or that the Israeli-Pestinuan Oslo agreements were due to his ex-president "moral support" to Yasser Arafat, I actually laughed.
Still, the book is well written, Carter is a very interesting human being and the author provide an interesting review of the relevant historic events.

timely

A timely look at a seriously underrated President and the revelations about the Shai raises some troubling questions about his “us friends”.

Awesome narrator and a great story

A great story on a President I knew very little about. Excellent narration as well.

Informative, well presented and engrossing

What a fine book! What a fine reader! and, in retrospect, what an amazing person Jimmy Carter is! I found the well presented material for much of the Carter presidency highly interesting and became so faacinated that I found myself searching for any additional minutes within my busy day that I could find to listen to this book that I had a hard time putting down. It leaves me, hefty though it is, with a wish to start all over and go through the book yet once again.

A nuanced biography

Bird has delivered another great bio.

Fair with both criticism & parise with many moving parts.

Carter had his faults (but is far and away our best former president) but has never been given ful credit for his accomplishments.

A great man of faith who always operated with good intentions.

Bird highlights the roles of Xbig, David Rockefeller and others in bringing the Shah to the US - precipitating the hostage crisis.

Zbig come off as the hawkish villan he was!

He properly roasts Bill Casey & Reagan for the treasonous work to dely the release of the Iranian hostages and deliver the 1980 election to Reagan.

New Perspectives

The author provides a comprehensive view of the Carter presidency that I did not recall

Nice to be reminded what a GREAT narrator is

Kai Bird is one of the best biographers alive today. I long for the day that his biography on the Bundy brothers, Color of Truth is released on Audible. I remember reading it on a whim when I was in Third Grade, and finding it to be remarkable.

In accordance with Mr. Bird's talents, this book is well-researched, well-paced, and exquisitely detailed. It's pretty much everything you could ask for in a biography. The attention he pays to The Deep South and Carter's being brought up in such a unique place and time in history is particularly laudable.

And it was nice to be reminded that there truly are OUTSTANDING narrators out there, and Arthur Morey is one of them.

Overall, if you have ANY interest whatsoever in learning more about Carter, this book is well worth your time.