10 essential books about Jimmy Carter

Former President Jimmy Carter signs copies of his new book "Faith: A Journey For All" Wednesday, April 11, 2018, in Atlanta. The book will debut at no. 7 on the New York Times best sellers list. (AP Photo/John Amis)

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.”