>Our Endangered Values

>by Jimmy Carter

Jimmy Carter’s latest book is a quick read and makes a strong case against not only the administration of George W. Bush, but also the fundamentalist attitudes of the Christian Right. If anyone has the standing to make this case it is Carter, the most genuinely religious President of the modern era, who knows the church inside and out. I was surprised to learn in this book that Carter broke with Southern Baptist Convention over their fundamentalism, but I respect him for that. While the book relies too heavily, for my taste, on Carter’s personal Christianity and his knowledge of scripture, it does an excellent job of laying out the significant social issues that are fracturing our country and begins to suggest how Democrats can frame their positions as we begin to try to save the nation from the disastrous policies of the Republicans. He talks here about abortion, the death penalty, the separation of church and state, “the sins of divorce and homosexuality,” the role of women, foreign policy, terrorism and preemptive war, the environment, and poverty.

About the author

I am the author of three novels--THE LAST BIRD OF PARADISE, OLIVER'S TRAVELS, and THE SHAMAN OF TURTLE VALLEY--and three story collections--IN AN UNCHARTED COUNTRY, HOUSE OF THE ANCIENTS AND OTHER STORIES, and WHAT THE ZHANG BOYS KNOW, winner of the Library of Virginia Literary Award for Fiction. I am also the co-founder and former editor of Prime Number Magazine and the editor of the award-winning anthology series EVERYWHERE STORIES: SHORT FICTION FROM A SMALL PLANET.

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