ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
COSTCO BOOK CLUB
Jimmy Carter paints a Revolutionary
War story in The Hornet‘s Nest
President, humanitarian, no velist
By Tim Talevich
Jimmy Carter has led a peripatetic, they know about the Revolutionary War, even
fruitful life since leaving the White professors in colleges, they’ll say they remem- Book Giveaway
House in 1981. He’s been a prolific ber the skirmishes around Boston,” says
author, having penned 19 books that Carter. “We remember that Paul Revere rode
cover his memoirs, political and reli- a horse in the middle of the night. We remem-gious beliefs, thoughts on aging, and more. ber that George Washington crossed the
He has taught classes Delaware in a storm … and that Benedict
at Emory University Arnold was a traitor. But that’s about it.”
in Atlanta and built In truth, the battles that shaped the final
homes for Habitat for outcome of the war were fought in the
Jimmy
Carter
RICK DIAMOND/ WIREIMAGE
Humanity; as hobbies South—Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and
he makes furniture in North Carolina—until the battle of Yorktown
his wood shop and in Virginia ended the major hostilities
does oil paintings in his in 1781.
studio at his Plains, The war’s soldiers and victims were set-
Georgia, home. Above tlers like Ethan Pratt, the son of a shoemaker
all, he has worked un- who moves in 1766 with his wife, Epsey, from
tiringly through the Philadelphia to North Carolina, then to the
Atlanta-based Carter backwoods of Georgia, in search of greater
Center to promote world health, peace and opportunity. (Carter’s first American ances-democracy, efforts that earned him the Nobel tors undertook the same journey and fought
Peace Prize in 2002. in the Revolutionary War; his grandmother’s
And now Carter is a novelist, a first among name was Pratt). The Pratts become friends
American presidents. In The Hornet’s Nest, with their neighbors, Kindred and Mavis
he explores the story of the Revolutionary Morris, and with a young Indian, Newota.
Costco has 10 autographed copies
of Jimmy Carter’s The Hornet’s
Nest to give away. To enter, print
your name, membership number, address
and daytime phone number on a postcard or
letter and send to: The Hornet’s Nest, The
Costco Connection, P.O. Box 34088, Seattle,
WA 98124-1088, or fax it to (425) 313-6718.
No purchase is necessary. Entries must
be received or postmarked by December 1,
2004. Void where prohibited. Employees of
Costco and their families are not eligible.
Winners will be notified by mail. One entry
per household.
Join the Costco Book Club and send your
feedback on this month’s book by e-mailing
bookclub@costco.com. Book Club members
receive a free monthly e-mail newsletter.
War through a lesser-known perspective: the Initially, many Southern settlers had no increasingly difficult for anyone to not make
Deep South. It’s a meticulously researched quarrel with the British; indeed, many of achoice about the conflict.
work, seven years in the making, which Carter them were the beneficiaries of generous land At age 80, Jimmy Carter maintains an
created from letters, diaries, his own exten- deeds from the Crown. From an Indian per- exhausting schedule. He travels extensive library and the story of his own family, spective, the British offered pro tection sively to monitor democratic elections
who settled in Georgia in the 1760s. from settlers encroaching on in the Americas, Africa and Asia, and
The Revolutionary War, Carter tells The their lands and breaking treaties. to support the Carter Center’s conflict
Connection in a phone interview, was our But British tax policies and other mediation efforts in trouble spots
most important war. Yet it’s also possibly the issues enraged a growing number around the world. But he writes when
least understood. of colonists. As the revolutionary he can, and loves the craft.
“If you ask the average American what struggle deepened, it became “I’m a farmer still,” he says in
his soft Georgia tone. “I get up
about 5 o’clock. I read my urgent
e-mail, then scan over The New
ous memoirs and nonfiction works. York Times and Washington
But my first question immediately was: Post. And then I begin to write
How can he handle a novel? The answer or do research. I write sometimes
is: smoothly and engagingly. from 6 or 7 o’clock in the morning until
President Jimmy
Carter would choose
to write about the South in his first novel,
The Hornet’s Nest. After all, his ancestors
were true Georgian pioneers, and Carter’s
heart and soul remain rooted deep in
Georgian soil, no matter where his journeys
have taken him.
It makes perfect
sense that former
That’s mostly due to his careful atten- noon. And so my work is pretty steady. I rarely
tion to detail. He shows us how settlers have writer’s block.”
Ethan Pratt and Kindred Morris carved their In The Hornet’s Nest, Carter set out to fill
farms from wilderness and scratched out a gap in our understanding of American his-
a living on the land. And, as the story pro- tory. He’s done so accurately, completely and
gresses, we see the life-altering choices that colorfully. He even created the oil painting
people of the era—American settlers, British for the book’s cover.
and Indians—must eventually make. And next? The former president just fin-
The Hornet’s Nest is available in most ished a nonfiction book, Sharing Good Times,
warehouses and at costco.com. but adds quickly that he isn’t done with fic-
The eclectic former president is no
stranger to writing. He has penned numer-
—Pennie Clark Ianniciello tion: “I’ve also begun preparing for a sequel
Costco Book Buyer for The Hornet’s Nest.” C
14 The Costco Connection • NOVEMBER 2004