Kathleen Jordan (EDT), Hamilton Jordan Boy from Georgia

Annotation

When Hamilton Jordan died of peritoneal mesothelioma in 2008, he left behind amostly finished memoir, a book on which he had been working for the last decade. Jordans daughter, Kathleenwith the help of her brothers and mothertook up the task of editing and completing the book. A Boy from Georgia the result of this posthumous father-daughter collaborationchronicles Hamilton Jordans childhood in Albany, Georgia, charting his moral and intellectual development as he gradually discovers the complicated legacies of racism, religious intolerance, and southern politics, and affords his readers an intimate view of the states wheelers and dealers.Jordans middle-class childhood was bucolic in some ways and traumatizing in others. As Georgia politicians battled civil rights leaders, a young Hamilton straddled the uncomfortable line between the southern establishment to which he belonged and the movement in which he believed. Fortunate enough to grow up in a family that had considerable political clout within Georgia, Jordan went into politics to put his ideals to work. Eventually he became a key aide to Jimmy Carter and was the architect of Carters stunning victory in the presidential campaign of 1976; Jordan later served as Carters chief of staff. Clear eyed about the triumphs and tragedies of Jordans beloved home state and region, A Boy from Georgia tells the story of a remarkable life in a voice that is witty, vivid, and honest.