Is there any reason to buy his book?

Since he left the presidency Jimmy Carter has achieved almost superstar status. (An odd characterization for an ex-president, but read on.) While his pronouncements have become increasingly bitter, the mainstream media treats him with kid gloves. His role in one round of mid-east negotiations has built him up as an expert in the eyes of the media. Indeed, his efforts to bring Egypt and Israel a step closer thirty years ago are important. But in the ensuing period Carter seems to haver become increasingly against the Israeli position. But he wraps himself in the mantle of almost sainthood and thus feels he should be able to be exempt from criticism. This is a guy who barely went out of Georgia before he assumed the presidency.

His latest book, Palestine:Peace not Apartheid (I have not included a link because I do not want in any way to promote it) has generated some real controversy. Dr. Ken Stein (William E. Schatten Professor of Contemporary Middle Eastern History, Political Science and Israeli Studies at Emory - BA Franklin and Marshall and PhD at Michigan) , was, until this week, a member of the Carter Center at Emory. He is an expert on the Middle East. He coauthored a book on the subject with Carter which proceeded this one. Stein sounds like a very good academic. He describes his commitment to scholarly independence like this "I have continued my professional commitment to inform students and the general public about the history and politics of Israel, the Middle East, and American policies toward the region. I have tried to remain true to a life-time devotion to scholarly excellence based upon unvarnished analyses and intellectual integrity. I hold fast to the notion that academic settings and those in positions of influence must teach and not preach." But he argues that Carter's book does not live up to that standard - the book is "replete with factual errors, copied materials not cited, superficialities, glaring omissions, and simply invented segments. Aside from the one-sided nature of the book, meant to provoke, there are recollections cited from meetings where I was the third person in the room, and my notes of those meetings show little similarity to points claimed in the book. Being a former President does not give one a unique privilege to invent information or to unpack it with cuts, deftly slanted to provide a particular outlook. ...Falsehoods, if repeated often enough become meta-truths, and they then can become the erroneous baseline for shaping and reinforcing attitudes and for policy-making. The history and interpretation of the Arab-Israeli conflict is already drowning in half-truths, suppositions, and self-serving myths; more are not necessary. In due course, I shall detail these points and reflect on their origins."

The full text of Stein's letter and the link to hisInstitute for the Study of Israel are linked here.