Books: An Hour Before Daylight By Jimmy Carter

The Georgia boy destined to become President grew up near the Depression-ravaged settlement of Archery, bereft of indoor plumbing and electricity. He became an accomplished child farmer, and even today can explain how to plow a straight furrow. In this captivating memoir he recalls his eccentric forebears, among them, the great-great-grandfather who married the sister of his deceased wife, then asked to be buried between the women but "tilted a little toward" the first wife.

--By Jesse Birnbaum