Charles Peters was born in Charleston, West Virginia, and educated in local public schools. He earned a BA and an MA at Columbia University and a law degree from the University of Virginia. Peters served in the U.S. Army and the West Virginia legislature, practiced law, and managed John Kennedy's 1960 presidential campaign in Kanawha County. Peters also helped found the Peace Corps and served as its director of evaluation. The founder and longtime editor of The Washington Monthly, Peters is the author of several books, including an examination of the political system, How Washington Really Works; a history, Five Days in Philadelphia; and a biography, Lyndon B. Johnson, for the American Presidents series.
“Part joyful memoir, part shrewd political analysis, and part
insightful cultural criticism . . . [Peters] offers a keen
understanding of where the Democrats went wrong in scorning the
kind of people in Appalachia that he grew up with”—Walter
Shapiro, Roll Call
“We Do Our Part is not directly about the Trump era or phenomenon,
though Charlie gets to Trump at the end. But it is all about the
resentful, unequal, uncaring parts of today’s American culture that
Trump has inflamed and that have made Trump possible—and how to
cope with them. . . . Vivid, funny, often touching.”—James Fallows,
The Atlantic
“An important book on the central issue facing our country . . .
The truth [Charles] Peters aims to impart in this book is one that
all Americans, and especially liberals, need to understand: An
America in which the elite serves the interests of the majority
isn’t a pipe dream. That world actually existed, in living memory.
And there are signs, in the country’s reaction to the election of
Donald Trump, that it could exist again.”—Washington Monthly
“The spirit of all Americans doing their part for the good of
society—not just greedily grabbing for themselves—is woven
throughout the book. . . . The old magazine editor has immense
knowledge about Washington and its colorful government insiders.
His book is filled with Capitol Hill struggles.”—Charleston
Gazette-Mail
“A thoughtful, well-reasoned argument for American citizens to pull
back from political brinksmanship and embrace the values of the
Roosevelt era. . . It’s always worth listening to a guy who managed
John F. Kennedy’s 1960 campaign in West Virginia and was introduced
to marijuana by Allen Ginsberg; this man has stories. . . . A
cogent and meaningful call for citizens to share the benefits and
burdens of a unified society—hopefully an argument that isn’t
already past its sell-by date.”—Kirkus Reviews
“A wise and brilliant book by a wise and brilliant man . . .
Charlie Peters loves this country deeply, and this book is packed
with insights on how we can make America more just, more civil,
and, well, great. Everyone should read it.”—Nicholas Thompson,
editor, The New Yorker
“Charles Peters, who remembers the New Deal as an indelible
personal experience, has given us a deeply moving, and also deeply
troubling, account of how we got from the national political
culture he knew when he was young to the one we have today. This is
a book about the past that makes it possible for us to imagine a
better future: one in which public service regains its rightful
place of highest purpose in American society.”—Nicholas
Lemann, dean emeritus, Columbia University Graduate School of
Journalism
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