Jimmy Carter signs 1,600 books in one sitting at Powell’s

Former President Carter met his adoring, book-buying public in Portland, Ore., on Sunday, the Oregonian reports. The 89-year-old statesman signed 1,600 books in about two hours at Powell’s Bookstore.

Carter’s new book is “A Call to Action: Women, Religion, Violence, and Power,” but fans were allowed to buy or bring up to six of his books to sign. Carter has published 28 books in all, 26 since leaving the White House in 1981.

“A Call to Action” grew out of a meeting at the Carter Center in 2013 that included religious leaders and human rights activists. Publisher Simon & Schuster writes, “ ‘A Call to Action’ addresses the suffering inflicted upon women by a false interpretation of carefully selected religious texts and a growing tolerance of violence and warfare.”

Oregon readers waited for hours in a line that snaked through the store in advance of Carter’s appearance. The Nobel Prizewinner was preceded by Secret Service agents and dogs trained to sniff bags.

Carter signed about one book about every 10 seconds, spending those few moments with people awaiting their chance to meet the former president.

“Sometimes I cramp up,” Carter admitted to the the media. “After about two hours I cramp up. It doesn’t hurt your arm, it hurts your shoulder.”

In addition to Oregon, Carter has done book signings in Seattle, Chicago and Ohio and will appear Wednesday in North Carolina.

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