One Of Our Authors Won A HARVEY!!!

This past weekend, all of us here at For Beginners were super psyched when we got the news that FDR and the New Deal For Beginners author, Paul Buhle, was nominated for two Harvey Awards (Unfortunately it wasn't our book that put him on the ballot, but we can dream can't we?)

The bio-comic, Art of Harvey Kurtzman: The Mad Genius of Comics, a collaboration between Buhle and underground cartoonist, Denis Kitchen, was nominated for both Special Award For Excellence in Presentation and Best Biographical, Historical or Journalistic Presentation.

Imagine how excited we all were when we found out he one it for Best Biographical, Historical or Journalistic Presentation!

For those of you who don't know, the Harvey Awards are one of the comic book industry's oldest and most respected awards. The awards are named for writer/cartoonist, Harvey Kurtzman, the founding editor of MAD magazine and many other acclaimed comics, and are awarded each year to the most outstanding comics, writers, and illustrators in more than 20 categories.

For anyone who has ever read Paul's work, and especially for those who have met and worked with him, his talent is immediately obvious. We are so lucky to have worked with Paul and want to congradulate him on this great honor

The results of the 2010 Harvey Awards can be found here and you can take a look at a list of Paul's books at Amazon.com.

Summer's end is approaching

Today is the last day we’re able to enjoy the bountiful fruits of the labor of our incredible summer intern Anthony Fiore. He has spent his time with us writing for our blog, both For Beginners and Benay Enterprises, as well as working daily on our soon to be unveiled new For Beginners website.




It is always a joy to have summer interns, to be able to share your ideas and thoughts with them and in turn, be invigorated and excited by their ways of thinking and fresh ideas. This summer has been no different and we have been gifted again by a young, vital, intelligent, and creative college student who certainly has a great future ahead of him, hopefully in writing.



All of us here wish him the best of luck this year at Binghamton and look forward to seeing him again next summer. Dawn

Isn't Freedom of Speech Great?

In this country we can bash somebody without any justifiable reason or reasonable justification (Other than that we were "raised right" in Arizona).

That's ok though, because we can also publish the cold, hard facts (I think those are a little more substantial than unwarranted attacks and scare tactics for political gain.) Read Barack Obama For Beginners: An Essential Guide and Don't, don't, don't believe the hype!

Tagline Entries And Summer Contests!!!

We want to know what you think.

It's day two of our HUGE Birthday contest and we've already received a few taglines (If you don't know what we're talking about, get caught up here or here). So we decided that we'd put them up on our blog and let y'all give us a little feedback. Let us know what you think; which ones are good and which ones are gooder. And make sure you participate yourself: there's a whole stack of 38 For Beginners books in it for you.

So here are the contestants so far:

1. For Beginners: Start Here
2. Knowledge is the key that no locked door can resist
3. Open mind begins with an open book
4. Knowledge begins with an open book
5. To Begin is the road to an adventure
6. To Begin is a step closer to accomplishment

Also, be sure to check out our Twitter. We'll be throwing around a few contests from now until our Big Birthday Blow Out ends on September 15!!!

Today In HIstory -- 1921: FDR Contracts Polio

On August 10, 1921, a 39 year old FDR fell mysteriously ill while vacationing at Campobello Island, New Brunswick. Roosevelt was not diagnosed with poliomyelitis for another two weeks as symptoms including fever, protracted symmetric ascending paralysis of the upper and lower extremities, facial paralysis, bladder and bowel dysfunction, numbness, and dysesthesia gradually worsened.


Learn more about our 32nd president in our new book, FDR And The New Deal For Beginners, out now.

For Beginners Third Birthday Tagline Contest!!!

Wow! Three years old already. It seems like just yesterday we were releasing our first batch of books. Where did all that time go? And since when have we had thirty-eight titles?!

This is a big birthday for us and we have a very specific wish: 1. Tagline for the For Beginners graphic non-fiction series (it’s hard to imagine we’ve gone this long without one). Tell you what, we’re willing to let go of an entire catalogue of all thirty-eight of our titles. From African History to Chomsky to Existentialism to Plato to Zen and Zinn. Each one fully illustrated and presented in an entertaining and informative style for those who want to know more about great thinkers and complex subjects minus the boring, dry facts. Plus the winner’s catch phrase will appear on every new title forthwith along with t-shirts, the website, and other swag.

We really, really want this for our birthday this year. Even more than a gift card or the latest electronic device. But if you really want to get us an e-book reader, we won’t complain. So go on, post your ideas on our Facebook wall or at the Facebook event page, as a comment on our Blog, email it to us at info@forbeginnersbooks.com, or on Twitter with the hashtag #ForBeginners. There’s no limit to the number of tagline’s you submit or the number of websites you submit them to, just please, send us your ideas. Judging criteria are inventiveness, creativity, and – where appropriate – humor. You know what we want, you know where to find us, and we know you really want those books for that empty shelf in your den. Happy Birthday For Beginners!!!

UPDATE: Winners of FDR And The New Deal For Beginners Giveaway Drawn

We officially have two lucky winners for our FDR and The New Deal For Beginners Facebook Giveaway. But we can't give away any names until we have recieved confirmations from both of them.

Upset you didn't win? Don't give up yet, our Birthday is coming up and I think I smell a CONTEST!!!

The New New Deal: "Why Don't We Just Do It?"

So our new book is out. FDR and the New Deal For Beginners is hitting the indie bookshelves world wide, it's got a trailer on YouTube, and 100% positive reviews so far (We've only recieved one review, so what? It's still early). So yeah, this book is a pretty big deal...

But why? What's so great about a dead president? A sixty-five years dead president?

Well, why don't you just take a look at the front page of yesterday's Sunday Money in the New York Times? If you do, this is what you'll see: What Would Roosevelt Do?

It's all about the failings of the recent government stimulus plans, how the GDP is only one way of looking at economic recovery, and the importance of job creation to pull our country out of this recession.

Roosevelt did a pretty good job pulling America out of the Great Depression and he did so by creating jobs for everyone. Not necessarily long lasting or favorable jobs, but labor intensive-jobs to get people back on their feet until the economy was in better shape. This is something that our current government has not quite caught onto yet. Creating temporary, labor-intensive, government jobs would cost fractions of the current stimulus plans and have imencely positive impact on society that would not otherwise occur in a failing market economy.

Read the article, read our book. As the article states so nicely, "Why don't we just do it?"