Happy Birthday FDR!

One of the most gifted presidents to ever run the Oval Office, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, turns 130 today. After defeating Herbert Hoover, FDR became the 32nd President of the United States. During his first term in office, the United States was at the worst point of the Great Depression. With a quarter of the workforce unemployed, rising food prices, declining industrial production and over two million Americans homeless FDR had the daunting task of bringing the US afloat again. Roosevelt’s “first 100 days” came with a “new deal” for the American people. The series of economic programs focused on the relief for the unemployed and poor, recovery of the economy to pre depression levels and the reformation of the financial system to prevent a repeated depression.

Nevertheless, the United States slowly pulled out of the great depression solidifying FDR’s landslide re-election where he continued his recovery program during his second term in office. During this time Europe and Asia were on the verge of war as Germany annexed Austria and Czechoslovakia while Italy invaded and annexed Ethiopia and Japan invaded China. FDR however, promised his soldiers "you boys are not going to be sent into any foreign war."

World War II, however, would break out before the end of FDR’s second term. Roosevelt’s third term would be dominated by this event and the preparation for a possible conflict began by upgrading and training the Armed Forces. The United States would become the “Arsenal of Democracy” until the attacks on Pearl Harbor where war was finally declared against the Axis Powers.

The “Big Three”: Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin, Commanded the Allied forces in the European, African and Pacific theaters. The Allied Forces secured victories over the Battle of Midway, Britain, Stalingrad and El Alamein resulting in the impending victory for the Allies.

Unfortunately, less than a month before the fall of Germany, President Roosevelt passed. During his years in office FDR suffered from high blood pressure, systemic atherosclerosis, coronary artery disease and congestive heart failure. His death was met with grief around the world. FDR led his country out of its greatest economic collapse and victory in the greatest war in modern history. Franklin Delano Roosevelt will forever be remembered as one of our nation’s best and brightest. Happy birthday bro.

Want to learn more about FDR, try FDR AND THE NEW DEAL FOR BEGINNERS.

Recommendations for Graphic Nonfiction Books

The Atlantic has an interesting new article compiling “10 Masterpieces of Graphic Nonfiction.” The list includes a variety of diverse subjects, from Beatniks to DNA and genetics to the Dalai Lama, even an illustrated version of the classic Elements of Style. Though these books are likely to appeal to comic book fans, they are sure to be enjoyed by anyone hoping to learn more about these fascinating topics through a more visual and artistic medium.

One of the books from the list, The Beats, was edited by Paul Buhle, author of FDR and the New Deal For Beginners. He teamed up again with one of the authors, the late Harvey Pekar, to coedit a new book called Yiddishkeit: Jewish Vernacular and the New Land, due to be released this September 1.  The Jewish Book Council Blog just named it the Book Cover of the Week. The book is a comics anthology that explores the spread of Yiddish across different cultures through illustrations, original stories, and even a play.

New FDR Reviews

What's with all these new reviews? First we get a new review for one of our first books, then a blogger posts his praise for Ayn Rand For Beginners, and now to round out this two weeks of praise, we've just been informed that our latest title, FDR and The New Deal, has received two positive reviews from people in very high places.

The first is from one of our personal favorite publishing magazines, Publishers Weekly. The review calls the book "smart" and "dramatic" and even goes so far as to call the entire For Beginners series "impressive!" Read the full review here (you'll have to scroll down a bit to find it).

The second is from the journal of all things comics, Comics Journal, writing with great enthusiasm about the new book. Read the full review here.

Check out the newest For Beginners title that is earning nothing but critical acclaim. FDR and the New Deal For Beginners is on sale now. And don't stop reviewing, we love hearing good things about ourselves.

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.

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?"

First Review of FDR and the New Deal!

FDR and the New Deal For Beginners is out and receiving positive reviews. The first review has been published on the People's World website. Reviewer John Pietaro says of the book:

"Agitated by radical visions of generations past and the urgent needs of right now, FDR and the New Deal For Beginners speaks to us in a gripping prose that is at once familiar and startlingly relevant, right here, right now."

Read the full review here.

FDR and the New Deal For Beginners is on sale now at RandomHouse.com in both trade paper back and e-book.

But if you want a copy for free, try winning one in our Facebook giveaway. Just friend us (ForBeginners Series) on Facebook and RSVP to the event GIVEAWAY: FDR And The New Deal For Beginners - Now Available

The Contest Winner Is Official! Congratulations Julia Zay!!!

We have just received confirmation from our randomly selected winner for our FDR and The New Deal For Beginners Giveaway! Her name is Julia Zay, she's from Olympia, WA, and she's about to receive a free, advance copy of our brand new title, FDR And The New Deal For Beginners. Let's give Julia a round of applause and make sure to check out FDR and The New Deal For Beginners at Random House or Facebook.

Will FDR Era Economic Policy Save The World?

Are national governments around the world on their way towards making the same catastrophic mistakes that were made in the 1930s or are they making sufficient bounds towards financial recovery? This New York Times article seems to think that "it’s impossible to know which prediction will turn out to be right. You can find good evidence to support either one."

Some of the world's major economies are going to repeat economic policy from the 30s. By cutting spending and raising taxes, they are going to attempt closing up budget deficits that have been plaguing GDPs around the world since the start of the recession in 2007, and in some cases, even earlier. FDR did this in 1936, resulting in what some believe to be a prolongation of the Great Depression. But things have changed since FDR's presidency. The question is, have they changed enough?

Read the article and take a look at our forthcoming book, FDR And The New Deal For Beginners -- a unique and creative look at FDR's presidency, the issues he faced (many quite similar to the issues today), and how he dealt with them -- and decide for yourself.

Contest Winner Has Been Drawn!!!

Today at 10:48:32, Random.org's integer generator spat out the number 38. What does that mean exactly? It means we have a WINNER for the FDR and The New Deal For Beginners Giveaway!!! We can't say who lucky number 38 is just yet, but stay tuned and we'll post his/her name right here when we get a confirmation.

CONTESTS! CONTESTS! CONTESTS!

I don't know what it is but we over here at For Beginners just feel like giving away some free books. It must just be a generous time of year. We currently have two contests running on Facebook.

The First is to win an advance copy of FDR And The New Deal For Beginners. Just friend us on Facebook and RSVP to the event and you could win a copy. But hurry, the contest ends TONIGHT at 9:00!

The other is the "Where Do You 'Begin?'" photo contest. Again, friend us and RSVP to the event then show us pictures of you reading our books. The winner will win a copy of any For Beginners title they want!

And word has it there's a contest lurking in the near future. You heard it here first. Stay posted for more.

The links to both contests are under the "Our Links" menu on the right.

FDR and The New Deal FB Has A New Trailer

Click here to see it in full 360 and 480p on YouTube