Scott Martelle

author/journalist

About my latest book, 1932: FDR, Hoover, and the Dawn of a New America

First review is in - starred at Kirkus

I was tickled to see that the first review for my forthcoming book, 1932: FDR, Hoover, and the Dawn of a New America, not only was very generous and positive, but also starred -- something Kirkus Reviews says it bestows on one in ten of the books they review. From the review:

"Veteran journalist Martelle, author of The Madman and the Assassin and Blood Passion, among other titles, provides a fine account of the run-up to "one of the most consequential elections in U.S. history." He begins many chapters with excerpts from contemporary diaries, and readers will squirm at the level of suffering they reveal."

It also described my book as a "compelling account of a pivotal year in U.S. history" and is "an expert portrait of a national turning point."

May many more such reviews follow!

The book comes out November 28, and is available not for pre-order at all your favorite outlets.

Inauguration Day March 4, 1933, a trip from the White House to the Capitol that must have felt much longer to Hoover than it did to FDR.

I'm at work on a book that takes a look at a pivotal year in 20th Century American history, with the working title: 1932: FDR, Hoover, and the Dawn of a New America, which should be out in 2023 through Kensington Books' Citadel imprint.

Of course, research is a challenge here in Spring of 2021, with the Covid-19 pandemic keeping key archives and libraries shuttered. Wish me luck!

I'm a veteran journalist and sat on the Los Angeles Times editorial board from 2014-2021. Prior to that I worked freelance and, from 1997-2008 was an LA Times staff writer where, among other assignments, I covered presidential political campaigns. Other previous staff jobs included the Jamestown (N.Y.) Post-Journal, Rochester (N.Y.) Times-Union and The Detroit News.

My journalism has also appeared in the Washington Post, Sierra Magazine, Los Angeles magazine, Orange Coast magazine, New York Times Book Review (books in brief), Buffalo News, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Teaching Tolerance (Southern Poverty Law Center), Solidarity (United Auto Workers) and elsewhere.

A third-generation journalist, I was born in Scarborough, Maine, and grew up there and in Wellsville, New York, about two hours south of Buffalo. My first newspaper job came around age 16, writing a high school sports column for the Wellsville Patriot, a weekly, then covering local news part-time for the Wellsville Daily Reporter. I'm a graduate of the State University College at Fredonia.

I have taught journalism courses at Chapman University and UC Irvine, and speak occasionally at school and college classes about journalism, politics and writing. I've appeared on panels at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books and the Literary Orange festival, moderated panels at the Nieman Conference in Narrative Journalism and the North American Labor History Conference, among others, and been featured on C-SPAN's Book TV.