Presidential Elections from 1940 to 2012

It's Election Day! Have you performed your civic duty? If you're still undecided, you can visit HuffPost Books for a look at how some of history's most notable authors might have voted if they were alive in 2012. Need a break from the news cycle? Check out NPR's list of "6 Book Stories That'll Cast The Election in New Light."

During the current election season, we've been turning the clock back on Washington politics to look at another important moment in American history: FDR's third presidential election. The context for this historic race is vividly rendered in Andrew Rosenheim's FEAR ITSELF, a rousing new political thriller released last month from Overlook. Andrew Rosenheim visited the Overlook office last week to tell us a bit more about his latest book. Sample the video below for an exclusive message from the author.

Would the United States have entered the Second World War if President Roosevelt had never run for a third term? Only hindsight presents Americans of the early 1940s as unequivocal supporters of World War II. While FDR strongly supported the British, his efforts to help them were repeatedly hindered by an isolationist Congress and a country mired in Depression, reluctant to undertake another costly global conflict. At a time when radical groups sprouted across America, fed by populist fears and hopes for strong leadership, organizations like the Bund, a small yet ardently pro-Nazi collective, aggressively opposed America’s entrance into the war in Europe.

In Fear Itself twenty-six year old Jimmy Nessheim, a young rookie agent in the newly-minted Chicago Field Office of the FBI and the child of German parents is the perfect candidate to take on a dangerous assignment—a mission to infiltrate the Bund’s sinister organization in order to diffuse an insidious plot aimed at sabotaging President Roosevelt’s reelection. Working to discover the true identity of the Dreiländer, a covert German agent lying dormant in the United States for more than a decade, Nessheim’s case hurtles him across the country—from New York to San Francisco to Washington DC—offering a meticulous look at the United States during the years leading up to World War II.

Praise for Fear Itself

“This top-notch historical thriller from Rosenheim, the first in a new series … will only whet readers’ appetites for more.” – Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“If you like wartime political thrillers, you’ll love Andrew Rosenheim’s gripping Fear Itself.” – Newsweek

“[A] disturbingly vivid portrait of the U.S. driven by the Great Depression, political conflicts, and concerns about looming war in Europe … Rosenheim’s picture of pre-WWII America is riveting.” – Booklist

“Fans of Le Carré, Deighton, and all the other great spy masters will thoroughly enjoy Fear Itself.” – Crimesquad.com