Introducing The Liberty Digital Collection Released by Madwell

By: Jan. 24, 2013
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Madwell, together with Amazon.com and the Liberty Library Corporation, is proud to announce the publication of the Liberty Digital Collection, ripped from the pages of Liberty Magazine. The collection features first-person articles from notable figures including Babe Ruth, Bette Davis, FDR, Mahatma Gandhi and many more - articles that haven't seen the light of day for over 60 years.

The collection comprises seven ebooks on seven subjects:

Liberty On Baseball
Liberty On Boxing
Liberty On Drinking
Liberty On Hollywood
Liberty On Politics
Liberty On Sex
Liberty On Wall Street

With a weekly circulation of 3 million, Liberty was one of America's most popular magazines. Founded by the publishers of the New York Daily News and Chicago Tribune, the magazine published from 1924 to 1950. It was lost to the public until 2010, when a select few articles were released on LibertyMagazine.com - a revival covered by the New York Times.

Now, organizing Liberty's best articles by theme, the Liberty Digital Collection offers unique snapshots of American life in the early 20th century through first-person stories directly from famous figures, including Babe Ruth, Benito Mussolini, Bette Davis, Eleanor Roosevelt, FDR, Fiorello LaGuardia, Gloria Swanson, Gracie Allen, Greta Garbo, H.L. Mencken, Jack Dempsey, Joe DiMaggio, Joe Louis, Lou Gehrig, Mahatma Gandhi, Margaret Sanger, Theodore Dreiser, and Theodore Roosevelt (among others).

More About The Collection

The collection's seven ebooks feature engaging articles that alternately show how far we've come, and how we haven't changed at all.

In 1940, a woman running for president was so unthinkable that only comedian Gracie Allen did it, running on the "Surprise Party" ticket. Her article in Liberty On Politics, "Why America's Next President Should Be a Woman," included reasons such as "a feminine president could always look younger by going to beauty shops during filibusters."

But Fiorello LaGuardia, in "The Inside on the Banking Investigations" in Liberty On Wall Street, sounds distinctly modern - almost like a member of Occupy Wall Street. He rails against mortgage-backed securities and bank bailouts, and advocates for the Glass-Steagall Act.

Other articles offer timeless, sage advice. H. L. Mencken, in "How to Drink Like a Gentleman" in Liberty On Drinking, says: "To drink hard liquor before wine is as barbarous as going to church in a bathing suit."

"Some of the things that make us laugh and cry, some of the problems that challenge our society, are perennial. Debates about how to regulate the financial system, about sexual morality and women's rights, about what it means to be a great ball-player...I'm not sure they'll ever truly be settled," says Robert Whiteman, President of the Liberty Library Corporation and the man solely responsible for meticulously archiving, preserving, and protecting the content of the once world famous Liberty Magazine. "The lens of history is a wonderful way to keep track of our evolution, to understand where we've advanced and where we've been set back. Hopefully this collection can help provide a perspective on our present we might otherwise have lost for good. "

The collection is available on Amazon.com and LibertyMagazine.com.

More About Liberty Magazine

Liberty's run spanned the Jazz Age, the Great Depression, and World War II. Liberty published 1,400 issues with over 17,000 pieces of writing, 1,300 full-color covers, 12,000 illustrations, 50,000 advertisements, and 15,000 cartoons. Its stories spawned 120 films including "Double Indemnity," "My Man Godfrey," and the Academy Award-winning "Sergeant York."

In 1969 Robert Whiteman purchased the Liberty Library Corporation, owner of Liberty Magazine and its vast archives. For the 44 years since, Mr. Whiteman has worked tirelessly to protect the content and its copyrights, while continuing to share it with the public through selective re-publication and licensing.

About Madwell

Madwell is a Brooklyn-based creative marketing agency. This is their first book collection.

Madwell has been featured as one of Adweek's "F-Train Agencies," though the F train does not, in fact, go to their offices in Bushwick. Their clients have included KIND Healthy Snacks, Vita Coco, Burt's Bees, and Heritage of Pride, the organization behind NYC's Gay Pride March.

The Liberty Digital Collection is the initial step of a planned multimedia relaunch of the Liberty Magazine brand, designed to share its ageless content with a whole new generation of readers.

To discuss potential licensing and publishing arrangements, or simply learn more about the collection, please contact liberty (at) madwellnyc (dot) com.



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