The Historian is the 2005 debut novel of American author Elizabeth
Kostova. The plot blends the history and folklore of Vlad Ţepeş and his
fictional equivalent Count Dracula. Kostova's father told her stories
about Dracula when she was a child, and later in life she was inspired
to turn the experience into a novel. She worked on the book for ten
years and then sold it within a few months to Little, Brown, and
Company, which bought it for a remarkable US$2 million. The Historian
has been described as a combination of genres, including Gothic novel,
adventure novel, detective fiction, travelogue, postmodern historical
novel, epistolary epic, and historical thriller. It is concerned with
history's role in society and representation in books, as well as the
nature of good and evil. The evils brought about by religious conflict
are a particular theme, and the novel explores the relationship between
the Christian West and the Islamic East. Little, Brown, and Company
heavily promoted the book and it became the first debut novel to become
number one on the The New York Times bestseller list. As of 2005, it
was the fastest-selling hardback debut novel in US history. Kostova
received the 2006 Book Sense award for Best Adult Fiction and the 2005
Quill Award for Debut Author of the Year. Sony has bought the film
rights and, as of 2007, were planning an adaptation.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Historian>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1846:
The United States declared war on Mexico after a series of disputes in
the wake of the 1845 U.S. annexation of Texas, starting the
Mexican–American War.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexican-American_War>
1917:
Our Lady of Fátima: Ten-year-old Lúcia Santos (pictured middle) and her
cousins Francisco and Jacinta Marto reportedly began experiencing a
Marian apparition near Fátima, Portugal.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Our_Lady_of_F%C3%A1tima>
1958:
Algerian War: A group of French military officers led a coup in
Algiers, demanding that a government of national unity be formed with
Charles de Gaulle at its head in order to defend French control of
Algeria.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/May_1958_crisis>
1981:
Mehmet Ali Ağca shot and critically wounded Pope John Paul II in Saint
Peter's Square, Vatican City.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mehmet_Ali_A%C4%9Fca>
2005:
Uzbek Interior Ministry and National Security Service troops fired into
a crowd of protesters in Andijan, Uzbekistan, killing from anywhere
from 187, the official count of the government, to a reported 5,000
people.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andijan_massacre>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
turncoat (n):
A traitor; one who turns against a previous affiliation or allegiance
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/turncoat>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
Not living in fear is a great gift, because certainly these days we do
it so much. And do you know what I like about comedy? You can’t laugh
and be afraid at the same time — of anything. If you're laughing, I
defy you to be afraid.
--Stephen Colbert
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Stephen_Colbert>