Nancy Drew is a fictional character in various mystery fiction series. She was created by Edward Stratemeyer and first appeared in 1930. The books have been ghostwritten by a number of authors and are published under the collective pseudonym Carolyn Keene. Over the decades the character has evolved in response to changes in American culture and tastes. In the 1980s a new series was created, The Nancy Drew Files, which featured an older and more professional Nancy as well as romantic plots. In 2004 the original Nancy Drew Mystery Stories series, begun in 1930, was ended and a new series, Girl Detective, was launched. Illustrations of the character have also evolved over time to reflect the Nancy Drew type in contemporary terms. Through all these changes, the character has proved continuously popular worldwide: at least 80 million copies of the books have been sold, and they have been translated into more than 45 languages. A cultural icon, Nancy Drew has been cited as a formative influence by a number of women. Feminist literary critics have analyzed the character's enduring appeal, arguing variously that Nancy Drew is a mythic hero, an expression of wish fulfillment, or an embodiment of contradictory ideas about femininity.

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nancy_Drew

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

737:

Muslim conquest of Transoxiana: Turgesh tribes attacked the exposed Umayyad baggage train, which had been sent ahead of the main force, and captured it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Baggage

1882:

The Vulcan Street Plant, the first hydroelectric central station to serve a system of private and commercial customers in North America, went on line in Appleton, Wisconsin, US. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vulcan_Street_Plant

1955:

American film actor James Dean suffered fatal injuries in a head-on car accident near Cholame, California. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Dean

1965:

Members of the 30 September Movement attempted a coup against the Indonesian government, which was crushed by the military under Suharto, leading to a mass anti-communist purge with over 500,000 people killed over the following months. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indonesian_killings_of_1965%E2%80%931966

2005:

The Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten published controversial editorial cartoons depicting Muhammad, sparking protests across the Muslim world by many who viewed them as Islamophobic and blasphemous. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jyllands-Posten_Muhammad_cartoons_controversy

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

cutify: 1. (from the Latin word for skin, "cutis") To form skin, as, the wound area was left to cutify. 2. (from "cute" + "-ify", perhaps modeled on "beautify") To make cute, as, she cutified her room. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/cutify

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

Gamble everything for love, if you are a true human being. --Rumi https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Rumi