Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #14912 in Books
• Published on: 2008-11-04
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 356 pages

Customer Reviews

Potterdom Revealed
This is a book about the Harry Potter fandom and phenomenon that is both insightful and heartfelt written as it is by a true insider. It is both a fan's and journalist's dream, crammed with details and facts covering the whole Potter phenomenon from its very beginnings to its ever continuing expansion. It also, uniquely, has the inside track on Jo Rowling's experience as well, with both interviews and a foreword by the extraordinary creator herself. Its pacy, well written, and keenly observed, covering all the bases from fanfic to wizard rock. Highly recommended.

An insider's look into Harry's frenetic fandom
This book gives you ringside seat to what it's like to live as one of the most famous Potter fans. I received mine from Amazon a few days ahead of the actual publication date (something us Potter fans aren't used to) and read it right away. As J.K. Rowling's foreword says: "So this book is a history of a community, written by an insider...it can be read as warts-and-all expose of fan mentality or as a story of the world's biggest book group..."

Melissa Anelli is a professional writer, and it shows in this book. She opens chapter one with a frenetic pace and grabs readers from the first "Within twenty-four hours" opening line. Ms. Anelli does quite an amiable job of sharing her story throughout the entire book: from all the highs, to the lows, to the death threats received by Emerson.

My favorite chapter was chapter 9 "Banned and Burned." In that chapter, we get to sit in on Anelli's conversation with one of the most famous Harry haters, Laura Mallory. I shared Ms. Anelli's resignation and frustration over that meeting but feel that there was nothing more Ms. Anelli could have done to convince Ms. Mallory otherwise. With the Septology's completion, it's becoming clearer and clearer that Harry Potter is just as moral as Ms. Rowling always said it was, and then some.

Thanks for sharing your story with us, Melissa.

Nancy Solon Villaluz is the author of:
Does Harry Potter Tickle Sleeping Dragons?

Harry; A History
This book was almost as eagerly awaited as one of JK Rowling's books about Harry. It is not a synopsis of Harry's story, but rather the story of how "Harry" came about. Of particular interest was how the Internet played a large part in the development of the entire phenomenon, which has never been seen before. It is also Melissa Anelli's story - a true fan who has devoted a large portion of her life to Harry. I enjoyed her anecdotes about her contacts with JK Rowling herself as well as characters who were totally and blindly anti Harry.
I enjoyed this book so much that I read the whole thing in less than 12 hours.