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> _______________________________ 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> _____________________________ 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> ___________________________ 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> _______________________________________________ Wikipedia Daily Article mailing list. To unsubscribe, visit: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/daily-article-l Questions or comments? Contact [email protected]
