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    Harry, a History: The True Story of a Boy Wizard, His Fans, and Life Inside the Harry Potter Phenomenon
    Harry, a History: The True Story of a Boy Wizard, His Fans, and Life Inside the Harry Potter Phenomenon
    Harry, a History: The True Story of a Boy Wizard, His Fans, and Life Inside the Harry Potter Phenomenon
    Audiobook10 hours

    Harry, a History: The True Story of a Boy Wizard, His Fans, and Life Inside the Harry Potter Phenomenon

    Written by Melissa Anelli

    Narrated by Renee Raudman

    4/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    During the brief span of just one decade, hundreds of millions of perfectly ordinary people made history: they became the only ones who would remember what it was like when the Harry Potter saga was still unfinished. What it was like to seek out friends, families, online forums, fan fiction, and podcasts to get a fix between novels. When the death of a character was a hotter bet than the World Series. When the unfolding story of a boy wizard changed the way books are read for all time.

    And as webmistress of the Leaky Cauldron, one of the most popular Harry Potter sites on the Internet, Melissa Anelli had a front row seat to it all. Whether it was helping Scholastic stop leaks and track down counterfeiters, hosting live PotterCasts at bookstores across the country, touring with the wizard rock band Harry and the Potters, or traveling to Edinburgh to interview J. K. Rowling personally, Melissa was at the center of the Harry Potter tornado, and nothing about her life would ever be the same.

    The Harry Potter books are a triumph of the imagination that did far more than break sales records for all time. They restored the world's sense of wonder and took on a magical life of their own. Now the series has ended, but the story is not over. With remembrances from J. K. Rowling's editors, agents, publicists, fans, and Rowling herself, Melissa Anelli takes us on a personal journey through every aspect of the Harry Potter phenomenon-from his very first spell to his lasting impact on the way we live and dream.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTantor Media, Inc
    Release dateMar 23, 2009
    ISBN9781400181629
    Harry, a History: The True Story of a Boy Wizard, His Fans, and Life Inside the Harry Potter Phenomenon
    Author

    Melissa Anelli

    Melissa Anelli has been reporting on the Harry Potter phenomenon since 2001. As the webmistress of the Leaky Cauldron (www.leakynews.com), she has written and spoken for Harry Potter fans in media outlets worldwide. She graduated from Georgetown University in 2001 and spent several years as a daily news reporter and features writer in New York City. She currently lives in Brooklyn with her ferocious cat, Moochka. For more visit www.harryahistory.com.

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    Reviews for Harry, a History

    4/5

    35 ratings29 reviews

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    • 4/5
      Harry, A History was an engrossing read. Immediately sucked in to Melissa's world, I was hooked. Since I started my journey into Harry Potter after the initial buzz (years, in fact) I felt like I was finally privy to the knowledge and fun that I missed out on in those early years. It was like I got to see what happened when I was living under my Harry Potter-less rock. Melissa weaves her experiences with Harry Potter (and what was happening in her life) with what was happening in the Harry Potter world at large. She highlights the news and general public reactions, as well as indulging us with many of the details outlining her success in the Harry Potter world and her involvement in the fandom. While reading Harry, A History, we get to meet loads of interesting characters along the way. I felt like I got to peer into the lives of some very cool adult Potterheads. Knowing how Melissa met these people and how she paved the way was super inspiring too... she took two things she loved (journalism and Harry Potter) and made a career out of it. How awesome is that?! It was also humbling to know that there were moments of struggle for her and that not everything always went perfect... it reminded me that we need to work for the things we want in life.
      I also really enjoyed all the bits I learned about J.K. Rowling. In the edition I have, there is a forward from J.K. Rowling and Melissa's interview with J.K. Rowling has been published. As Melissa says, "it has been polished and scrubbed up. Off-the-record and personal discussions were deleted." I found it very interesting to read, especially after hearing about how intimate of a setting for an interview that this turned out to be.

      Well written and full of information, as well as anecdotes, this book is wonderful. My only complaint would be that it does jump around a bit. There were a few times when I got a bit confused as to where we were or what time it was in the timeline of the Harry Potter world. However, in general this book was every bit as interesting and fulfilling as I had hoped it would be. I loved Harry, A History and would absolutely recommend it to any and all Potterheads. After reading it, I was a bit sad that it took me so long to finally pick it up... and a bit sad that it was over. If you haven't read it and you are in any way a bit of a Potterhead, quit stalling and start reading!

      2 people found this helpful

    • 4/5
      Wide ranging, this book chronicles the cultural phenomena surrounding the Harry Potter series - books and movies. Some of what the author shared was particularly interesting, while other parts just weren't that compelling. One thing she did nicely was to show her own growing up process alongside Harry.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      Does what it says on the tin and does it well. Anelli ran the website The Leaky Cauldron for years (she might still do, I don't know), so is able to write from an inside perspective (she was given press access to aspects of the films and developed professional and sometimes personal relationships with members of the publishing team and Rowling herself) as well as from the perspective of a fan. Her writing is very engaging, and she does a great job exploring many different aspects of the HP phenomenon, including fan fiction, wizard rock, massive release day parties, and book burnings in protest of HP-ian witchcraft. The book uses the countdown to the release of Deathly Hallows as a kind of framework for the story of the whole phenomenon, and we get a really good sense of what the HP craze was all about. I have two quibbles--one is that chapters sometimes forget that they're in a book instead of standing on their own (events summarized again, sometimes in the same language as last time), though this was only a minor annoyance. The other is that Anelli doesn't do much to situate the HP craze within the context of what else was going on at the time. There's no doubt that as a publishing phenomenon Harry Potter did things no other books had ever done before (and in spades) and that Harry Potter fandom was (is) enormous and in many ways a new thing, but it didn't spring up out of nothing. Anelli doesn't suggest that it did, but a little context about how HP fandom fits into the greater picture (other things (Star Trek and Star Wars, just for instance) laid the foundations, and there was at least one other pretty significant fandom (The Lord of the Rings films) traipsing along during much of the HP years) might have been nice. But, the book was a joy, and I highly recommend it to HP fans and anyone interested in fandom.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      I enjoyed learning more about the Harry Potter hype. At first, I was suprised by how devoted many of the HP fans where, but by the end of the book, I understood it better. Insightful book!

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      It's been a while since I read this book (I read it in 2009) but I still think about it a lot. Basically it's about Melissa Anellis life and the Harry Potter fandom, which she has been a huge part of. If you are a Harry Potter fan or you want to know about the fandom this is a good book for you.
    • 2/5
      This tells the story of Pottermania and Anelli’s role as webmaster of The Leaky Cauldron – the # 1 website for fans of Harry. I like the Harry Potter books. I enjoy Rowling’s writing, and I’ve enjoyed a couple of the movies. But I’m not obsessed with the phenomenon. By Anelli’s own account, she first heard of Potter when she was buying her college text books. Her mother suggested “something light” to provide some entertainment and escape from all the heavy college texts. Anelli was hooked from the beginning. She quickly was spending virtually every spare moment reading, thinking, talking Harry Potter. In fairness, the book does go beyond Harry Potter to explore the world of children’s-book publishing. And she also talks about how the web-friends joined together to support and inform each other in the aftermath of the Sept 11 attacks on the World Trade Center. She nearly lost me entirely in the section devoted to Harry and the Potters and other bands that formed using various themes / characters from the books. Boring. But that was enjoyable compared to the section concerning those who would ban the books because “they teach witchcraft to children.” The most interesting part is the way in which Harry Potter changed the publishing world, the marketing world, the sale of intellectual property to the movies, etc. The best testament to the “power of Potter” is that this book debuted at #18 on the New York Times Bestseller list. Audio book narrated by Renee Raudman, whose reading of this work is perfectly fine. She sounds appropriately young and enthused when describing the phenomenon, distressed and frantic as she reacts to the Sept 11 attacks, and doesn’t completely put us to sleep when reciting statistics or history.
    • 4/5
      You could boil it down to "HP Fandom: The Book" as told by one of the witnesses to the phenomenon, and for that, I love it. I started reading them when I was roughly the same age as the characters, so I missed on some of the earlier nuances when they happened (the PotterWar and H/Hr vs H/R), but as someone who dives straight into fandom whenever I find a piece of media that I like, it's oh so relatable.

      It's also kind of weird, because PotterCast was the very first podcast I started listening to, back in early 2008.
    • 3/5
      This was an interesting read about Harry Potter fandom. There is a difference between reading and enjoying the Harry Potter novels and films and being a Fan, and this book illustrates this difference very well.
    • 3/5
      If I could give this book 2 different ratings and reviews I would. To begin with I feel as if the title is a bit misleading. This book is only in partly a history of Harry Potter, the remainder should have been titled "My Experience Running A Well-Known Fansite for HP". The book, as mentioned by a previous reviewer, is full of inside jokes, name dropping and details that would only make sense to someone who was a part of the Leaky Cauldron website. That portion of the book can make for some incomprehensible and frankly boring reading for the rest of us. Little mention is made of other websites that were involved in the HP phenomenon and no real attempt to recount the experience of the "average" fan is made at all. That being said, the portion of the book recounting the history of Harry Potter as it relates to Jo Rowling was fabulous. Melissa is a great writer and an accomplished story teller and she was able to bring a bit of true contentment to this HP deprived reader. And for that i am deeply thankful.
    • 5/5
      A wonderful, insightful look at the fandom of Harry Potter from an insider's perspective. Anelli gives parallel histories of the Potter phenomenon: her own personal journey from novice Potter reader to super-fan, webmistress of The Leaky Cauldron as well as the stories of J.K. Rowling, the series' inception, and various big players in the Potter fandom. Covering topics like fan fiction, wizard rock, spoilers, and book challenges, Harry, A History gives an enthralling look into the deep and diverse Muggle world of Harry Potter. This well written guide will give any Potter fan back stage glimpses to the real world of Harry Potter, and the forward from J.K. Rowling doesn't hurt.On a personal note, this book opened my eyes to the breadth of the Potter phenomenon. I'm what I like to call a periphery fan, not a FAN in the purest sense of the word. I obsess privately, don't own much merchandise, and only geek out once in awhile. This book makes me wish I had taken greater part in the greater phenomenon while it was still fresh and ongoing.Favorite quote (context - Anelli's private interview with Rowling several months after the release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: "I have one last question: What does she [J.K. Rowling] hope people will take with them about this time?She pauses, but then the answer is right on her tongue.'When all the fuss and hoopla dies away, and when all the press commentary dies away, I think it will be seen that the phenomenon was generated, in the first instance, bu kids loving a book. A book went on shelves, and a few people loved it. When all of the smoke and lights die away, that's what you'll be left with.'And that's the most wonderful thought for an author.'"
    • 5/5
      This is a wonderful history of the Harry Potter series and the growth of the fandom that followed its development. And who better to write it than one of the most prominent reporters (and fan) of said fandom. Reading this made me remember moments in my own life that I had almost forgotten. It's amazing to see how much seven books (and two supplements) have affected so many people. I highly recommend this to any fan of the series.
    • 3/5
      For inside information about the history of how _Harry Potter_ was written and published throughout the world, this is a good read. If you are into the online fandom world of Potter, this would be an even better read. As I am not into the online part, it was good, but not great. Some parts felt a little self-important, but it was mostly in the beginning, before Harry Potter became the main focus.
      Would I recommend it to Potter fans? Sure... but get it from the library unless you really want to save every detail about Harry for your own posterity.
    • 5/5
      Loved this book. Very interesting, insightful and entertaining. I would love to see what other books this author could create.
    • 4/5
      For all the fanfare this book has gotten, I'm not entirely sure all of it is deserved. It is a lovely look back at how the Harry Potter fandom evolved and got to where it is today, but there are some issues I do have with the book. One of the things I noticed was that Melissa told the book like it was a novel, a fictional piece, filled with flowery description that I feel has no place in what is essential a memoir of sorts. The intent of the book is to retell the HP fandom, from start to finish. Melissa pulls this off artfully, but if her intent was to reach the general public, it was not accomplished. From start to finish, this book is full of name-dropping and in-jokes that just another Harry Potter fan would never understand. In this book, the BNFs (Big Name Fans) rule supreme. The other side of the fandom is never shown. It took 90 pages for the first mention of MuggleNet, and all future mentions (of which there were very few and only when absolutely necessary) were cold and snobby. The HPANA is mentioned only once, in the acknowledgements, the Lexicon once, nothing about the humongous controversy, and no mention at all of Veritaserum and other sites out there. The truth is, Melissa fails to mention the side that truly appeals to the general fan. I did not feel, after reading this book, like I was part of the phenomenon, although I know I was, because I read the books, I posted in the communities, I had just as much fun theorizing, but nope, I didn't own a fansite or publish JKR's books, so I clearly don't matter. Probably about 90% of the Harry Potter fans would fall in my boat, not Melissa's. Where is our story? It was a good read, I will not say I disliked it, but I just wish Melissa had shown us the entirety of the HP world, instead of her secluded, high-and-mighty part of it. Rating: 3.5/5
    • 5/5
      Sadly I bought this book and stuck it on my "Harry Potter" shelf and let it sit there for almost a year before reading it. Once I finally picked it up I was stopping so often to backtrack and share things with my husband that we finally just sat down together and I read it aloud it him. Together we laughed, cried, rejoiced, and groaned while remembering our own HP journey and sharing Melissa's. At the end we just sat on the couch and hugged the book.Now we are reading it again, each on our own, and telling everyone we know to get a copy ASAP.
    • 4/5
      This book perfectly captures everything that is the craziness of the Harry Potter fandom. It made me remember again why I love the books so much. I'm also completely willing to admit that I almost cried at the end when they were talking about when Deathly Hallows was released, but I'm kind of a sap like that.
    • 5/5
      Harry, A History is an account of the personal experiences of Melissa Anelli, webmistress of the fansite The Leaky Cauldron, and other facts and stories surrounding the wild popularity of the Harry Potter series.I love this book because reading about Melissa's experiences really takes me back to my own experiences with the Harry Potter books. Melissa's experience also goes much beyond my own, however, and this adds a lot of interest. She is able to provide a very indepth and behind-the-scenes type look into a lot of aspects of the Harry Potter phenomenon. I would highly recommend this book to others who love Harry Potter for these reasons as well as because it really brings back the emotions and the total atmosphere of reading the books, the long waits in between, and being a part of the "fandom." Even if you haven't read or enjoyed the Harry Potter books, it still serves as an interesting view into what happens when books become so well-loved by so many.I did find a few parts to be overly long, which made them a bit boring, such as the chapter on wizard rock. The more interesting parts, however, more than made up for this. I particularly liked the recounting of the shipping war and Melissa's interviews with J. K. Rowling.
    • 4/5
      This is a really nice history of the Harry Potter phenomenon and the fandom. The ending especially is poignant for the Harry Potter fan. It brought back so many memories of what we've shared with other fans, especially while Deathly Hallows was coming out. It was a bit sad to realize that that part of the Harry Potter phenomenon is over, but I'm sure the books will live on, especially as long as we still have fan conferences! I also really enjoyed the section on Laura Mallory and the controversy concerning the books. Her reaction still seems so unreasonable.My one criticism would be the chronology of the book. She jumped around a bit between events, backwards and forwards in time, and I found myself confused more than once as to where we were on the timeline.Perhaps there are things that would not make sense to a non-HP fan, but I think any Harry Potter fan could make sense of all the different parts of fandom she talked about, especially considering the good job she did explaining it.
    • 4/5
      I confess, I’m a Harry Potter addict. I love J K Rowling’s books. And now, after reading Harry, a History by Melissa Anelli, I finally know that Rowling rhymes with bowling. I know a lot of other things too that I scarcely guessed before, and while I was slightly reluctant to read a real-world Harry tale, I’m very glad I finally did so.Melissa Anelli became web-mistress of the Leaky Cauldron partway through the Harry Potter phenomenon. I remember visiting her site, enjoying her snippets, checking up on release dates, and delighting in her “no spoilers” policy. As I dream more and more of one day being an author, I look to her website as an example of how advertising “should” be done. And then I find myself wondering, how did it all come about.So, at last, I’ve read Melissa’s story and taken an inside look at the selling and advertising, and even the writing, of a wonderfully successful series of books. I’ve learned how Ms Rowling knew and kept her characters’ secrets. I’ve met the film actors and enjoyed their conversation. I’ve seen the workspace, and even, eventually, the home. I’ve imagined that moment when J K Rowling shakes hands and Melissa shakes in her shoes, all words and poise flown like magical spells into nowhere. I’ve shared, and I’ve enjoyed, every turn of the page, and now I’m just waiting for the next film. Like I said, I’m an addict.
    • 4/5
      This is a great book for anyone who is a fan of the Harry Potter series and JK Rowling. The author gives you an insiders view of the Harry Potter fandom and the craziness following the release of the final book. It was a great read and made me envious of those who haven't read the Harry Potter books yet.
    • 2/5
      Let's start with a fact: I hate false advertising.This book therefore started off on a very bad footing, since it called itself "Harry: A History." An evocation of "Hogwarts: A History," I'm sure -- but it's not an accurate title. This is not a history of the Harry Potter phenomenon. It is mostly a story of Melissa Anelli's interaction with the Potter phenomenon. As well as of her absolute lack of critical skills in dealing with the books. It's a constant breathless pangyric, and one that ignores all the minor inconsistencies in the books. That's merely irritating; what is obnoxious is there is too much Melissa and too little Harry for that title. Call it "My Life with Harry" and I'd give it probably another star. Because I wanted to like it. A good history of how the Potter books came to be published would be welcome by both fanatics and general readers. This... is only for the fanatics. And not all of those. I was constantly skipping chapters to try to find some real content.Please, change the title for the next edition.
    • 3/5
      A delightful look into the phenomena that is Harry Potter. A must read for fans.
    • 5/5
      There were many times I teared up reading this, just remembering the days where Harry's fate was still a mystery. This was so insightful and so relateable for a Harry Potter fan, I didn't want this to end (just like I didn't want the Harry Potter series to end). Wonderfully written and there were so many aspects in it that I could relate to and realised that was how I felt. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
    • 4/5
      I have wanted to read this book for a long time. Harry Potter was my life for about ten years, and the characters became my family. While the books were being published, all the other Potter devotees felt like family too. How many hours-days-months did I spend obsessing over every little detail J.K. Rowling let slip, reading MWPP fan-fiction and making fun of the people that actually thought Hermoine would end up with Harry? I'm pretty sure the amount of time I invested in this world is slightly insane - but I'm positive I don't regret a single second.I wanted this book to capture that. For the most part, I think it does. If anyone can understand devoting yourself to Harry Potter, it is Melissa Anelli. She made a career out of it! She accurately captures a lot of great memories from the years when the books were still being released. She had me smiling through a lot of the book. So, while I enjoyed it, I can't imagine a lot of people that don't understand and appreciate the Potter years getting much out of it.In many ways, it tells the story of my generation (it even touches on 9/11!), because no one else will ever read or experience Harry Potter the way we did. We got to be a part of the process - we were told the story a little at a time, so we appreciate each book more than anyone that gets the whole series at once ever could. But at the same time, we can all envy new readers. Melissa Anelli says it well (to set the stage, the following takes place a few days after the release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows):"I leaned against the metal pole of the subway car as we started chugging into the heart of New York City. If my music hadn't stopped playing I might never have noticed - one, two, three, four at least ten people were holding up their giant orange books. Some were halfway through, some nearly all the way through. Some propped it on their legs, and a few more had taken off the jacket so as not to be inconspicuous. They spanned all ages, and were all engrossed.One young woman, not much younger than me, sat near the end of my eye line; she was reading too, her colorful backpack on her lap and her arms circling it, her book acting as a buckle to hold it in place. I traveled to the next pole down to get a surreptitious closer look; she wasn't reading Deathly Hallows at all. Her book wasn't orange but rose and water and sand, and featured a kid on a broomstick and a white unicorn. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. She didn't notice me staring at her.Oh, I envy you, I thought, but was smiling for her. She had just begun."
    • 5/5
      This book is a history of the Harry Potter phenomenon, or movement, or fandom, or whatever you want to call it; it's about how and why the Harry Potter books inspired millions of people not just to read them, but to dress up for them, go to parties for them, create rock bands about them, and just generally maintain a ridiculous level of enthusiasm for years on end. It was a great book, but definitely an insider's book. Don't try and read it if you haven't read Harry Potter, definitely. Melissa Anelli was the webmistress for a popular fan website, and gives you the inside view of the whirlwind. My one criticism is that it's pretty heavily autobiographical, and in the early chapters, that dragged a little. I think it was necessary, however, since the true glory of the book is its ability to capture the highly personal excitement both of first reading the books and, most importantly, of the build-up to the release of book 7. I had tears in my eyes for large portions of the book, because it almost, almost, almost recaptured the feeling of being about to finally read Deathly Hallows. The chapter describing the release was very well done. This was a very good book, a chronicle of a movement (although I felt that that was a bit muddled in with the autobiography in places), and a description of a personal journey. It does however, assume some previous familiarity with the Harry Potter scene, I think, so be prepared for that. Overall, I'd highly recommend it for people who remember and are interested in the Harry Potter fervor.
    • 5/5
      Having read several negative reviews here and elsewhere, I was prepared for a long, boring saga of Harry Potter sites and frequent quotations from message board postings, liberally laced with minutia only a true insider could love. Instead, I got a history – personalized in the very best way – of a series loved by millions of readers around the world, including me. As a librarian I have been touched by the excitement that the release of the later books brought; I occasionally read some of the more famous Harry Potter sites (including Melissa’s own Leaky Cauldron). I listened to a few podcasts and knew fanfic existed, but after reading Harry, a History, I realize I had seen only the tip of the HP phenomenon iceberg.First, a caveat: Melissa’s book concentrates on the meaning of Harry Potter to youth. Oh, it isn’t that she doesn’t mention the adult fan, but the theme of this book is Kid Power, and the unique confluence of the series and the rise of the Internet which gave young people an opportunity to create, interact, and have control over their lives in a way that is generally denied the young. I’m sure there’s another book waiting about how Harry brightened the lives of those of us stuck in our adult ruts of commutes, car payments, and families to support, and I hope some day Melissa will write it. But this book is about growing up with Harry, and how he changed lives.Beyond Kid Power, Melissa gives an in-depth look at many other facets of Harry: the fan sites and the people (in many cases, kids) who ran them; the artistic tributes to Harry in art, (fan)fiction, and music; the anti-Potter movement featuring Laura Mallory who campaigned against the series because she felt it promoted witchcraft; and finally, that rarified world of JK Rowling herself, as Melissa’s interviews (including a famous – or infamous one – with Mugglenet’s owner Emerson Spartz) and interactions with Rowling and her associates gave the reader a glimpse of what was happening to our beloved author.I had one quibble with the book – one that was minor, but awfully annoying by the end. Melissa has a tendency to re-write phrases almost verbatim, for example, repeating her description of how she squinted to avoid spoilers twice just a few pages apart. If you listened to the audio version as I did, you started to think your player was frequently skipping backwards. This was nothing a good editor couldn’t have fixed, but it was distracting.Overall, Melissa’s book is charming, moves along well, and is well worth the time of any Harry Potter fan. I’d especially recommend it to those who only read the books, so they can finally be aware of the magical world that existed around them. How could we have missed it? I guess that’s why they call us Muggles.
    • 4/5
      This was a fascinating look at how the evolution of the Interent helped expand and enhance the popularity of the Harry Potter book series. Well written, funny, and an excellent look at the world of publishing in our modern society. Monica
    • 4/5
      I really enjoyed this book. When I started reading Harry Potter, I was 9. The last one came out when I was 17. For me, it was a solitary and personal thing. I completely missed out on the shipping wars and on conventions and on spoilers and wrock and podcasts. This book helps fill in the gaps. On the other hand though, it also makes me immeasurably sad because unlike Melissa Anelli, I do not have people with which to share the phenomenon. And I wish with all my heart that I did.
    • 5/5
      For a Harry Potter fanatic who was born late to experience the phenomenon, this book filled me with the excitement and jealousy for people who are able to recall it back for me. And as someone who binged the whole book, it really helped set in my mind that in fact, there was a whole era of Harry Potter filled with wishful waiting and excitement for a book that became people's lives for a decade.