Harry Potter will exist as a seven-book series, but without the indivisible story of the cultural, literary and emotional impact the series has made, the story is incomplete. Future fans, too, will want to know what they missed. But when this era is over, fans will need some way to remember this strange, wonderful, dizzying experience.

We are the first wave of Harry Potter fans, the ones that are living in the time that shapes how Harry Potter will be remembered for all time. Harry's fate will be as commonly known as the identity of Luke Skywalker's father, and readers who never had to wait for a Harry Potter book will have no idea what transpired when the series had hundreds of millions of people waiting desperately for the next volume. The series will remain important to literature and pop culture, but the experience will change. These events must be given their proper context, and this moment must be preserved. The New York Times changed the way it reported book sales just to avoid a continual overpowering of its bestseller list. The series has spawned a generation of critical thinkers and new readers. This has been a time when a book was more popular than movies, television, and video games. When one series of books had the power to change the way books are read.

When the death of a character was a hotter bet than who'd win the World Series. When millions of rabid fans looked to friends, families, neighbors, forums, discussion groups, fan fiction and podcasts to get their fix between novels. When anticipation for a book was just as likely to cause a charity drive as a pistol shootout.

Rowling, given as a measure of appreciation for the work she does on The Leaky Cauldron, where her job entails being a fan, reporter, guardian, and spokesperson for the Harry Potter series.įor ten years, millions of fans have lived inside literary history, the only fans to know what it was like when Harry Potter was unfinished. Melissa Anelli wears a ring that was a gift to her from J.K. A new enhanced e-book edition, featuring an extended transcript from Melissa Anelli's exclusive interview with J.

Harry, a History by Melissa Anelli