Historian Predicts Dan Brown Theme, Reveals New Lost Symbols
Historian John Hafnor studied the British and American book covers and various clues in advance of the September 15 release of The Lost Symbol, and offers a prediction on Dan Brown’s theme for the new blockbuster:
“The Da Vinci Code’s overarching premise was an Old World clash of religion and science,” Hafnor said, “while the fresh theme for The Lost Symbol is likely to be a uniquely American power struggle between secret societies and the experiment known as democracy.”
There seems to be no break in the book’s September 15 embargo (even inside Random House, only a half dozen employees have been allowed to read The Lost Symbol in its entirety). Despite this, the rumor mill has Dan Brown’s protagonist Robert Langdon exploring symbols allegedly hidden in U.S. currency, such as the Masonic all-seeing eye at the top of the pyramid...
... Hafnor, an unabashed fan of Dan Brown’s books, none-the-less takes issue with statements recently issued by Lost Symbol publisher Knopf Doubleday(Random House) stating that readers can expect the new Brown book to be “infused with history.” Said Hafnor, “The Lost Symbol will, after all, not be history but rather a novel. If readers want a book “infused with history” then why not a real best-selling history book? I’d suggest Michael Meyer’s The Year that Changed the World, Peter Canellos’ Last Lion, or Jared Diamond’s Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies.” ...
... Last week, former Publisher’s Weekly editor Sara Nelson called Brown a “Book Killer.” The theory is that Brown’s readers will only troop into stores (or go online) starting Sept. 15 to buy the discounted Symbol, and they won’t buy anything else. And some critics argue that the media frenzy surrounding Symbol will drown out coverage of other books. Hafnor disagrees, stating that he believes Symbol will return America’s gaze to it’s early history, and will stoke adult reading appetities much as Harry Potter did for the youth reader.
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“The Da Vinci Code’s overarching premise was an Old World clash of religion and science,” Hafnor said, “while the fresh theme for The Lost Symbol is likely to be a uniquely American power struggle between secret societies and the experiment known as democracy.”
There seems to be no break in the book’s September 15 embargo (even inside Random House, only a half dozen employees have been allowed to read The Lost Symbol in its entirety). Despite this, the rumor mill has Dan Brown’s protagonist Robert Langdon exploring symbols allegedly hidden in U.S. currency, such as the Masonic all-seeing eye at the top of the pyramid...
... Hafnor, an unabashed fan of Dan Brown’s books, none-the-less takes issue with statements recently issued by Lost Symbol publisher Knopf Doubleday(Random House) stating that readers can expect the new Brown book to be “infused with history.” Said Hafnor, “The Lost Symbol will, after all, not be history but rather a novel. If readers want a book “infused with history” then why not a real best-selling history book? I’d suggest Michael Meyer’s The Year that Changed the World, Peter Canellos’ Last Lion, or Jared Diamond’s Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies.” ...
... Last week, former Publisher’s Weekly editor Sara Nelson called Brown a “Book Killer.” The theory is that Brown’s readers will only troop into stores (or go online) starting Sept. 15 to buy the discounted Symbol, and they won’t buy anything else. And some critics argue that the media frenzy surrounding Symbol will drown out coverage of other books. Hafnor disagrees, stating that he believes Symbol will return America’s gaze to it’s early history, and will stoke adult reading appetities much as Harry Potter did for the youth reader.