Melissa Anelli’s new book, Harry, A History: The True Story of a Boy Wizard, His Fans, and Life Inside the Harry Potter Phenomenon, is set to be released on November 4, 2008.

For those who don’t know, Melissa is one of the key people behind The Leaky Cauldron and PotterCast, some of the biggest parts of the online Harry Potter phenomenon. She has been involved with online Harry Potter news and community since 2001 and is a “real life” reporter in New York City.

Harry, A History is Miss Anelli’s retelling of her first-hand experience with Harry Potter, along with insights from others, such as author J. K. Rowling, who wrote the book’s foreword as well as giving an interview for use in the book.

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 potential 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…

As a supplement to the book, Melissa will be blogging over at harryahistory.com, posting photos from various years throughout the Harry Potter “fandom,” news about the book, and canon tidbits from her interview with J. K. Rowling.

The book is currently available for pre-order on Amazon and will be released in stores by November 4 in the U.S. and Canada.