The Real History Behind the Da Vinci Code

February 1, 2005
Dan Brown's mystery thriller The Da Vinci Code plays fast and loose with history, posing puzzling riddles while challenging beliefs in the canon of Scripture, the Church, and Christianity. Newman (The Witch in the Well), a medievalist and award-winning novelist, has taken up the challenge to consider what the book suggests and separate legend from fact. Did Da Vinci paint Mary Magdalene in The Last Supper and omit the apostle John? Was Mary also identified as the wife of Jesus and a prostitute in the Nag Hammadi text of the Gospel of Phillip? What is the history of the Templars? Are there hidden meanings in Da Vinci's Mona Lisa and his drawing Vitruvian Man? Newman has arranged her discussion of the people, places, and events of The Da Vinci Code in an encyclopedic format, creating a books that is both accessible and fun to read. Recommended for all libraries.-George Westerlund, Palmyra, VA

Copyright 2005 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.