Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is the fifth book in the Harry Potter series of children's books by J. K. Rowling. The book was published on 21 June 2003 in the United Kingdom, United States, Canada, Australia, and several other countries. It sold almost seven million copies in the United States and the United Kingdom combined on that day. It has 38 chapters, and is about 255,000 words long http://books.guardian.co.uk/harrypotter/story/0,10761,875390,00.html.

Miscellaneous remarks

• Some view this book as a commentary on the repression of free speech. Umbridge's punishment of Harry for talking about Voldemort and the banning of the edition of The Quibbler containing an interview with him support this.
• Some also consider that there are strong parallels between the wizarding world in Book Five and pre-World War II Europe. In both instances, a great war has already been fought. However, the loser of the first war has been regaining power and building an army. The evil ruler embraces an ideology that can be seen as racist (many of the supporters of Voldemort are obsessed with maintaining the "purity" of wizard blood). Many respectable and powerful citizens fall under his sway and accept his ideology. However, those in the Muggle world are unaware of the evil that is gathering, while those in the wizarding community are constantly fed placating rhetoric by the press (The Daily Prophet) and The Ministry of Magic. In a parallel with Adolf Hitler, even though Voldemort and his followers are obsessed with purity of blood, Voldemort is a half-blood himself.

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