February 22, 2008: "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" Is Published

Stieg Larsson

February 22, 2008: The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo is published in English, 3 years after it was first published in its native country, Sweden. Its author, Stieg Larsson, becomes hailed around the world.

He wasn't there to receive it, though. Karl Stig-Erland Larsson was born on August 15, 1954 in Skelleftehamm, Sweden. As a young man, he produced science-fiction fanzines, and later became a leftist journalist.

He said he was 15 years old when he saw 3 men gang-rape a woman he knew named Elisabeth, and felt guilty about having done nothing about it. He asked her for forgiveness, and she refused. So he decided to write a book about a character named Lisbeth who avenged her assault. But after his death, the story was questioned, as it was heard that he may have heard the story secondhand.

He had completed the 1st 3 books in what he was calling his Millennium series by November 9, 2004, when he had a heart attack while climbing the stairs to his office in the Swedish capital of Stockholm. He was 50 years old.

The 1st book in the series was Män som hatar kvinnor -- in English, "Men Who Hate Women." It was published in Sweden in 2005, and translated into English as The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo in 2008. Changing the title did generate some controversy, and not just because the original translation had her tattoo as that of a wasp. (The character actually has many tattoos.)

The novel starts with Mikael Blomkvist, a news magazine publisher facing jail time for libeling a billionaire. He quits, and accepts a freelance assignment from Henrik Vanger, another rich man, to discover the identity of the killer of a woman in his family. If successful, he will provide Blomkvist with the proof that can exonerate him.

But Vanger has already had him investigated, by Lisbeth Salander, a hacker with a punk/Goth appearance. When Blomkvist's main suspect kidnaps him, he tortures him, but reveals that he is not the killer. Just as he's going to kill Blomkvist, Lisbeth rescues him, inadvertently leading to the suspect's death.

Together, Blomkvist and Lisbeth discover that the murder victim is actually alive and well in Australia. Learning this, Vanger reneges on his promise. In retaliation, Lisbeth not only finds the evidence to exonerate Blomkvist, but the evidence to ruin Vanger.

The 2nd book was titled Flickan som lekte med elden: "The Girl Who Played With Fire." It was published in Sweden in 2006, and in English with the title unchanged in 2009. The 3rd book was titled Luftslottet som sprängdes: "The Castle in the Air That Was Blown Up." It was published in Sweden in 2007, and in English as The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest in 2009.

Swedish writer David Lagercrantz obtained the legal rights to continue the Lisbeth Salander books, publishing The Girl in the Spider's Web in 2015, The Girl Who Takes an Eye for an Eye in 2017, and The Girl Who Lived Twice in 2019.

Another Swedish writer, Karin Smirnoff, acquired the right to continue the series. (UPDATE: The Girl in the Eagle's Talons, intended as the first of yet another trilogy, was published later in 2022, and in English in 2023. The second, The Girl with Ice in Her Veins, was published in Swedish in 2025.)

Swedish studio Yellow Bird produced films based on the 1st 3 novels, all released in 2009. Swedish actress Noomi Rapace played Lisbeth. It was appropriate because, like the character, the actress is a natural redhead who died her hair black to become the person who made her famous.

In 2011, an English version of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo was released, starring Rooney Mara as Lisbeth and James Bond actor Daniel Craig as Blomkvist. Although Mara was nominated for an Academy Award, the film tanked, and U.S. versions of the next 2 films have never been made. In contrast, none of the Lagercrantz novels have been made in Sweden; but, in 2018, the 1st of them, The Girl in the Spider's Web, was made in English, with English actress Claire Foy as Lisbeth.

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February 22, 2008 was a Friday. Baseball and football were out of season. There were 13 games played in the NBA:

* The New York Knicks beat the Toronto Raptors, 103-99 at Madison Square Garden. Jamal Crawford scored 43 points for the Knicks.

* The New Jersey Nets lost to the Indiana Pacers, 113-103 at the Conseco Fieldhouse (now the Gainbridge Fieldhouse) in Indianapolis.

* The Sacramento Kings beat the Charlotte Bobcats, 116-115 at the Charlotte Bobcats Arena (now the Spectrum Center) in Charlotte.

* The Orlando Magic beat the Philadelphia 76ers, 115-99 at the Amway Arena in Orlando.

* The Dallas Mavericks beat the Memphis Grizzlies, 98-83 at the FedEx Forum in Memphis.

* The Cleveland Cavaliers beat the Washington Wizards, 90-89 at the Quicken Loans Arena (now the Rocket Arena) in Cleveland. LeBron James scored 33 points.

* The Detroit Pistons beat the Milwaukee Bucks, 127-100 at The Palace in the Detroit suburb of Auburn Hills, Michigan.

* The Chicago Bulls beat the Denver Nuggets, 135-121 at the United Center in Chicago. J.R. Smith scored 43 points for the Bulls.

* The Houston Rockets beat the New Orleans Hornets, 100-80 at the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans.

* The Phoenix Suns beat the Boston Celtics, 85-77 at the US Airways Center (now the Mortgage Matchup Center) in Phoenix.

* The Atlanta Hawks beat the Golden State Warriors, 117-110 at the Oakland Coliseum Arena (then named the Oracle Arena). Baron Davis scored 35 for the Hawks.

* The Los Angeles Clippers beat the Utah Jazz, 114-104 at the Staples Center (now the Crypto.com Arena) in Los Angeles.

* The Seattle SuperSonics beat their arch-rivals, the Portland Trail Blazers, 99-87 at the Key Arena in Seattle.

* So the only NBA teams that were not scheduled were the Miami Heat, the Minnesota Timberwolves, the San Antonio Spurs and the Los Angeles Lakers.

There were 5 games played in the NHL:

* The Dallas Stars beat the Edmonton Oilers, 5-2 at the American Airlines Center in Dallas.

* The Colorado Avalanche beat the Phoenix Coyotes, 3-2 in a shootout at the Jobing.com Arena (now the Desert Diamond Arena) in the Phoenix suburb of Glendale, Arizona.

* The Calgary Flames beat the Detroit Red Wings, 1-0 at the Saddledome in Calgary.

* And the Anaheim Ducks beat the St. Louis Blues, 2-1 at the Honda Center in Anaheim. It was somewhat appropriate that a Swedish athlete would be a hero on this day, and Samuel Påhlsson scored the winning goal in this game, just 32 seconds into overtime.