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Omni Exclusive: China Miéville on D »  Helene Wecker: Four
Surprising Things I Learned While Researching The Golem and the
Jinni  My novel The Golem and the Jinni took me seven years to
write, and I'd estimate that at least two of those years were
spent just on research. As it turns out, if you're writing a
historical fantasy set in late 19th-century New York City and
centered around two different cultures, you might end up sitting
in the library for a while.  Along the way I came across quite a
few items that surprised me -- whether they should've or not --
and that proved that no matter how much I researched, I always
had more to learn.  Here are a few of the more interesting
tidbits I found:   1. Most of the Syrians who first immigrated
to the United States were Christian, not Muslim.  Back in the
late 19th century, what's now Lebanon was still part of Greater
Syria, and ruled by the Ottoman Empire. Times were tough for
Christian families in th