To Kill a Mockingbird

To Kill a Mockingbird has earned many distinctions since its publi­cation in 1960. It won the Pulitzer Prize, was named the best novel of the twentieth century by librarians across the nation, and was voted by readers as America`s "most beloved novel" on PBS`s The Great American Read. It remains a staple of many high school reading lists across the coun­try and has been translated into more than forty languages, selling more than forty million copies worldwide. A gripping, heart-wrenching, and wholly remarkable tale of coming-of-age in a South poisoned by virulent prejudice, it views a world of great beauty and savage inequities through the eyes of a young girl, Scout Finch, and her brother, Jem, as their father, Atticus--a crusading local lawyer--risks everything to defend a Black man unjustly accused of a terrible crime. Harper Lee explores with rich humor and unswerving honesty the irrationality of adult attitudes toward race and class in the Deep South of the 1930s. The conscience of a town steeped in prejudice, violence, and hypocrisy is pricked by the stamina and quiet heroism of one man`s struggle for justice--but the weight of history will only tolerate so much.