![]() ![]() Famously reclusive, Lee spent the next several decades as the literary equivalent of a dormant volcano, almost never appearing in public and publishing only the occasional essay. The novel struck like lightning, becoming a commercial and critical success that won Lee the 1961 Pulitzer Prize for fiction. The book was published in 1960 into the arms of an America already in the throes of the Civil Rights Movement. The story of To Kill a Mockingbird is common knowledge: Scout Finch reflects on her childhood in Alabama and the lessons her father Atticus taught her as he defended a Black man against a false rape accusation, following his moral compass despite the racism of his neighbors and the danger to himself. (Eric Draper, Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons) In 2007, Harper Lee was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom for her contributions to American literature. But in the last decade, the novel has come under critical reexamination, prompted in part by the strange release of its sequel, Go Set a Watchman, in 2015. Required reading in schools throughout the country, Harper Lee’s “story of a sleepy childhood town and the crisis of conscience that rocked it” is undoubtedly one of the most iconic books of the 20th century. When it comes to American literary classics, To Kill a Mockingbird has always been a paragon. Otho Valentino Sella, Staff Reporter | July 21, 2022 ![]()
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