‘To Kill a Mockingbird’

Landmark best-seller published 57 years ago today

Many of our readers are old enough to remember when the 1950s gave way to 1960. It was still a somewhat innocent time in America. There was the hope and promise of the future embodied in a new young president named John F. Kennedy, who promised to put a man on the moon. But it was before the Vietnam War, student protests and race riots rocked the nation just a few years later.

It was in this ‘ tween time that a remarkable book was published.

“To Kill A Mockingbird” came out that summer, released 57 years ago today. It defied the expectations of both author and publisher and became a best-seller, earning author Harper Lee the Pulitzer Prize.

Told from the perspective of the 6-yearold tomboy Scout Finch, the story blends the innocence and joy of childhood with the ugliness of racism and injustice. The characters have been criticized as stereotypes, and maybe they are. But what grand and well-defined stereotypes. The nobility of Atticus Finch. The cruelty of Bob Ewell. The tragic, twisted fate of Tom Robinson. The maligned and misunderstood Boo Radley.

Beloved now, it caused quite a stir when it was first published. Many in the South were not happy with the way the region and its people were portrayed, and there were campaigns to have the booked banned. Even some who considered themselves more open-minded were shocked by the book’s use of frank language, including racial slurs, and its depiction of rape and allusion to incest. It’s still among the most challenged books in libraries across the U.S.

From its release 57 years ago until today, “To Kill a Mockingbird” has never been out of print. A popular film was made from it in 1962. It sells thousands of copies every year and is part of the curriculum of schools across the land. It is widely regarded as one of the finest novels of the 20th century.

In our view, justly so.