To Kill a Mockingbird
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American author Harper Lee wrote the 1960 Southern Gothic novel To Kill a Mockingbird.[1] One year after its publication, the novel was awarded the Pulitzer Prize, and it is now regarded as a classic work of modern American literature.[1]
Key facts and history
Lee's father, Amasa Coleman Lee, was an attorney similar to Atticus Finch and defended two black men accused of murder in 1919.[2] After relocating to New York City in 1950, Lee started composing essays and short stories that focused on the people of Monroeville.[3] A manuscript was purchased by an editor from J. B. Lippincott, who then recommended that Lee leave her airline job to dedicate herself to writing.[4] Therese von Hohoff Torrey, who worked under the name Tay Hohoff, guided Lee through multiple revisions over a period of two and a half years until the novel was complete.[5][6]
Reader's Digest Condensed Books* chose to reprint portions of the novel, which quickly gave it a large audience.[7]
What the cited sources add
An ABC News report notes that President Obama and the First Lady said Lee "changed America for the better."[8] The Guardian article also reports that the Bible came second and the Lord of the Rings trilogy third in that poll.[9] A reporter named Daniel D’Addario is quoted in an ABC News report comparing the novel's standing to that of The Great Gatsby and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.[8] A Smithsonian Magazine article reports that in March 1960, months before her novel came out, Lee wrote a profile of Kansas Bureau of Investigation agent Alvin Dewey.[10]
References
- Wikipedia, "To Kill a Mockingbird" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Harper Lee: The Impact of 'To Kill a Mockingbird'", ABC News; "The Pulitzer Prizes- Harper Lee", www.pulitzer.org; "Was 'To Kill a Mockingbird' based on real events - DailyHistory.org", www.dailyhistory.org (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "To Kill a Mockingbird" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Shields, pp. 120–121. (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "To Kill a Mockingbird" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Shields, pp. 79–99. (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "To Kill a Mockingbird" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Nelle Harper Lee", Alabama Academy of Honor, 2001 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "To Kill a Mockingbird" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Nelle Harper Lee Alabama Academy of Honor: Alabama Department of Archives and History (2001). Retrieved on November 13, 2007.; Mahler, "The Invisible Hand Behind Harper Lee's 'To Kill a Mockingbird'", The New York Times, 2015-07-12 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "To Kill a Mockingbird" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Mahler, "The Invisible Hand Behind Harper Lee's 'To Kill a Mockingbird'", The New York Times, 2015-07-12 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "To Kill a Mockingbird" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Shields, p. 242.; Johnson, Casebook p. xii (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- "Harper Lee: The Impact of 'To Kill a Mockingbird'", ABC News. facts only, no text reused. abcnews.go.com
- Pauli, Michelle (March 2, 2006). "Harper Lee tops librarians' must-read list", Guardian Unlimited. Retrieved on February 13, 2008.. facts only, no text reused. theguardian.com
- Clasen, "Exclusive: Read Harper Lee's Profile of "In Cold Blood" Detective Al Dewey That Hasn't Been Seen in More Than 50 Years", Smithsonian Magazine, April 29, 2016. facts only, no text reused. smithsonianmag.com
Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article To Kill a Mockingbird (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.
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Sources
Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.
- Wikipedia: To Kill a Mockingbird (CC BY-SA 4.0).
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