SOURCE: Jones, Carolyn M. “Harper Lee.” In The History of Southern Women's Literature, edited by Carolyn Perry and Mary Louise Weaks, pp. 413-18. Baton Rouge, La.: Louisiana State University Press, 2002.

In the following essay, Jones provides a general overview of To Kill a Mockingbird and its critical reception.

As Harper Lee struggled to rework the manuscript of To Kill a Mockingbird, Newsweek reported in 1961, her supporters at Lippincott were “screaming and yelling, hollering, ‘The book may not sell 2,000 copies, but we love Nelle.’” Their enthusiasm initiated that of a nation as Harper Lee burst onto the literary scene in 1960 with the publication of her first and only novel. To Kill a Mockingbird has never gone out of print, and its gentle but tough story of a small southern town, a racist act, a trial, an honorable man, and a lively young girl coming of age has influenced, now...