Introduction

To Kill a Mockingbird is the Pulitzer Prize-winning exploration of prejudice in a small Alabama town. The novel was published in 1960 as the civil rights movement was gathering momentum and is set in the early 1930s during the years of the author's childhood. The story deals with the coming of age of Scout and her brother Jem as they try to understand the ugly aspects of life in Maycomb, their quiet, close-knit community. Lee herself described it as a love story. Most people assume that the love she is referring to is a daughter's love for her father, Atticus Finch, who is the voice of wisdom and moral clarity in the novel. When a black man is falsely accused of raping a white woman, Atticus defends the man, even though he and his...