The Life behind To Kill a Mockingbird

For decades it has been widely read in high schools and middle schools as a key anti-racist text. But how did this novel, with its Southern Gothic and Bildungsroman elements become a book that in 2006 the British said “every adult should read before they die” ahead of the Bible. To Kill a Mockingbird was written by Harper Lee and was loosely based on Lee’s real-life experiences.

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