To Kill a Mockingbird. 60th Anniversary Edition + Annotations and Additional Background Material

Appearing at the crest of the Civil Rights Movement in 1960, To Kill A Mockingbird struck a nerve with the American public. An instant best-seller, this coming-of-age novel reveals the racial bigotry of the Deep South from the viewpoint of Scout, a young girl between 6 and 9 in a small town in Alabama during the Great Depression. The core plot deals with the trial of a young Black man unfairly accused of rape ; a trial that exposes the worst and best of humankind.
There are numerous autobiographical and historical elements in the novel as well. The trial in the novel was obviously inspired by the real miscarriage of justice that took place during the 1930s in Alabama : the Scottsboro Boys trials, in which nine Black teenagers were unjustifiably accused of raping two white women. Since publication more than fifty years ago this novel has continued to be a best-seller, and a favorite of teachers and students.
The accompanying booklet provides students with copious annotations, in depth information, a timeline, and additional background texts that all enable students to more easily engage in independent work. A lawyer's advice to his children as he defends the real mockingbird of Harper Lee's classic novel - a black man charged with the rape of a white girl. Through the young eyes of Scout and lem Finch, Harper Lee explores with exuberant humour the irrationality of adult attitudes to race and class in the Deep South of the 1930s.
The conscience of a town steeped in prejudice, violence and hypocrisy is pricked by the stamina of one man's struggle for justice. But the weight of history will tolerate only so much.