To Kill a Mockingbird portrays a society that is supremely, staggeringly unfair: the U.S. South in the 1930s in a small town where racism is part of the very fabric of society. Faced with this situation, an equality-minded person might be tempted to say, "Screw it, wake me up when the Civil Rights Movement gets here," and keep his or her head down until then.

One of the best-loved stories of all time, 7b Kill a Mockingbird has earned many distinctions since its original publication in 1960. It won the Pulitzer Prize, has been translated into more than forty languages, sold more than thirty million copies worldwide, and been made into an enormously popular movie.Most recently, librarians across the country gave the book the highest of honors by voting it the best novel of the twentieth century.