I recently finished Mockingbird, the biography of Nelle Harper Lee, written by Charles Shields. The book is based on personal interviews, letters, articles, and books detailing Lee's life. I've spent several years trying to find out details about Lee on my own, but Shields provides more than I could have ever hoped for in this biography and its accompanying footnotes. I now understand why it took several years to compile.
The book details Lee's role in assisting her childhood friend, Truman Capote, with the research for In Cold Blood. Based on the research published by Shields, it's hard to believe that Capote would have been able to write the book without her help. Based on Shields' research, it sounds like Capote never really gave her the recognition she fully deserves for the assistance she provided for researching the book. It makes me wonder if Capote was jealous of Lee's success with To Kill a Mockingbird and then decided to keep all the In Cold Blood accolades for himself.
Nelle Harper Lee was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2007 and although it was written in the late 1950's and published in 1960, her novel still sells around a million copies per year.
Mockingbird -- Biography of Harper Lee
I am half-way through Mockingbird, Charles Shields' biography about Nelle Harper Lee, author of America's classic, "To Kill a Mockingbird". Shields' research provides an informative snapshot of the background and influences that impacted Harper Lee before, during, and after writing the Pulitzer prize winning novel that spawned the Oscar winning movie with Gregory Peck.
Published in 2006, the biography explores Lee's family background, educational background, relationship with Truman Capote, and offers insight into the "New York" years and the struggles Lee endured before her novel was published.
The book has lots of "behind the scenes" snippets that explain how a book is submitted to an agent, gets re-written, is edited, and is finally published. Shields' research also relates several actual events from Lee's family life and homestate of Alabama that influenced her while writing the novel that has sold 30 million copies to date.
I found it interesting that the name "Harper" was used instead of the author's given first name, Nelle, because she was afraid someone might incorrectly call her "Nellie". I also found it helpful to understand that an author of Lee's caliber struggled in the beginning and worked as a bookstore clerk and an airline ticket agent for two different airlines prior to publication.
I recently finished reading this Harper Lee novel for the first time.
If you haven't read the book, I highly recommend that you do. The fact that it's still available in all major book stores 44 years after it's first publication is a testament to the power and influence this book has had on American literary culture.
Told from a child's point of view, the book addresses what in the late 1950's and early 1960' was most certainly a taboo subject. There are many cultural issues discussed in the book that most members of Generation X take for granted. The book provides a compelling and informative social commentary about societal attitudes in the depression era from someone who lived it on a daily basis.
I've read very few books that have moved me emotionally like this book did. I haven't seen the movie starring Gregory Peck, but the next time it's on TNT I've got to make a point to watch it.
