Harper Lee’s classic novel doesn’t go out of style. In fact, fifty years after its first publication, To Kill a Mockingbird is having an A-list birthday party spurred on by Mary McDonagh Murphy’s new book, Scout, Atticus & Boo: A Celebration of Fifty Years of To Kill a Mockingbird.

Join us Friday, August 6th at 7pm as we welcome Tom Brokaw to the Country Bookshelf for a discussion on what has made this book a perennial American favorite. Due to anticipated demand, we may require advance seat reservation for this event. More details on that will be forthcoming soon. Sign up for our email newsletter to get the latest information about this one-of- a-kind event (send an email to countrybookshelf@gmail.com & request to be added to our email list).

To commemorate the 50th anniversary of Harper Lee’s beloved classic To Kill a Mockingbird, filmmaker Mary Murphy has interviewed prominent figures—including Oprah, Anna Quindlen, and Tom Brokaw—on how the book has impacted their lives. These interviews are compiled in Scout, Atticus, and Boo, the perfect companion to one of the most important American books of the 20th Century. Scout, Atticus, and Boo will also feature a foreword from acclaimed writer Wally Lamb.�

To Kill a Mockingbird may well be our national novel. It is the first adult novel that many of us remember reading, one book that millions of us have in common. It sells nearly a million copies a year, more than any other twentieth-century American classic. Harper Lee’s first and only novel, published in July 1960, is a beloved classic and touchstone in American literary and social history. 

To mark the fiftieth anniversary of To Kill a Mockingbird, Mary McDonagh Murphy reviews its history and examines how the novel has left its mark on a broad range of novelists, historians, journalists, and artists. 

In compelling interviews, Anna Quindlen, Tom Brokaw, Oprah Winfrey, James Patterson, James McBride, Scott Turow, Wally Lamb, Andrew Young, Richard Russo, Adriana Trigiani, Rick Bragg, Jon Meacham, Allan Gurganus, Diane McWhorter, Lee Smith, Rosanne Cash, and others reflect on when they first read the novel, what it means to them—then and now—and how it has affected their lives and careers. Scout, Atticus, and Boo: A Celebration of Fifty Years of “To Kill a Mockingbird” is a lively appreciation of the many ways in which the novel has made—and continues to make—a difference to generations of readers. 

Harper Lee has not given an interview since 1964, but Murphy’s reporting, research, and rare interviews with the author’s sister and friends stitch together a brief history of how the novel, as well as the acclaimed 1962 movie, came to be.

More information:

• To Kill a Mockingbird 50 Year Anniversary Official Website with dates of celebrations around the country
• LA Times Review
• Harper Collins website
• Entertainment Weekly Review
• Article in New York Times (note reporter error: July 11th is the official anniversary of the book but NOT the date Brokaw will be in Bozeman)