Not believing in biographies of living writers, Harper Lee declined to be interviewed for one, but Madden draws on extensive research—including trips to Monroeville, Ala., and interviews with classmates, colleagues and town residents—to explore how Lee’s life and times inspired her masterpiece. To Kill a Mockingbird has sold 30 million copies in 40 languages and continues to sell 10,000 copies per year, and Lee is “one of the authors most read by American students.” A narrative both well paced and richly detailed—even reproducing two of Lee’s stories for her college literary magazine and excerpting a recent letter to O magazine, not included in Charles Shields’s excellent I Am Scout (2008)—this biography will appeal to fans of the novel and to newcomers. Readers will find a fascinating portrait of an independent young woman stubbornly going her own way to become the one thing she wanted to be: a writer. Extensive source notes and an excellent bibliography round out this superb biography, one of the best in the Up Close series. (foreword, index) (Biography. 12 & up)
Pub Date: March 1, 2009
ISBN: 978-0-670-01095-0
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2009
A political historian updates, broadens, and simplifies his adult-level history of Soviet power. Setting the scene with the recent collapse of Marxist regimes around the globe, Kort presents the rise of socialist ideas with the Industrial Revolution and shows how Marx and Engels collaborated to develop the Marxist movement; the book is most valuable for its unusually clear explanation of the basic idea of dialectical materialism. Kort explains why Western European Marxists became reformers rather than revolutionaries while Russian Marxists, in their despair, became increasingly violent, and he shows how political and social conditions elsewhere led to other versions of Marxism, particularly in China. Moving into more recent history, the author's evident abhorrence for Marxism's results skews his presentation. Harping on the repressive side of the ``dictatorship of the proletariat,'' he passes over the appeal of Marxist ideals to both intellectuals and workers, pointing instead to the massive political and economic failure that caused former communists to beg for Western aid. Concentrating on the fortunes of particular political leaders, Kort fails to answer the obvious question: If the philosophy of Marxism was so terrible, why did it appeal so strongly to so many ordinary people around the world? Clearly presented, but not a balanced viewpoint. Source notes; chronology; index. Photos not seen. (Nonfiction. 12+)
Pub Date: March 1, 1993
ISBN: 1-56294-241-7
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Millbrook
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 1993
This is required reading, embracing the ideals that “we all need mercy, we all need justice, and—perhaps—we all need some...
"Each of us is more than the worst thing we’ve ever done,” proclaims Stevenson’s adaptation for younger audiences of his 2014 New York Times bestseller, a deeply moving collage of true stories dedicated to transforming the U.S. criminal justice system.
The story begins in 1983, when 23-year-old Stevenson, a Harvard Law intern, found the moral resolve to join the pro bono defense team of a capital punishment case in Georgia. Throughout his journey, he highlights numerous cases that demonstrate unfair policies and practices throughout our criminal justice system. These examples form an incisive critique of mass incarceration resulting from state and federal policy changes in the late 20th century. He continues to lead the Alabama-headquartered Equal Justice Initiative, whose mission it is to protect basic human rights for the most vulnerable. Stevenson argues that, “The true measure of our character is how we treat the poor, the disfavored, the accused, the incarcerated, and the condemned.” These important stories put a human face on statistics and trends and give us tested strategies to reverse the oppressive consequences of racial and economic injustice in our country. This inspiring book will ignite compassion in young readers and show connections between the history of slavery, Reconstruction, and the present day.
This is required reading, embracing the ideals that “we all need mercy, we all need justice, and—perhaps—we all need some measure of unmerited grace.” (notes, index) (Nonfiction. 12-18)Pub Date: Sept. 18, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-525-58003-4
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: June 23, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2018
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