Why "To Kill a Mockingbird" is America's most popular novel

Welcome to Libromania, a new podcast for the book-obsessed from the Close Reads Podcast Network. Each week David Kern will be chatting with authors, biographers, designers, collectors, critics and other people who help make book's so worthy of our attention.

Here in chapter 3, we contemplate the incredible (and enduring) popularity of Harper Lee's 1960 novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, which was recently named "America's most-loved book" on The Great American Read. More than 4.3 million votes were cast and Lee's novel came in first place. But why do so many people love it so passionately? And why, even after all these years, do we continue to read it so often? To answer these questions David chatted with Adam Andrews, the director of the Center for Lit and the author of Teaching the Classics, about the literary merit of the book; and Dr. Joseph Crespino, professor of history at Emory University and the author of Atticus Finch: The Biography, about the book's place in the culture at-large.

Join us for this deep-dive into one of America's most beloved books.

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This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit goldberrybooks.substack.com