"'To Kill a Mockingbird' [A Work Of Art] Has Influenced The Character Of Our Country For The Better"

"President George W. Bush awarded the highest U.S. civilian honor on Monday to two figures in the push for racial equality: former NAACP leader Benjamin Hooks and "To Kill a Mockingbird" author Harper Lee....

Hooks battled racial segregation throughout [his] career ...

Hooks was often treated with less respect than the prisoners of war he guarded during World War Two, Bush said....

Lee's coming-of-age novel, published during the turmoil of the civil rights era, drew on her experiences witnessing racial discrimination in small-town Alabama...

Inspired by a racially charged rape trial in the 1930s, "To Kill a Mockingbird" has sold over 30 million copies since it was published in 1960 and is on the reading list in many U.S. schools.

In 1961 it won Lee the Pulitzer Prize and in 1962 was made into a movie, which won actor Gregory Peck an Oscar....

The reclusive Lee, 81, has only published a handful of essays since the novel and has made few public remarks. She was taken to the stage in a wheelchair but stood throughout the 35-minute ceremony, smiling broadly.

"'To Kill a Mockingbird' has influenced the character of our country for the better," Bush said. "It's been a gift to the entire world."...

Reuters ""Mockingbird" Author Wins U.S. Medal" New York Times November 5, 2007


















Photo credit: www.pasadenaweekly.com.

*

In Memorium, Petr Eben, Composer.













List of his works.

Photo credit: (c) Czech Music Information Centre. 2007.