Joe Crespino

Harper Lee-lovers, this one’s for you. Historian Joe Crespino investigates the real-world identity of To Kill A Mockingbird’s star lawyer who was revealed as a small-town racist in Go Set a Watchman. In Atticus Finch, The Biography, Crespino argues that Lee’s father, an attorney and newspaper man, served as inspiration for the character. He both opposed mob rule and was a racial paternalist. Wanna know more? Us too. And good news: Crespino will be speaking and signing his new work at BookPeople.