Fifty States of Literature, Starting With Alabama

For many of us, San Francisco’s Castro Street or the badlands of North Dakota can seem as exotic as Oslo or Mumbai. Cross-country road trips are every collegiate’s dream: scaling the Colorado mountains and sipping juleps in Charlestown before visiting the first Starbucks in Seattle. Even the thriftiest travelers need cash to cover all 50 states, but what if you could travel through literature? The Spectator here supplies you, free of charge, the first of a list of 50 books that we think capture the essence of each state, all while telling a great story along the way. If you don’t have the time to leave your room, let alone the city, satisfy your need for new experiences and adventure through Butler. The country is at your fingertips—all you have to do is turn the page.

Alabama: To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee — The nature of an Alabama summer is perhaps no better captured than by the ladies who “by nightfall were like soft teacakes with frostings of sweat and sweet talcum.” But Mockingbird tops the list not only for capturing the essence of a town where “there was no hurry, for there was nowhere to go,” but by giving readers one of the best representations of courage and compassion in literature. Alabama has often been less famous than infamous for its past in the Civil Rights Movement, and this stigma remains today in the eyes of many northerners. Through Scout’s tale, we see not only the bravery of Atticus Finch and his defendant Tom Robinson, but the complex nature of segregation-era life. Far from a caricature of bigotry and patronization, the citizens of this small Alabama town refuse to become stock characters: even potential lynchers cannot remain unswayed by Scout’s innocent courage. She and her brother Jem, meanwhile, help to illuminate the gentility and neighborly compassion often woefully absent north of the Mason-Dixon line. Miss Maudie Atkinson, a nearby widow, has the perfect combination of grit and warmth, while the recluse Boo Radley demonstrates both the importance of friendship and the strength of loyalty. Through struggles can come a strength and empathy (being able to “climb into [someone’s] skin and walk around in it”) beyond words. Calpurnia, the Finches’ cook, take Scout and Jem to her church before the trial, and the two are embraced by the close-knit community. Such brotherhood existed even in a time of separation and hate—and Lee won’t let you forget it.

This is the first of a 50-part series. Check out forthcoming entries every Thursday on the Web site, at http://www.columbiaspectator.com.