[puranjay]

That's because it is a timeless tale about the goodness of people, of faith and charity and humanity. Those are everlasting values.

My girlfriend reads the book at least once a year. She says it keeps her grounded and optimistic. I started doing the exercise last year and I have to say, she is right.

[wpietri]

True. But also because it's a sensitive and nuanced examination of the fucked-uppedness of US culture with regards to race. I certainly hope that isn't everlasting, but the book remains depressingly relevant.

[pervycreeper]

That's an unfortunately narrow misreading. There are much more universal themes than that in the book.

[SerpentJoe]

There's nothing unfortunate about acknowledging the racial themes in To Kill A Mockingbird, and doing so doesn't diminish any of the other messages. It would be a shit book if it were only about one thing. One of the things it's about is race, unpleasant as it may be.

[pervycreeper]

That's correct, but the GP comment is unfortunate in that it is either a deliberate misinterpretation of my comment, or one made from a very superficial understanding of the text.

[swatow]

I think a lot of the US has progressed a lot since that book has written. But it may have relevance to some places such as Alabama or Israel [0].

[0] http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-10717186

[wpietri]

I think there's no denying that there has been some progress. But if you think To Kill a Mockingbird no longer has relevance to racial issues across the US, I'm going to guess you're white. There's an ocean of stuff relating to that, but this would be one good place to start: http://www.theatlantic.com/features/archive/2014/05/the-case...

[scott_s]

Unfortunately, fucked-up race relations is a universal theme for humanity.