Harper Lee, the author wrote Mockingbird after her editors/publishers rejected her first novel, a story about Scout as a young woman. The original manuscript has sat in a safety deposit box for year but now is being published. Why wasn't this book released after the success of Mockingbird? Was Ms. Lee embarrassed by her first work? Did the publisher realize it was horrible and refused to publish it still?
Or were there themes in the original book unsuitable to America in the 1950's? There is some speculation that the book is semiautobiographical about Lee's lesbian experiences in the big city. And the publishing house didn't want the public to see "Scout" this way.
Thomas Sowell: There are no solutions, just trade-offs.
