The Reclusive JD Salinger

Witness History

It is 65 years since the publication of JD Salinger's classic novel The Catcher in the Rye. But as the book's fame grew, Salinger himself became more and more reclusive, eventually ceasing publishing altogether. Witness hears the story of how, more than 30 years later, a professor of American literature, Roger Lathbury, almost convinced the great man to change his mind.

(Photo: JD Salinger in 1951, five years before the publication of The Catcher in the Rye. Credit: Little, Brown & Co/AP)