Harvey Weinstein: What was the intended message behind the books he carried while handing himself in?

The disgraced producer was seen carrying three books while turning himself into the authorities

While disgraced mogul Harvey Weinstein was on his way to turn himself into the authorities for sexual abuse and misconduct charges this morning, he was seen carrying three hefty books, which could allude to his current state of mind.

Although the third book was unable to be identified, the other two were Something Wonderful: Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Broadway Revolution by Todd S Purdum, and Elia Kazan: A Biography by Richard Schickel.

Last month, Something Wonderful was released chronicling "the creative partnership that transformed musical theatre and provided the soundtrack to the American Century" according to Amazon.

The website's description of the book stated: "Though different in personality and often emotionally distant from each other, Rodgers and Hammerstein presented an unbroken front to the world and forged much more than a songwriting team; their partnership was also one of the most profitable and powerful entertainment businesses of their era. They were cultural powerhouses whose work came to define postwar America on stage, screen, television, and radio. But they also had their failures and flops, and more than once they feared they had lost their touch."

It's possible that Weinstein sees himself as a "cultural powerhouse" who shaped American film despite his "failures and flops." However it's the second book – Kazan's biography – that has drawn even more attention to Weinstein. Like the Miramax co-founder, Kazan – the director of film classics like A Streetcar Named Desire and On the Waterfront, Kazan was a pioneer of "method acting" – had a tumultuous stint in Hollywood.

During the mid-1930s he was a member of the American Communist Party for a short time and also became a member of the left-leaning Group Theatre. In 1952, Kazan testified at the height of the Hollywood blacklist in front of the House Un-American Activities Committee (Huac). He named several industry figures as communists including playwright Clifford Odets and actor Morris Carnovsky, assisting in the demise of their careers.

"History's view of Kazan is now coloured by a single political act," says the description of Kazan's biography on Amazon. In 1999, Kazan was given an honorary Oscar after being introduced by fellow director Martin Scorsese, but several audience members didn't applaud for the director and 250 people protested the event. Shickel's biography also chronicles Kazan's controversial relationship with women; he married three times and also had affairs with female leads including Marilyn Monroe. Like Weinstein, Kazan was also accused of sexual assault, with British actress Carol Drinkwater. She alleged that that he assaulted her while she was auditioning for the 1973 version of F Scott Fitzgerald's The Last Tycoon. "He came in, threw me back on the sofa and started pulling at my clothes, forcibly trying to have sex with me," she wrote on Facebook. At the time, Drinkwater was allegedly in her 20s and Kazan was in his 60s.

Perhaps Weinstein sees his career moving forward despite any scandals, like Kazan, who did in fact receive an Academy Award for On the Waterfront and an award at Cannes for East of Eden. His work even continued with well-regarded films like 1961's Splendor in the Grass and America America two years later. We can only guess at the truth, but perhaps Weinstein – carrying books on the way to being arrested as if he's going to a table-read – believes that despite everything, he can redeem himself.