sat grammar question

Which do u guys think is true?
These aren’t actually the exact questions. I can’t find the source, but this is pretty much a very close copy of the actual sentences.
A)Let us now praise famous men was published in 1941, and despite its popularity, many are called remained unpublished until 1966.
B)Let us now praise famous men was published in 1941, but despite its popularity, many are called remained unpublished until 1966.

We can’t answer this without the actual question. You didn’t even capitalize what I am assuming is a title, and the part of the sentence after “popularity” is mangled English as far as I can tell.

“let us now praise famous men” and “many are called” are the titles of the books.

The question was which choice best combines these sentences. The original sentence I believe was

Let us now praise famous men was published in, 1941;despite its popularity, many are called remained unpublished until 1966.

A)Let us now praise famous men was published in 1941, and despite its popularity, many are called remained unpublished until 1966.
B)Let us now praise famous men was published in 1941, but despite its popularity, many are called remained unpublished until 1966.

These were the two main answer choices.