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| The cover of "Alex Haley's Roots: An Author's Odyssey," by Adam Henig. |
I just finished reading Adam Henig’s newly published e-book “Alex
Haley’s Roots: An Author’s Odyssey.”
Henig takes us on a fascinating journey through Alex Haley’s life after his
book Roots: The Saga of an American
Family was published and turned into a highly successful television miniseries.
Henig shows us how Haley’s life was turned upside down by the sudden and
overwhelming success of both the book and the miniseries.
Henig begins the book in January of 1977, with Haley
watching the first episode of “Roots” with Warren Beatty at Beatty’s suite at
the Pierre Hotel in New York City. Beatty turns to Haley after the episode is
finished and tells him, “Your life will never be the same again.” Beatty was
certainly correct about that. As a big Warren Beatty fan, I found this anecdote
very interesting, and it was an attention-getting way to begin the book.
Alex Haley first became well-known as a writer during the
1960’s when he interviewed many celebrities for Playboy, and Haley was the co-author of Malcolm X’s Autobiography of Malcolm X. (Haley
finished the Autobiography after
Malcolm was assassinated.) But Haley’s previous success as an author did not
prepare him for the worldwide phenomenon that Roots would become. Roots was
published in late 1976, and it became an immediate best-seller. Once the
miniseries starting airing in January of 1977, Roots became even more successful, eventually spending 22 weeks in
the number one spot on the New York Times
best-seller list. When the miniseries had finished airing, seven of the
eight episodes of “Roots” were among the top ten most watched television shows
ever. Haley became a celebrity overnight, with crowds mobbing his lectures and
book signings.
Roots told the
story of Haley’s ancestors, and specifically, Haley’s ancestor Kunta Kinte, who
had been sold into slavery in Africa and crossed the Atlantic on a slave ship.
Haley called Roots a book of “faction,”
as he acknowledged that he had, out of necessity, invented dialogue and events
in order to create a narrative. But Haley claimed that all of the genealogical
research in the book was completely true. And since Haley had spent a decade
writing and researching the book, most people took him at his word. But once
reporters began digging into Haley’s sources, they discovered multiple discrepancies.
And other authors noticed similarities in Roots
to their own novels. Margaret Walker, author of the novel Jubilee, and Harold Courlander, author
of the novel The African, both sued
Haley for plagiarism, noting many similarities in Roots to their own novels. Haley claimed that he had never read
either book. At the trials, it became obvious that regardless of whether or not
Haley’s plagiarism was intentional, his working methods left a lot to be
desired, as he carried on his research blithely unconcerned with the fact that
the words in his notebooks might have been copied from other sources. Haley won
the trial against Walker, but when it became evident that he might lose the
Courlander trial, he settled out of court with Courlander, paying him the tidy
sum of $650,000, and acknowledging that somehow passages from The African had made their way into Roots.
Henig does a good job of showing how Courlander, a white
man, was accused by others of racism in suing an African-American author who
was writing about slavery and the black experience in America. Courlander wasn’t
pursuing his lawsuit for racial reasons, but it was inevitable that it would
appear that way to some onlookers.
Henig shows us how Haley’s life after Roots became a treadmill of speeches, public appearances, and very
little writing. Haley was a public celebrity, but he didn’t have much time to
devote to writing anymore, which is the double-edged sword of becoming a celebrity.
As John Updike once said, “Celebrity is a mask that eats into the face.” Roots made Haley world-famous, but it
was also the only thing people wanted Haley to talk about.
Haley’s fundamental problem with Roots was one of authenticity. Because Haley didn’t cite any
sources for his research, it’s impossible to know what’s really true and what’s
not. It’s the same problem he had with The
Autobiography of Malcolm X, because Malcolm died before the book was
published, we don’t really know how much of it was Malcolm’s, and how much of
it was Haley’s. We just have to take Haley’s word for it.
Henig does an excellent job in showing us the turmoil that Roots caused in Alex Haley’s life. It
was of course his most famous book, but it also caused him a lot of grief as
well. Throughout the book, I was reminded of parallels to one of my favorite
authors, Truman Capote, whose life started unraveling shortly after his
masterpiece In Cold Blood was
published. Much like Haley, Capote was an author who had worked enormously hard
for his success, and yet when it came it did not bring the happiness it should
have. For both Haley and Capote, once the peak was reached, the journey
downward began immediately. Sometimes what you wish for isn’t really what you
want. Or, to use a quote that inspired the title of Capote’s famously
unfinished novel, “More tears are shed over answered prayers than unanswered
ones.”
