Exercise 20 page 153

Alex Haley who wrote the book roots: The Saga of an American Family which is the history of
one African-American family, became a famous author. Alex Haley was born is Ithaca, New
York, but spent most of his early life in Henning, Tennessee, where he first heard stories about
the African slaves in his family’s history. His grandmother told him these stories, which had
been passed from generation to generation. Mr. Haley first became interested in his family’s
history when he was in London writing assignment. Mr. Haley’s research eventually took him to
Gambia in Africa where he was able to learn about a young African boy whose name was Kunta
Kinte. As a child, Mr. Haley had often heard this name, and he was happy to learn that Kunta
Kinte was a real person which slave traders had stole from his family and brought him to the
United States.

The book roots, which is more than a book about one African-American family, was the number
one nonfiction bestseller in 1977 and an important book which tells much about the early history
of the United States. A television miniseries was broadcast in 1977 which was based on the book
attract some 130 million viewers.

In all of his work, Alex Haley was a writer whose works of historical fiction and reportage
depicted the struggles of the African-American community. Before Alex Haley became famous
for roots, he was best known as the writer who helped Malcolm X to write the autobiography of
Malcolm X who was the Black Muslim spokesman. After the publication of Roots, Mr. Haley
wrote another book which was published in the spring of 1980. This book which its title is search
is about how he wrote roots. Alex Haley died in Seattle, Washington, in 1992.