Haley, Alex (Alexander Murray Palmer Haley), 1921–92, American writer, b. Ithaca, N.Y. Haley was for a time one of the most famous writers in the United States as the author of Roots: The Saga of an American Family (1976). A novel loosely based on the history of his family, it traces seven generations of African and African-American life, from freedom and enslavement in Africa to 20th-century America. Haley was awarded (1977) a special Pulitzer Prize for the book. Roots was made into two television miniseries (1977, sequel 1979), and a remake of the first was televised in 2016. Haley was also the co-author (with its subject) of The Autobiography of Malcolm X (1965), and wrote and interviewed for several periodicals.
See biography by R. J. Norrell (2015).
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