The massive book "Roots" by Haley won a Pulitzer Prize for its account of several generations of an African-American family living in America, a family which Haley said was his own. The writer said he did years of research into his ancestors before writing the book, but doubt has been cast by historians onto the research and whether the man Haley claimed was his ancestor, Kunta Kinte, actually existed. In 1978, after the book was turned into a legendary miniseries, Haley was sued by author Harold Courlander, who said that passages of "Roots" were taken from his novel "The African." Haley said he did not plagiarize but admitted that some sections of "Roots" seemed to have originally appeared in "The African." "Alex Haley ... regrets that various materials from The African by Harold Courlander found their way into his book Roots," said a statement by the author.
