Dragon Parade (Paperback)

Haley joined the Coast Guard when he was 18, to see the world; on shipboard, he began to write, and managed to publish some work in romance and adventure magazines. When he retired from the Coast Guard in 1959, he began conducting interviews for "Playboy"; among his subjects was Malcolm X, who a few years later asked Haley to help him produce "The Autobiography of Malcolm X". The book was published shortly before Malcolm's assassination in 1965. At the same time, Haley began writing his own book, the monumental "Roots", based on family stories. "Roots" was enormously popular and influential (as was the TV version), and helped raised the consciousness of white Americans about the effects of slavery, oppression, and the strong bonds of family in black America.