11 Biggest Plagiarism Scandals of All Time

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7. Alex Haley

Year: 1978

Alex Haley is America’s best-selling African-American writer. His novel Roots: The Saga of an American Family has won him a Pulitzer Prize. The epic story, stretching from Africa to America and going back to the 18th century and Haley’s ancestor Kunta Kinta was an instant hit. It was also one of the most blatant cases of plagiarism in the literary world, as it was discovered by journalist Philip Nobile in 1993. Not only did Haley stole ruthlessly from a novel titled The African by Harold Courlander – including plot, characters, and even whole passages – he also faked majority of genealogical data he claimed were painstakingly gathered by himself. Haley was allowed to settle by the judge who presided over the lawsuit Courlander filed against him. Surprisingly enough, Haley’s literary heritage didn’t seem to suffer from this, since he remained popular as ever. He even got a Coast Guard ship named after him.

11 Biggest Plagiarism Scandals of All Time

Page 6 of 12