From reznet:
The Education of Oprah Winfrey
By Hillel Italie
NEW YORK (AP) — Oprah Winfrey has pulled a discredited children’s book, Forrest Carter’s “The Education of Little Tree,” from a list of recommended titles on her Web site, blaming an archival “error” for including a work considered the literary hoax of a white supremacist.
“The archived listing was posted in error and has been removed,” Winfrey spokeswoman Angela DePaul told the Associated Press, adding that she did not know long “Little Tree” had been on the site.
The AP had inquired about “The Education of Little Tree,” which was featured on the “Oprah’s Favorite Books” page her Web site, with “The Color Purple,” “The Grapes of Wrath” and other “guaranteed page-turners from Oprah’s personal collection.” The list can also be linked to in-store computer searches at Barnes & Noble.
First published in 1976, “The Education of Little Tree” was supposedly the real-life story of an orphaned boy raised by his Cherokee grandparents; the book became a million seller and sentimental favorite. In 1991, the American Booksellers Association gave “Little Tree” its first-ever ABBY award, established “to honor the ‘hidden treasures’ that ABA bookstore members most enjoyed recommending.”
But suspicions about Carter, who died in 1979, began in his lifetime and were raised significantly in the early 1990s, not long after the book won the ABBY. Carter was identified as Asa Earl Carter, a member of the Ku Klux Klan and speechwriter for former Alabama governor George Wallace who wrote Wallace’s infamous vow: “Segregation today! Segregation tomorrow! Segregation forever!”
“‘Little Tree’ is a lovely little book, and I sometimes wonder if it is an act of romantic atonement by a guilt-ridden white supremacist, but ultimately I think it is the racial hypocrisy of a white supremacist,” says author Sherman Alexie, whose books include “Ten Little Indians” and the young adult novel “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian,” which won a National Book Award for young people’s literature Nov. 14.
“I am surprised, of course, that Winfrey would recommend it,” says Lorene Roy, president of the American Library Association. “Besides the questions about the author’s identity, the book is known for a simplistic plot that used a lot of stereotypical imagery.”
Winfrey had long been aware of the book’s background and has acknowledged she once was a fan. She discussed “Little Tree” on her TV show in 1994, recalling a “loving story about a boy growing up with his grandfather and learning about nature and speaking to the trees. And it’s very spiritual.”
When Winfrey learned the truth about Carter, she felt she “had to take the book off my shelf.”
“I no longer — even though I had been moved by the story — felt the same about this book,” she said in 1994. “There’s a part of me that said, ‘Well, OK, if a person has two sides of them and can write this wonderful story and also write the segregation forever speech, maybe that’s OK.’ But I couldn’t — I couldn’t live with that.”
According to Nielsen BookScan, which tracks about 70 percent of industry sales, “Little Tree” has sold about 11,000 copies in 2007. It was originally released by the Delacorte Press, then reissued a decade later by the University of New Mexico Press, which still publishes the book.
Winfrey has endorsed at least one other work that was eventually disputed: James Frey’s “A Million Little Pieces,” a memoir of addiction and recovery that she chose for her book club in 2005. After learning the book contained extensive fabrications, Winfrey chewed out the author on her show, but never withdrew her pick. “A Million Little Pieces” is still listed on her Web site.
11 Comments
October 13, 2008 at 4:54 pm
i dont care who wrote it…its a still a pretty good book…
October 14, 2008 at 2:59 pm
This is a wonderful movie, and I will always love “Little Tree”. Why does someone always try to ruin things! I am so disappointed in Oprah!
Dee
December 14, 2008 at 3:36 am
Fraud, schmod. If something is good it just is-the political affiliation of the author be damned.
… though I have to admit that it does come as a surprise…
January 14, 2009 at 12:25 pm
This book was recommended by me to adolesants years ago. Fraud it may be but it also is a book with a message.
February 3, 2009 at 8:56 am
I just saw the movie on HBO, which did not print or depict anything about the novelist’s segregationist lifestyle. One thing I decided after 60 years of my religious convictions, is that racism absolutely CAN BE CURED, because The Education of Little Tee was positive proof that he left the ignorance of his youth forever in the past, and he grew into a brilliant, inspiring author worthy of every laurel the world can bestow. And thank God that HBO made the deliberate decision not to disclose the dispute.
February 6, 2009 at 9:50 am
Just finished reading “The Education of Little Tree”. I find it hard to believe that anyone described by this article could have written this book. I have decided for me I will let the book speak for itself. I believe the story shows how shortsided, hurtful and self-serving prejudice actually is. I also believe the story shows true caring love between Little Tree, his grandparents and the folks his grandparents surrounded him with. This is a book I will be giving my grandkids as I do not believe the book on it’s own carries the message of the life of the author. Maybe what it carries are the amends of the author trying to set things right. But this we will never know.
February 7, 2009 at 6:03 pm
Here’s a thought…let’s discredit Thomas Jefferson and his writings. He was after all, a slave owner who had a change of heart. “Little Tree” is a wonderfully woven, poignant tale. Carters past racism or later beliefs certainly are not evident in this story. T0 remove this work from ones shelf is a step toward book burning. Such an act is every bit as ignorant as racism.
February 17, 2009 at 8:38 pm
How does anybody know if this isn’t true or not. I just see comments about the author being a member of the KKK. We all have skeleton’s in our closets. This book and movie is moving to say the least. I think that too many people who think they mean a whole lot in this world invoke their opinion and are afraid, yes afraid of standing for something that is good and wholesome all in the name of political correctness and for ratings (Oprah) who by the way doesn’t have a lot of stock in my opinion. Cowards everyone of you.
February 19, 2009 at 4:40 pm
I teach in a community day school 7-12 grades. We read Education of Little Tree as a class. We used a variety of media such as How the West was Lost and PBS’s Geronimo to parallel some of the points brought out in the book. We discussed racism, boarding schools and forced assimilation. My students were touched by the story, despite the stereotypes. The imagery described in the book, as well as the bonding of the characters were powerful examples of literature characterization and setting. I will use this article to discuss your perspective, furthering their understanding that there are many ways to interpret information.
February 24, 2009 at 6:25 pm
Finished reading this book yesterday. I had heard years ago that it was a “fraud” in the sense that it wasn’t a true story but didn’t know anything else about it. I had had it on my shelf for several years. It had been a gift and I hadn’t wanted to offend the giver by telling them that I had heard it was a fraud. I finally decided to read it, thinking that it may be interesting, even if not true. It was very soothing to my spirit, which needed to hear a story about people who live and love nature the way that I do, though I am not Native American. It was a very satisfying story that made me weep for the trees, for the Cherokee, and for all people everywhere trying to keep families together through economic hard times, and cultural exclusion from white, Christian America. I decided to read why it was a fraud today, and was completely horrified to read Asa Carter’s brief bio online.
Apparently, he was part Cherokee and did go on to reinvent himself as that in the last few years that he was alive and writing. What a horrible man, what a lovely book he wrote. How to reconcile the two? As a Feminist, I am not that happy with Thomas Jefferson and his 14 year old black mistresses either! Freedom and human dignity is freedom and human dignity for all or none!
It is like finding out that a Nazi went on to become a revered member of the community after torturing and killing people without getting caught and everybody who knew him after he escaped the war tribunals just couldn’t believe he did it because he was “such a nice guy.”
It does give one pause, but I can’t say that the story itself is lessened for me because of the despicable reality of the life of the man who wrote it.
Perhaps “Little Tree” can be looked at more objectively as an interesting cultural artifact that shows many of the bizarre human paradoxes of racism, and other “isms” in the South through the story and reflections on the author’s life.
May 14, 2009 at 3:43 pm
I am Cherokee and I did live in the Blue Ridge Mountains at a very young age until I grew into my late teens. KKK or not, Carter did capture the importance and strong ties of family among the Cherokee. It’s how we survived.
Forget and forgive. And strive for peace.