teech
11-07-2007, 06:10 AM
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 on Tuesday, adding that she did not know long "Little Tree" had been on the site.
The AP had inquired last week about "The Education of Little Tree," which was featured on [Only registered and activated users can see links] ([Only registered and activated users can see links]) 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!"
[Only registered and activated users can see links]
"The archived listing was posted in error and has been removed," Winfrey spokeswoman Angela DePaul told The Associated Press on Tuesday, adding that she did not know long "Little Tree" had been on the site.
The AP had inquired last week about "The Education of Little Tree," which was featured on [Only registered and activated users can see links] ([Only registered and activated users can see links]) 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!"
[Only registered and activated users can see links]