The Butler - Wil Haygood

When acclaimed Washington Post writer Wil Haygood had an early hunch that Obama would win the 2008 election, he thought he'd highlight the singular moment by exploring the life of someone who had come of age when segregation was so widespread, so embedded in the culture as to make the very thought of a black president inconceivable. He struck gold when he tracked down Eugene Allen, a butler who had served no fewer than eight presidents, from Harry Truman to Ronald Reagan. During his thirty-four years of service, Allen became what the Independent described as a "discreet stagehand who for three decades helped keep the show running in the most important political theatre of all." While serving tea and supervising buffets, Allen was also a witness to history as decisions about America's most momentous events were being made. Here he is at the White House while Kennedy contemplates a moon landing; here he is again when Kennedy's widow returns from that fateful day in Dallas. Here he is when Johnson and his cabinet debate Vietnam and here he is again when Ronald Reagan finally got tough on apartheid. Perhaps hitting closest to home was the Civil Rights legislation that was developed, often with passions flaring, right in front of his eyes even as his own community of neighbours, friends and family were contending with Jim Crow America. Also included in the book is an essay in the vein of James Baldwin's jewel, The Devil Finds Work, that explores the history of black people in Hollywood as well as over 45 pictures of the butler, Eugene Allen, and his family, the Presidents he served, and the remarkable cast.

Publisher: 37 Ink

Pages: 112 - Hardcover

Year 2013

ISBN: 978-147-674-5299-0

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I had been eagerly awaiting for this film to be released.  My son was coming for Christmas and just as we did when they were younger we thought we would go to the cinema as a pre Christmas treat.  Unfortunately the film has gone off screen before we got a chance to go and see it.  Never mind my son had said I'll get you the book for Christmas, which he duly did or so we thought.  When it arrived he wrapped it but did point out that he thought it wasn't the book of the film.  Christmas day came and I opened it to find that he was in deed right.  The book written by Wil Haygood is more about his journey in writing the original article about Eugene Allen and the interest this bought about especially as Obama was to become the first black president. There are photographs of Allen of interest and of the characters from the film.  It was an interesting book and took me less than a day to complete.  It is worth reading from a historical point of view but don't be mistaken that this is the book the film as like me you will be disappointed.   I am still hoping at some point that the book of the film will be released but for now resigned to waiting for the release of the film on DVD in January. 

Mx