It is common for movies to be based on books, however the novel that I chose to read on my flights to and from Ohio was the opposite. It was based on the screenplay of a movie.
"Amistad" is a 1997 historical drama directed by Stephen Spielberg. It tells the true story of a successful revolt aboard a Cuban slave ship in 1839. When the ship sails into U.S. waters, it is seized, and the black mutineers are put on trial for murder. The case went all the way to the Supreme Court. I saw the movie many years ago and enjoyed it.
Alexs Pate, a writer and professor, took the movie screenplay and turned it into a novel. Pate's literary style is not extraordinary (one reviewer described it as "clunky"), but it is easy to read... a simple, straight-forward retelling of the story. The story itself is extraordinary and makes the book worthwhile. However, this is one case where I would recommend the movie over the novel.
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