Based off of the bestselling author’s family history, this novel tells the story of Kunta Kinte, who is sold into slavery in the United States where he and his descendants live through major historic events. When Roots was first published forty years ago, the book electrified the nation: it received a Pulitzer Prize and was a #1 New York Times bestseller for 22 weeks. The celebrated miniseries … weeks. The celebrated miniseries that followed a year later was a coast-to-coast event-over 130 million Americans watched some or all of the broadcast. In the four decades since then, the story of the young African slave Kunta Kinte and his descendants has lost none of its power to enthrall and provoke.
Now, Roots once again bursts onto the national scene, and at a time when the race conversation has never been more charged. It is a book for the legions of earlier readers to revisit and for a new generation to discover.
To quote from the introduction by Michael Eric Dyson: “Alex Haley’s Roots is unquestionably one of the nation’s seminal texts. It affected events far beyond its pages and was a literary North Star…. Each generation must make up its own mind about how it will navigate the treacherous waters of our nation’s racial sin. And each generation must overcome our social ills through greater knowledge and decisive action. Roots is a stirring reminder that we can achieve these goals only if we look history squarely in the face.”
The star- studded cast in this new event series includes Academy Award-winners Forest Whitaker and Anna Paquin, Laurence Fishburne, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Derek Luke, Grammy Award-winner Tip “T.I.” Harris, and Mekhi Phifer. Questlove of The Roots is the executive music producer for the miniseries’s stirring soundtrack.
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Roots is such a great read, it’s hard to know where to begin. Maybe knowing that is all true is part of the appeal. Alex Haley did his research and then brought the characters (his own ancestors) to life so well that they jump off the page.
It’s not a new book, but if you’ve never read it and you want something that will stick to your ribs, take a peek….
If you start researching this book, you find critiques casting doubt on the factual accuracy of some of the elements of Haley’s story. I think that quibbling about dates and ship names and whether certain characters actually existed or not is beside the point. I also think that readers going into this book might carry different expectations as to what this book is about, or should be about, than what they might actually find in the book itself. This book is a grand, sweeping, family epic. It’s not an attempt to tell the entire story of slavery, or portray a universal story of African American history. It’s best approached as you would approach any novel. Engage with the characters, get drawn into their lives, and share in their human experience. If I have one criticism of the book it would be that it’s uneven. In later chapters, it rushes through entire life stories in the span of a few pages. But, I’m hard pressed to think of any novel of this length that sustains it’s best energy from cover to cover. It’s well worth the time you’ll devote to reading it.
I found the whole book very interesting to see what the family went through. Alex did a lot of research and traveling to really understand where he came from and to get this story as close to accurate as possible. I feel that everyone should read this book at least once. I can’t even imagine from start to finish how this family stayed and kept some of this story alive.
This is the first book I read AND understood. My short attention span never allowed me to absorb what I read until I picked up this interesting book. I thank Alex Haley for teaching me to read. Twenty odd years on and it is still one of my all time favourites. xxx
One mans journey to trace his family back to Africa. As tragic as it is, it is a beautifully rendered story. One that will stay with you always.
Powerful story, sharp, crisp engaging writing
Saw the series several years ago. Absolutely a devastating tale . So hard to fathom their lives. It was a terrible ti:e in history
This book tracks 7 generations from the first person in a family taken by slave traders from the West African coast to the present day in the US. I would recommend this to anyone who wants to make themselves more aware of the often hidden and unmentioned history of the slave trade. I think that the best way to combat racism today is to educate people about our past – this book is a really good start. I hope to find others like it to continue to educate myself.
First saw the series when released to TV and throughly enjoyed it, I later purchased both the kindle book and audio version to revisit the story. Also own the video of the series. The story contains a very important part of our early history, unfortunately a wrong that required a war to correct.
I have an autographed copy,of this book. Met him in Idaho Falls, Idaho.
Should be required reading for all
Excellent story. Great view of history.
I think that slavery in America was a terrible practice. People should not be owned like an animal! This book describes one African man who was captured, and put in chains, before his voyage to America. It describes in vivid detail his horrific treatment. It’s very informative and so sad. If you decide to read it you won’t be disappointed.
This book opened the door to allow me to know my and my people Identity. I had saw the series a few times prior to reading the book in 1987.
Through the reading of the book I discovered that the So-called African-American and others of the African diaspora are the TRUE children of Israel.
My two books get a lot more indepth in this understanding
I read this after the TV showing of it, and I’d like to tell you the book was better than the movie of it, and it had more information than the movie.