Roots: The Saga of an American Family
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 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.
Show more
BUY THE BOOK
Community Reviews
Such an amazing book. Super trigging and some parts were very hard to read but such an amazing story, I loved how it went through the generations and reading his discoveries and his journey back to his original home land, so heart warmig. I can't even imagine the emotions he felt. Absolutely loved it!
PFS Book Club --- 26th August, 23
Today we reviewed book called “Roots” by Alex Haley.
Chandrashekhar started the session with history of book and setting the context on black slavery in USA. This book was written in 1976 and Alex writes this book as a history of Kunta Kinte and seven generations of his descendants in the United States. Chandrashekhar also mentioned that almost 15 million slaves were taken to USA and almost 5 million died in tran...read more
See why thousands of readers are using Bookclubs to stay connected.