Roots: The Saga of an American Family
Author:
Genres: Biographies & Memoirs, History, Literature & Fiction, Nonfiction
Book Type: Paperback
Author:
Genres: Biographies & Memoirs, History, Literature & Fiction, Nonfiction
Book Type: Paperback
This is a huge book. Alex Haley, the author, authored it after extensive study of his African heritage, going back to his ancestor, Kunta Kinte. The author opens this book with Acknowledgements. Micheal Eric Dyson, a professor and expert on race relations, wrote the Forward for this book. Alex Haley spreads all his actual content in 120 chapters.
I was aware of this book for much of my life. Though I have read many books on race relations and own some, I have never read ROOTS. But this is a book that arguably should be required reading in every high school and college. So many book, whether black or white authors write them, lay out principles and concepts about racism and race relation, Alex Haley uses narrative to describe the experience of his particular family tree. Going back to his ancestor, Kunta Kinte, fleshes out the horrors, inhumanity, and evil of how black people were originally brought to the United States against their will.
The original victims of slavery were abducted and taken against their will. The author's use of narrative to flesh this out is powerful. And these slaves were trafficked to slave owners. As a white person, it is to the shame of MY ancestors that all this happened. The author lays out how slave owners crassly referred to these slaves as "niggers." Reading all this makes it wholly understandable that some black leaders are calling for reparations.
The book states that seven generations, including Kunta Kinte, appear in this book. For some reason, I was able to trace only five. It does not appear that the author had any children of his own, so no generations after him apparently follow. But this book is an education about how, through narrative, slavery brought blacks to the United States.
I recommend this book for anyone who is willing to wade through a huge volume. I recommend the book for white people, so we can see, through narrative, the horrific and bitter heritage of slavery for black people. It is an education. I recommend this book for anyone, whatever their race or ethnicity. I'm aware that some have surmised that this book is fiction, though the author states that it is all based on a true story. Even if ROOTS contains fiction, it only illustrates what we all know to be all too true: The arrival of the first blacks to this country was based on racial injustice and evil done to them.
I was aware of this book for much of my life. Though I have read many books on race relations and own some, I have never read ROOTS. But this is a book that arguably should be required reading in every high school and college. So many book, whether black or white authors write them, lay out principles and concepts about racism and race relation, Alex Haley uses narrative to describe the experience of his particular family tree. Going back to his ancestor, Kunta Kinte, fleshes out the horrors, inhumanity, and evil of how black people were originally brought to the United States against their will.
The original victims of slavery were abducted and taken against their will. The author's use of narrative to flesh this out is powerful. And these slaves were trafficked to slave owners. As a white person, it is to the shame of MY ancestors that all this happened. The author lays out how slave owners crassly referred to these slaves as "niggers." Reading all this makes it wholly understandable that some black leaders are calling for reparations.
The book states that seven generations, including Kunta Kinte, appear in this book. For some reason, I was able to trace only five. It does not appear that the author had any children of his own, so no generations after him apparently follow. But this book is an education about how, through narrative, slavery brought blacks to the United States.
I recommend this book for anyone who is willing to wade through a huge volume. I recommend the book for white people, so we can see, through narrative, the horrific and bitter heritage of slavery for black people. It is an education. I recommend this book for anyone, whatever their race or ethnicity. I'm aware that some have surmised that this book is fiction, though the author states that it is all based on a true story. Even if ROOTS contains fiction, it only illustrates what we all know to be all too true: The arrival of the first blacks to this country was based on racial injustice and evil done to them.
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