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| |  | Health, Mind & Body | Home » » » Roots: The Saga of an American Family | | | | | | | Description: | | Tracing his ancestry through six generations - slaves and freedmen, farmers and blacksmiths, lawyers and architects - back to Africa, Alex Haley discovered a sixteen-year-old youth, Kunta Kinte. It was this young man, who had been torn from his homeland and in torment and anguish brought to the slave markets of the new world, who held the key to Haley's deep and distant past. | | | Product Details: | | | Author:
| Alex Haley | | Paperback:
| 899 pages | | Publisher:
| Vanguard Press | | Publication Date:
| May 22, 2007 | | Package Length:
| 8.2 inches | | Package Width:
| 5.7 inches | | Package Height:
| 2.0 inches | | Package Weight:
| 1.6 pounds | | Average Customer Rating:
|  based on 175 reviews |
| | | | Customer Reviews: | |
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 Excellent Condition!!!!Oct 03, 2009
Great Seller!!! Was sent as a gift to a friend, and book arrived in great condition, within a few days!! Would most certainly use the seller again!!!!
This is one of the best books EVER!Sep 09, 2009
This is, to be blunt, a wonderful book. I loved every minute of it, I felt the feelings of the characters, laughed, and cried with them. I don't care what is real or what is fiction in this book. I don't care what anyone says about it. Roots is an American classic and should be required reading by all students in the United States.
Interest in black genealogyAug 21, 2009
This product is a very excellent book on CD for those who are interested in black genealogy. It shares the history of the Kinte clan from ancient Mali right down to Alex Haley himself in the 20th century. It is a very good bridge between 2 continents - Africa and North America. It also shows that the cruelty of slavery in America could not suppress the spirit of black people to be free or the hunger of black people to know their African roots. Even though most black Americans might not know exactly who their African ancestors were, they could look to Alex Haley's ancestors Kunta Kinte and his parents, grandparents, and so forth as a symbol of their own African ancestors.
3 of 3 found the following review helpful:
 Tough stuff but an interesting readMay 20, 2009
This book was a massive success when it came out , about 25 years ago, and was turned into a television mini series in the 80's (which is intriguing, as the book is very racially charged and is HEAVY content). Starring in that mini series as the main character was LeVar Burton (reading rainbow, Geordi in ST: TNG).
Anyways, back to the book:
'Roots' starts with the life of Kunta Kinte, a member of the Mandinka tribe in Africa, during the 18th century. We watch his life as he is born, raised, loved by his family, and instilled with a deep sense of pride, tradition, and work ethic from his village.
Now a young adult, Kunte goes to chop some wood down and BAM! Nabbed by slave traders (booo!). As the reader, you are already engrossed in the life of Kunta. I knew a little about the book while reading it, so i was waiting for this moment (very sadly, as I was enjoying just reading about Kunte's life in Africa).
Horrific boat ride over to the states, he tries to escape slavery several times until they cut off half his foot.
The rest of teh novel is about Kunte's assimilation into slave life, and the generations after him. You watch how each generation becomes watered down, and more complacent with their life. You can see what traditions and stories become altered with change between the families.
Ultimately, the story ends with the author, Alex Haley, who claims that he is descended from Kunte and follows the family tree to himself. Apparently he plagarized a bunch of the book from The African, and geneology experts contest against his claim of descent from Kunte. These facts kind of irked me once I read them on Wikipedia... I had enjoyed the book but seeing that he plagarized AND possibly miscontrued facts pisses me off. BUT he DOES say near the end that most of it is fiction, and I think Haley himself wants to believe the geneology tree (he wasn't just saying all this to pimp himself up).
A good read but difficult in terms of content (reality is always the biggest bitch). One of those tales of history that is painful to hear about, but history has it's lessons that we should all be mindful of.
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
Errors, Errors, EverywhereSep 03, 2008
It was a well written story. Unfortunately, there were a ridiculous number of grammar and spelling errors as well as a couple incorrect facts that really devalued the book for me. I couldn't read 10 pages without seeing a mistake like "the the". I was especially disappointed by these errors since it was the special 30th Anniversary reprint of the book. I would have thought they would fix most of these mistakes. As a history teacher, the factual errors were even worse for me. He wrote that the American Revolution was also known as the Seven Years' War. That is incorrect. The Seven Years' War is another name for the French and Indian War which preceded the Amer. Rev. After reading the first 500 pages and getting so annoyed I finally bought it on tape and listened to the rest.
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