HomeGroupsTalkMoreZeitgeist
Search Site
This site uses cookies to deliver our services, improve performance, for analytics, and (if not signed in) for advertising. By using LibraryThing you acknowledge that you have read and understand our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. Your use of the site and services is subject to these policies and terms.

Results from Google Books

Click on a thumbnail to go to Google Books.

Roots by Alex Haley
Loading...

Roots (original 1976; edition 1976)

by Alex Haley

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingMentions
6,712911,394 (4.26)210
Fiction. Historical Fiction. HTML:

It begins with a birth in an African village in 1750, and ends two centuries later at a funeral in Arkansas. And in that time span, an unforgettable cast of men, women, and children come to life, many of them based on the people from Alex Haley's own family tree.

When Alex was a boy growing up in Tennessee, his grandmother used to tell him stories about their family, stories that went way back to a man she called "the African" who was taken aboard a slave ship bound for Colonial America. As an adult, Alex spent twelve years searching for documentation that might authenticate what his grandmother had told him. In an astonishing feat of genealogical detective work, he discovered the name of "the African"â??Kunta Kinteâ??as well as the exact location of the village in West Africa from where he was abducted in 1767. Roots is based on the facts of his ancestry, and the six generations of peopleâ??slaves and freemen, farmers and lawyers, an architect, a teacherâ??and one acclaimed authorâ??who descended from Ku… (more)

Member:mjspear
Title:Roots
Authors:Alex Haley
Info:
Collections:Your library
Rating:****
Tags:African Americans, Black history, United States slavery

Work Information

Roots by Alex Haley (1976)

  1. 20
    The Book of Negroes by Lawrence Hill (khuggard)
  2. 10
    Amistad by Alexs Pate (Clurb)
  3. 10
    Cane River by Lalita Tademy (cbl_tn)
  4. 21
    A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry (mariamreza)
    mariamreza: Also leads the reader through an emotional roller coaster, experiencing the hope and despair of the characters from poor/ oppressed communities.
  5. 00
    Your Blues Ain't Like Mine by Bebe Moore Campbell (mcenroeucsb)
  6. 00
    Copper Sun by Sharon M. Draper (mcenroeucsb)
Loading...

Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book.

No current Talk conversations about this book.

» See also 210 mentions

English (82)  Spanish (2)  German (2)  Finnish (1)  French (1)  Dutch (1)  All languages (89)
Showing 1-5 of 82 (next | show all)
I absolutley loved this book. I loved it so much that I have not been able to watch the tv movie because they changed so much of the story for tv. I was also devestated when I found up that Alex Haley actually made up most of the story. ( )
  CMDoherty | Oct 3, 2023 |
Powerful and terrifying reanactment of Slavery - capture, toubobs, Black slavers, Middle Passage, auction, escapes, massa, family, rape, and movement toward freedom -

Kunta Kinte stays silent and learns to survive in dignity, even forgiving those around him, from his shaklemate to his wife and child, for not worshiping Allah.

For years, he often turns to friends on the plantation, yet is often so beset by self pity, hatred, and guilt that he develops no trade and mentally berates all the
Blacks for not knowing or caring about their African heritage. Had he spent more time carving wood than blaming, he might have been happier.

Without Kunta Kinte, the tale folds. Chicken George and his cruelty to roosters is unbearable to read.

Story picks up again when Alex Haley hits his stride with new found research friends, journey to Africa, and encountering the impressive griot! ( )
  m.belljackson | Sep 1, 2023 |
An eye-opening read. All those details about the horrors of enslavement and its aftermath in America. ( )
  mykl-s | Aug 13, 2023 |
8432082074
  archivomorero | May 21, 2023 |
Just fantastic. Incredibly researched and so well written. ( )
  amcheri | Jan 5, 2023 |
Showing 1-5 of 82 (next | show all)
no reviews | add a review

» Add other authors (23 possible)

Author nameRoleType of authorWork?Status
Haley, Alexprimary authorall editionsconfirmed
Amante, MarcoTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Blomberg, HelenTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Bond, HigginsIllustratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Brooks, AveryNarratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Costa Picazo, RolandoTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Dyson, Michael EricIntroductionsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
GĂĽntther, Emil U.Translatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Häilä, ArtoTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Sickles, NoelIllustratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Sissung, MaudTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
van der Velde, FrédériqueTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
You must log in to edit Common Knowledge data.
For more help see the Common Knowledge help page.
Canonical title
Original title
Alternative titles
Original publication date
People/Characters
Important places
Important events
Related movies
Epigraph
Information from the Dutch Common Knowledge. Edit to localize it to your language.
Wij zwarten
Dedication
It wasn't planned that Roots' researching and writing finally would take twelve years. Just by chance it is being published in the Bicentennial Year of the United States. So I dedicate Roots as a birthday offering to my country within which most of Roots happened.
First words
Early in the spring of 1750, in the village of Juffure, four days upriver from the coast of The Gambia, West Africa, a manchild was born to Omoro and Binta Kinte.
Quotations
Last words
(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)
Disambiguation notice
Publisher's editors
Blurbers
Original language
Canonical DDC/MDS
Canonical LCC

References to this work on external resources.

Wikipedia in English (1)

Fiction. Historical Fiction. HTML:

It begins with a birth in an African village in 1750, and ends two centuries later at a funeral in Arkansas. And in that time span, an unforgettable cast of men, women, and children come to life, many of them based on the people from Alex Haley's own family tree.

When Alex was a boy growing up in Tennessee, his grandmother used to tell him stories about their family, stories that went way back to a man she called "the African" who was taken aboard a slave ship bound for Colonial America. As an adult, Alex spent twelve years searching for documentation that might authenticate what his grandmother had told him. In an astonishing feat of genealogical detective work, he discovered the name of "the African"â??Kunta Kinteâ??as well as the exact location of the village in West Africa from where he was abducted in 1767. Roots is based on the facts of his ancestry, and the six generations of peopleâ??slaves and freemen, farmers and lawyers, an architect, a teacherâ??and one acclaimed authorâ??who descended from Ku

No library descriptions found.

Book description
Haiku summary

Current Discussions

None

Popular covers

Quick Links

Rating

Average: (4.26)
0.5 1
1 7
1.5 4
2 20
2.5 4
3 162
3.5 31
4 453
4.5 51
5 568

Is this you?

Become a LibraryThing Author.

 

About | Contact | Privacy/Terms | Help/FAQs | Blog | Store | APIs | TinyCat | Legacy Libraries | Early Reviewers | Common Knowledge | 203,192,548 books! | Top bar: Always visible