#RootsTheSagaOfAnAmericanFamily | Reviews of Roots: The Saga of an American Family in English Books| Hashreview

#RootsTheSagaOfAnAmericanFamily

Roots: The Saga of an American Family is a novel written by Alex Haley and first published in 1976. It tells the story of Kunta Kinte, an 18th-century African, captured as an adolescent and sold into slavery in the United States, and follows his Read More..

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Review# tag	RootsTheSagaOfAnAmericanFamily
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Hash title	Roots: The Saga of an American Family
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Description	Roots: The Saga of an American Family is a novel written by Alex Haley and first published in 1976. It tells the story of Kunta Kinte, an 18th-century African, captured as an adolescent and sold into slavery in the United States, and follows his life and the lives of his descendants in the U.S. down to Haley. The release of the novel, combined with its hugely popular television adaptation, Roots (1977), led to a cultural sensation in the United States, and considered one of the most important U.S. works of the twentieth century. The novel spent months on The New York Times Best Seller List, including 22 weeks in that list's top spot. The last seven chapters of the novel were later adapted in the form of a second miniseries, ' (1979). It stimulated interest in genealogy and appreciation for African-American history.Following the success of the novel and the miniseries, Haley was accused by two authors of plagiarism of their novels. Harold Courlander successfully asserted that Roots was plagiarized from his novel The African, published in 1967. The resulting trial ended with an out-of-court settlement and Haley's admission that some passages within Roots had been copied from Courlander's work; he said it was unintentional. In a later interview with BBC Television, the presiding judge in Courlander's lawsuit against Haley said, "Alex Haley perpetrated a hoax on the public."The book was originally described as "faction" and was sold in the non-fiction section of bookstores. Haley spent the last chapter of the book describing his research in archives and libraries to support his family's oral tradition with written records. However, historians and genealogists have found critical errors in his research work. Most of the novel is either unsupported or contradicted by the available evidence.Edward Kosner, reviewing the volume Alex Haley by Robert J. Norrell, said that Haley "could have avoided all the grief if he and his publishers had simply labeled the book [Roots] what it was—a historical novel valid in its essential narrative but informed by the imagination".Edward Kosner (27 December 2015), " Myths That Changed America", The Wall Street Journal.
Description	Roots: The Saga of an American Family is a novel written by Alex Haley and first published in 1976. It tells the story of Kunta Kinte, an 18th-century African, captured as an adolescent and sold into slavery in the United States, and follows his life and the lives of his descendants in the U.S. down to Haley. The release of the novel, combined with its hugely popular television adaptation, Roots (1977), led to a cultural sensation in the United States, and considered one of the most important U.S. works of the twentieth century. The novel spent months on The New York Times Best Seller List, including 22 weeks in that list's top spot. The last seven chapters of the novel were later adapted in the form of a second miniseries, ' (1979). It stimulated interest in genealogy and appreciation for African-American history.Following the success of the novel and the miniseries, Haley was accused by two authors of plagiarism of their novels. Harold Courlander successfully asserted that Roots was plagiarized from his novel The African, published in 1967. The resulting trial ended with an out-of-court settlement and Haley's admission that some passages within Roots had been copied from Courlander's work; he said it was unintentional. In a later interview with BBC Television, the presiding judge in Courlander's lawsuit against Haley said, "Alex Haley perpetrated a hoax on the public."The book was originally described as "faction" and was sold in the non-fiction section of bookstores. Haley spent the last chapter of the book describing his research in archives and libraries to support his family's oral tradition with written records. However, historians and genealogists have found critical errors in his research work. Most of the novel is either unsupported or contradicted by the available evidence.Edward Kosner, reviewing the volume Alex Haley by Robert J. Norrell, said that Haley "could have avoided all the grief if he and his publishers had simply labeled the book [Roots] what it was—a historical novel valid in its essential narrative but informed by the imagination".Edward Kosner (27 December 2015), " Myths That Changed America", The Wall Street Journal.

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Name	Roots: The Saga of an American Family
Name
Authors	Alex Haley
Authors
Translator
Translator
Genre	nonfiction
Genre
Series
Series
Number in series
Number in series
Language	English
Language
Country	United States
Country

PUBLISH

Story timeline
Story timeline
Pages	704 pp (first edition, hardback)
Pages
Media_type	Print (Hardback & Paperback)
Media_type
Isbn	0-385-03787-2
Isbn
Oclc	2188350
Oclc
Publisher	Harcourt (publisher)
Publisher