Alex Haley taught himself to write during a 20 year career in the US coast guard service. After retiring in 1959 as its first Chief Journalist, he became a magazine writer and interviewer before undertaking his first book The Autobiography of Malcolm X. He spent the next 12 years researching and writing Roots…
This brilliant story tells us the monumental saga of one man’s twelve year search for his family’s origins. His determination and single minded devotion to his cause.
The man Alex Haley is the black American who goes in search of his roots. All the way to Africa where it all began and through six generations of Slavery and then finally freedom - A family consisting of farmers, blacksmiths, lawyers and architects.
He tries to trace his ancestry back to Gambia in West Africa, from where his ancestor Kunta Kinte , a sixteen year old youth torn from his homeland and brought to the slave market of the new world by the white people along with others. The tragic story of Kunta Kinte is extremely moving. His capture along with other natives of his village and other parts of Africa , by the white traders, the hardships and the humiliation faced by them ,aboard the slave ship and the accounts about these slaves being sold and auctioned for use as bonded farm labor in America makes one wonder how can any human being, treat another in such an inhuman manner, almost like the life of a slave has no importance and they do not matter ! . By tracing back his own roots, Haley tells the story of 39 million Americans of African descent.
It’s hard to say if this book is fiction, history or biography, since it reads like all three in those 878 pages . It is rich in every human emotion possible and rich in hope.
When I began to read it, I never realised what a mammoth novel it was in terms of content and history. It is a very disturbing account of what a man can do to his own kind and also in some ways a triumph for mankind, because there are some who are different !. It is heartening to know that there are some people who are different- Like somewhere among those pages , the author mentions how some white people were a little better than others.
In my opinion this is one book that should be deemed as a classic , because it portrays an entire history of slavery in America. I was totally unaware of the history of slave trade and this book gives a complete account of it as told by Haley , when he writes about Kunta Kintay , his ancestor and his tale of slavery.
Roots is a very emotional book. It is,as I said very moving and makes one feel sad, to think that some people have had to go through life like the slaves did in America in the 17th century and thereafter .
Alex Haley begins with the birth of Kunta Kintay in the African village, where life was happy for the youngster with his family and tribe, but unfortunately he was captured and brought to the US and through whom Alex Haley was born some generations later…
This is one of the most touching, most descriptive books I have ever read.
I would strongly recommend everyone to read this book , because it is one book that makes you understand the pain, suffering and anguish suffered by another man , just because his skin was black..
It makes us realise that all men deserve dignity and respect.
Summary: Not to be missed..
