Roots

Garden City, New York: Doubleday & Company, 1976 Book club edition, lacking first edition statement on copyright page. Signed and inscribed by Haley to Cornell University professor Ramona Heck on the front free endpaper: "2/20/90 To Ramona Heck - Love! Alex Haley". Publisher's black cloth-backed tan paper-covered boards, spine lettered in gilt; lacking original dust jacket. Very good, with light soiling and scuffing to boards, and a touch of soiling to text block edges. With a program for Alex Haley appearance at Cornell University on Feb. 2, 1990 laid in. Overall, a solid copy. Roots is a historical novel that chronicles the life of Kunta Kinte and six generations of his descendants over the course of two centuries. At the beginning, Kunta, an adolescent from The Gambia, is captured and, after a treacherous trip via the Middle Passageway, sold into slavery in Maryland. The novel follows Kunta's legacy through his descendants, who embody many of the shared experiences of African Americans living in the United States during those times. At the end of the novel, Haley introduces himself, claiming Kinte as his ancestor as evidenced by stories told by his elder family members and twelve years of extensive original research. While some have questioned its historical accuracy and literary originality, Roots remains a pivotal novel for its importance in creating a space for active African American voices in the history of the United States, a point made poignantly when Roots was published at the nation's bicentennial anniversary. Alex Haley's other classic book is The Autobiography of Malcolm X (1965), which he ghostwrote after conducting more than 50 interviews with Malcolm X. . Inscribed by Author. Book Club (BCE/BOMC). Hard Cover. Very Good.