In a year (2019) where I am focusing on nonfiction reading, I decided to give Alex Haley: And the Books That Changed a Nation a try.Įven though it has been approximately twenty years since I read and watched Roots as well as reading Haley's other best seller The Autobiography of Malcolm X, the books remain fresh in my mind. A few years ago I noticed a slight volume on Alex Haley's books on my library's shelves but never got around to reading it. I did not read Alex Haley's Roots until one summer home from college, and I was mesmerized by the novel that I read it over the course of one weekend, followed by the viewing of both the mini series and its sequel Roots II, which featured the present generations of author's Alex Haley's family, both ambitious projects. A television event watched by one hundred million Americans, Roots traced the genealogy of one African American family back to Africa and featured Burton as a then unknown title character. Unbeknownst to me, during the 1980s Burton was one of the brightest stars on television thanks to his role as Kunta Kinte in the 1977 mini series Roots. One of the television programs I remember watching with affinity was PBS' Reading Rainbow starring LeVar Burton. Norrell offers the perfect opportunity to revisit his authorship, his career as one of the first African American star journalists, as well as an especially dramatic time of change in American history. This deeply researched and compelling book by Robert J. Roots sold half a million copies in the first two months of publication, and the original television miniseries was viewed by 130 million people. The subsequent book and miniseries ignited an ongoing craze for family history, and made Haley one of the most famous writers in the country.

Roots was for Haley a deeper, more personal reach. At Playboy Magazine, Haley profiled everyone from Martin Luther King and Miles Davis to Johnny Carson and Malcolm X, leading to their collaboration on The Autobiography of Malcolm X.

It was in the Navy, that Haley discovered himself as a writer, which eventually led his rise as a star journalist in the heyday of magazine personality profiles. This first biography of Haley follows him from his childhood in relative privilege in deeply segregated small town Tennessee to fame and fortune in high powered New York City. They changed the way white and black America viewed each other and the country's history. It is difficult to think of two twentieth century books by one author that have had as much influence on American culture when they were published as Alex Haley's monumental bestsellers, The Autobiography of Malcolm X (1965), and Roots (1976).

Alex haley books