Roots: The Saga of an American Family

Roots: The Saga of an American Family

First edition cover
Author	Alex Haley
Language	English
Genre	Historical fiction
Publisher	Doubleday
Publication date	August 17, 1976
Publication place	United States
Media type	Print (Hardback, paperback)
Pages	704 pp (First edition, hardback)
ISBN	0-385-03787-2 (First edition, hardback)
OCLC	2188350
Dewey Decimal	929/.2/0973
LC Class	E185.97.H24 A33

Roots: The Saga of an American Family is a 1976 novel written by Alex Haley. It tells the story of Kunta Kinte, an 18th-century Mandinka, captured as an adolescent, sold into slavery in Africa, and transported to North America. It explores his life and those of his descendants in the United States, down to Haley. The novel was quickly adapted as a hugely popular television miniseries, Roots (1977). Together, the novel and series were a cultural sensation in the United States. The novel spent forty-six weeks on The New York Times Best Seller list, including twenty-two weeks at number one.

The last seven chapters of the novel were later adapted in the form of a second miniseries, Roots: The Next Generations (1979). It stimulated interest in African American genealogy and an appreciation for African American history.^[1]

Although Roots was originally described as fiction, it 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.