Roots by Alex Haley

A very moving family saga 8/10


From the cover

"It begins with a birth in 1750, in an African village; it ends seven generations later at the Arkansas funeral of a black professor whose children are a teacher, a Navy architect, an assistant director of the U.S. Information Agency, and an author. The author is Alex Haley. This magnificent book is his."

To say this book is sad or tragic is an understatement, it deals with the history of slavery in the US and paints a horrific picture of what the experience was like for Kunta Kinte, starting with his life in a small African village and following through several generations of his family as they struggle through many years of oppression and brutality. I think it did a good job of portraying the relationships between the plantation owners and the slaves, the conflict of some owners that tried to be religious and decent and yet own another person was especially done well. The fear that dominated these relationships of both owners and slaves was also very realistically put forth.