Reconsidering Roots
Race, Politics, and Memory
by
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Pub Date Apr 15 2017 | Archive Date Apr 26 2017
Description
This wide-ranging interdisciplinary collection—the first of its kind—invites us to reconsider the politics and scope of the Roots phenomenon of the 1970s. Alex Haley’s 1976 book was a publishing sensation, selling over a million copies in its first year and winning a National Book Award and a special Pulitzer Prize. The 1977 television adaptation was more than a blockbuster miniseries—it was a galvanizing national event, drawing a record-shattering viewership, earning thirty-eight Emmy nominations, and changing overnight the discourse on race, civil rights, and slavery.
These essays—from emerging and established scholars in history, sociology, film, and media studies—interrogate Roots, assessing the ways that the book and its dramatization recast representations of slavery, labor, and the black family; reflected on the promise of freedom and civil rights; and engaged discourses of race, gender, violence, and power in the United States and abroad. Taken together, the essays ask us to reconsider the limitations and possibilities of this work, which, although dogged by controversy, must be understood as one of the most extraordinary media events of the late twentieth century, a cultural touchstone of enduring significance.
Contributors: Norvella P. Carter, Warren Chalklen, Elise Chatelain, Robert K. Chester, Clare Corbould, C. Richard King, David J. Leonard, Delia Mellis, Francesca Morgan, Tyler D. Parry, Martin Stollery, Dominic Meng-Hsuan Yang, Bhekuyise Zungu
A Note From the Publisher
Kellie Carter Jackson is an assistant professor of history at Hunter College, CUNY, and the author of Force and Freedom: Black Abolitionists and the Politics of Violence.
Part of the Since 1970: Histories of Contemporary America series.
Advance Praise
“I am pleased that a rising generation of scholars more likely to know LeVar Burton as the genial and book-loving host of PBS’s Reading Rainbow than as the original Kunta Kinte is now interested in giving Roots
a fresh and rigorous scholarly treatment, one that befits its
importance as a cultural multiplier while also wrestling with the
critiques leveled against it. . . . In doing so, they are making it
possible for readers to engage Roots in a comprehensive way so
that they can grapple both with the heated debates it sparked in the
world of letters among historians, literary critics, and genealogists,
as well as with its larger significance to the African American—and to
the American—saga.”
—from the foreword by Henry Louis Gates Jr
Available Editions
| EDITION | Other Format |
| ISBN | 9780820350820 |
| PRICE | $27.95 (USD) |
| PAGES | 254 |
Links
Featured Reviews
Reviewer 153322
In chapters particularly convenient for use in a class, Ball has assembled 21st century reappraisals of the landmark series Roots, and its source material. With a remake that had to recalibrate for a non-network viewing event and four decades of racial and social change (not all progress), this vantage point is useful to address 1977 critiques that weighed the value of mainstream exposure of the Middle Passage against the message of survival instead of revolution (interesting now in an age of Django Unchained and Parker's problematic Birth of a Nation), the Roots sequel's portrayal of African-American experience in WWI in the shadow of Vietnam, and the unexplored effect of the series as it aired in Britain, Apartheid South Africa and Taiwan.
V N, Reviewer
This book is very good. The chapters are small enough that you can finish them in a sitting. This book was very in-depth and I found one needed to read this and digest what they had read. The chapters are various peoples thoughts on the Roots mini-series. Some remind you of scenes before they give their thoughts on them. It is not a book to be read fast but like a fine wine, savored. I could see this book being used in classes in high school. It is a great addition for anyone who viewed the mini-series "Roots". Very good book and one that I am glad I took the time to read. Thanks to NetGalley, authors and publisher for the fantastic opportunity to read the advanced copy of this book in return for my honest review.
Librarian 299542
This is a much needed collection that deconstructs and then rebuilds Alex Haley's epic. Its contributors are all historians who offer their perspective on historical times from slavery to the Civil Rights movement as well as social constructs such as race and gender. It is an enlightening read that will appeal to history buffs, people who believe in social equality, and fans of the TV series alike.
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