Alex Haley

"Extraordinary. A brilliant, painful, and important book."THE NEW YORK TIMESIf there was any one man who articulated the anger, the struggle, and the beliefs of African Americans in the 1960s, that man was Malcolm X. His AUTOBIOGRAPHY is the result of a unique collaboration between Alex Haley and Malcolm X, whose voice and philosophy resonate from every page, just as his experience and his intelligence continue to speak to millions.

Discover Alex Haley's Pulitzer Prize-winning search for his family's origins: a powerful memoir, a history of slavery and a landmark in African-American literature.

A new eight-hour event series based on Roots will be simulcast on the History Channel, Lifetime, and A&E over four consecutive nights beginning Memorial Day, May 30, 2016"Early in the spring of 1750, in the village of Juffure, four days upriver from the coast of The Gambia, West Africa, a man-child was born to Omoro and Binta Kinte."So begins Roots , one of the most extraordinary and influential books of our time. Through the story of one family, his family,Alex Haley unforgettably brings to life the monumental two-century drama of Kunta Kinte and the six generations who came after him: slaves and freedmen, farmers and blacksmiths, lumber mill workmen and Pullman porters, lawyers and architects...and one author.A national and international phenomenon at the time of its original publication, Roots continues to enthrall readers with its masterful narrative drive and exceptional emotional power, speaking to us all with an undiminished resonance and relevance."In all of us there is a hunger, marrow deep, to know our heritage.... Without this enriching knowledge, there is a hollow yearning no matter what our attainments in life.",Alex HaleyWith an introduction by Michael Eric Dyson RootsTheBook.com

This book is a celebration of life in a bygone era on a South Carolina Sea Island. First published in 1982, ""Daufuskie Island"" vividly captures life on a South Carolina Sea Island before the arrival of resort culture. Located between Hilton Head and Savannah, Daufuskie Island has since become a plush resort destination. Jeanne Moutoussamy-Ashe's photographs document what daily life was like for the last inhabitants to occupy the land prior to the onset of tourist developments. When Moutoussamy-Ashe first came to Daufuskie in 1977, about eighty permanent African American residents lived on the island. Many still spoke their native Gullah dialect. They had only one store, a two-room school, a nursery, and one active church. Moustoussamy-Ashe's photographs show family gatherings, crabbing and fishing, children at play, spiritual life, and the toils of everyday existence. With the utmost respect for her notoriously shy subjects, she captured a powerful vision of their rough-hewn but rewarding life. Redesigned from cover to cover, this twenty-fifth anniversary edition of ""Daufuskie Island"" includes more than fifty previously unpublished photographs from the original contact sheets.

Malcolm X's The Autobiography of Malcolm X was written in collaboration with Alex Haley, author of Roots, and includes an introduction by Paul Gilroy, author of The Black Atlantic, in Penguin Modern Classics.From hustling, drug addiction and armed violence in America's black ghettos Malcolm X turned, in a dramatic prison conversion, to the puritanical fervour of the Black Muslims. As their spokesman he became identified in the white press as a terrifying teacher of race hatred; but to his direct audience, the oppressed American blacks, he brought hope and self-respect. This autobiography (written with Alex Haley) reveals his quick-witted integrity, usually obscured by batteries of frenzied headlines, and the fierce idealism which led him to reject both liberal hypocrisies and black racialism.Vilified by his critics as an anti-white demagogue, Malcolm X gave a voice to unheard African-Americans, bringing them pride, hope and fearlessness, and remains an inspirational and controversial figure.Malcolm X (1925-65), born Malcolm Little in Omaha, and also known as El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz, lost both his parents at a young age. Leaving school early, he soon became part of Harlem's underworld, and in 1946 he was sentenced to ten years' imprisonment. It was in prison that Malcolm X converted to Islam. Paroled in 1952, he became an outspoken defender of Muslim doctrines, formed the Organization of Afro-American Unity in 1963, and had received considerable publicity by the time of his assassination in 1965.If you enjoyed The Autobiography of Malcolm X, you might like Nelson Mandela's No Easy Walk to Freedom, also available in Penguin Modern Classics.'This extraordinary autobiography is a brilliant, painful, important book'The New York Times

A family saga focuses on matriarch Mama Flora, an African American woman whose husband dies at the hand of white landowners.

Now a major BBC drama starring Forest Whitaker, Jonathan Rhys Meyers and Laurence FishburneTracing his ancestry through six generations â?? slaves and freedmen, farmers and blacksmiths, lawyers and architects â?? back to Africa, Alex Haley discovered a sixteen-year-old youth, Kunta Kinte.

Diese einzigartige Familiensaga der schwarzen Amerikaner - die Geschichte von Kunta Kinte, der als Sklave aus Afrika verschleppt wurde, und den sechs nachfolgenden afro-amerikanischen Generationen - ging als Buch und Fernsehfilm um die ganze Welt. Doch "Roots" (Wurzeln) - das ist inzwischen mehr als ein Bestseller. Der Roman wurde zum Inbegriff eines Mythos. "Seit "Onkel Toms Hütte" hat kein Buch über die Sklaverei in Amerika solches Aufsehen erregt und so viele Diskussionen ausgelöst wie "Roots"." (Münchner Merkur) Begonnen hatte alles mit den Geschichten, die Großmutter Cynthia dem kleinen Alex Haley in Henning, Tennessee, erzählte, von ihren Großeltern und deren Großeltern - und noch weiter zurück bis hin zu jenem Mann am Anfang der amerikanischen Überlieferung, den man in der Familie nur den "Afrikaner" nannte. Von jenseits des Ozeans stamme er her, aus einem afrikanischen Dorf unweit eines Flusses namens "Kamby Bolongo", und als er eines Tages auf der Suche gewesen sei nach einem geeigneten Stück Holz für seine Trommel, da hätten ihn vier Männer überfallen, in Ketten gelegt und auf ein für die amerikanischen Kolonien bestimmtes Sklavenschiff verschleppt. Diese Erzählungen haben Alex Haley nie losgelassen, und viele Jahre später, nun schon ein renommierter Schriftsteller, begann er, der Sache mit dem Urvater nachzugehen in einer mühsamen und zeitraubenden Suche nach Beweisen für die Erzählungen seiner Großmutter. Nach zwölf Jahren endlich und vielen Reisen in das Gebiet am Gambia-Fluß gelang es ihm, den "Afrikaner" - Kunta Kinte - zu identifizieren und den Ursprung seiner Familie zu finden. Juffure heißt das Dorf im westafrikanischen Gambia, aus dem im Jahre 1767 der siebzehnjährige Kunta auf der "Lord Ligonier" nach Maryland verschleppt und dort an einen Plantagenbesitzer aus Virginia verkauft worden war. Indem Alex Haley als erster schwarzer amerikanischer Schriftsteller seine Abstammung bis zu den Wurzeln zurückverfolgt, erzählt er zugleich den 25 Millionen schwarzer Amerikaner die Geschichte ihrer Herkunft. Ihnen gibt er mit seinem Buch ihre Identität wieder, und uns allen schlägt er eines der düstersten und dramatischsten Kapitel der Menschheitsgeschichte auf.