Making Roots
Subtitle: a nation captivated
By: Matthew F. Delmont
Published: 2016
Language: eng
Number of pages: 264
ISBN-13: 9780520291324
Copyright date: 2016
Subjects: Roots (Television program : 1977)
Description: When Alex Haley's book Roots was published by Doubleday in 1976 it became an immediate bestseller. The television series, broadcast by ABC in 1977, became the most popular miniseries of all time, captivating over a hundred million Americans. For the first time, Americans saw slavery as an integral part of the nation's history. With a remake of the series in 2016 by A&E Networks, Roots has again entered the national conversation. In Making Roots, Matthew F. Delmont looks at the importance, contradictions, and limitations of mass culture and examines how Roots pushed the boundaries of history. Delmont investigates the decisions that led Alex Haley, Doubleday, and ABC to invest in the story of Kunta Kinte, uncovering how Haley's original, modest book proposal developed into an unprecedented cultural phenomenon.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (pages 209-246) and index.
Table of contents: title: Before this anger; title: The Gambia; title: Speaking Roots; title: Writing Roots; title: Producing Roots; title: Reading Roots; title: Watching Roots; title: A troublesome property.