30th Anniversary Edition of Roots Connects America to its Past

New York, NY (PRWEB) May 7, 2007

ROOTS by Alex Haley, one of the most groundbreaking and important books ever written on race in America, will be published in a special 30th anniversary commemorative edition. Renowned author and professor Michael Eric Dyson will provide the introduction for the book. ROOTS: The 30th Anniversary Edition, published by Vanguard Press, will also contain a special eight-page insert on the struggles Haley faced in his ten-year journey to get his book published, in the author's own words. The new publication will coincide with Warner Home Video's release of a 30th anniversary DVD edition of ROOTS that will include news and special features; both will be issued on May 22.

The eight-page insert is a transcription of an October 1991 talk to the employees of Reader's Digest, where he was a contributor for more than 40 years and where the first excerpts from ROOTS appeared two years before the book's publication, as part of the company's Distinguished Speakers Series. Haley's ties with Reader's Digest were deep: In 1966, Haley was having lunch with several editors of Reader's Digest, including co-founder Lila Achenson Wallace, when he told them about his dream to trace his family's lineage back to Africa; he left that lunch with a contract to help fund his research and writing.

ROOTS fostered an unprecedented dialogue about the past but also the then present day 1970s and how America had fared since the days of slavery, a discourse that yet resonates. First published in 1976, the book won the 1977 National Book award and a special Pulitzer Prize, going on to sell more than 10 million copies. It further exploded into the public's consciousness with the 1977 release of ROOTS: The Miniseries, which was watched, remarkably, by 130 million people.

In addition to the book re-release and the Warner Home Video DVD anniversary set, an unprecedented, synergistic effort has sprung up around the title, as a number of companies come together to spotlight ROOTS. TV One will re-air the miniseries beginning Easter Sunday, April 8, presented by African Ancestry. Reader's Digest will publish a print-on-demand book of Haley's articles previously printed in their publication called Alex Haley: The Man Who Traced America's ROOTS, with an accompanying DVD with audio from famous figures on what Roots meant to them. Sony Reader will issue the title as an e-book. BBC Audio will issue the first-ever audio book of ROOTS. The major book sellers, including Borders and Wal-Mart, are treating the launch as they do bestsellers, and Black Expressions Book Club is planning a major promotion. Gather.com will have a multi-week content rich dedicated site in cooperation with Borders.

"These companies are coming together to give ROOTS the reintroduction it deserves because the drama that unfolds in ROOTS is the very drama of America's past," said Vanguard Press Vice President and Publisher, Roger Cooper. "ROOTS has shed light on one of the darkest eras of our nation's past, all while touching the hearts of Americans of every stripe and providing a collective understanding of that history."

Vanguard Press is also considering a new hardcover edition for fall 2007 that would include essays by prominent thinkers on ROOTS and America 30 years later, and a mass market edition sometime in 2007.

About The Perseus Books Group
Founded in 1997 and built through a series of acquisitions and start-ups, The Perseus Books Group is an independent company committee to enabling independent publishers to reach their potential whether those publishers are Perseus-owned, joint ventures or owned by third parties. Member publishing programs include Basic Books, Basic Civitas, Counterpoint, Da Capo Press, Running Press, Vanguard Press and Westview Press, as well as a partnership with Public Affairs. Through Perseus Distribution Services, The Perseus Books group provides services for more than 50 independent publishers, including Abbeville, Assouline, Distributed Art Publishers, Harvard Business School Press, Planeta, Taschen and University of Michigan Press. As a result of the acquisition of Consortium, The Perseus Books Group also distributes and provides support to more than 100 independent publishers from the United States, Canada, Europe, India and Australia, including City Lights Publishers, Copper Canyon Press, The Feminist Press, New Society Publishers, Ocean Press, Seven Stories Press and Soho Press, among others.

Non-fiction
Trade paperback, 912 pages, $15.95, ISBN: 1-5931-5449-6

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