Roots: The Book [Some Sunday Context]
This Day (An America 250 History Show)
Jody Avirgan & Radiotopia
4.5 • 1K Ratings
🗓️ 15 February 2026
⏱️ 18 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
For our "Sunday Context" series, we look at Alex Haley's book "Roots" -- how it became a sensation, accusations of plagiarism, and how it led to the TV series.
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| 0:00.0 | Hey everyone, Jody Avergan here. Welcome to our Some Sunday Context series, where we are bringing |
| 0:09.2 | you conversations new and from the archives that try to give you a little context for what we |
| 0:14.4 | are up to here in 26 with our 50 Weeks that shaped America series. Now this past weekend, |
| 0:20.6 | we ran that two-parter on Roots, the TV series, |
| 0:23.7 | and in those episodes, you heard me say that we'd done another episode a couple years ago |
| 0:27.7 | that looked closer at Alex Haley's book, which was a huge sensation before the TV series |
| 0:33.5 | became a total phenomenon. |
| 0:35.6 | And listeners, if I am anything, I am a man of my word. So, without |
| 0:39.7 | further ado, here is that conversation about Roots, the book. And actually, I lied already. |
| 0:45.9 | There's a little further ado. Let me take a moment to encourage you to sign up for our America |
| 0:50.4 | 250 Watch newsletter. Every Thursday, every subscriber to the newsletter gets an addition with a |
| 0:55.5 | roundup of the latest America 250 news that is free for all. And then for paying subscribers, |
| 1:01.5 | in addition to a bunch of bonus stuff, you get early full ad free video and audio access to our |
| 1:07.7 | podcast series throughout the year sent to you on Sunday afternoons. So those of you |
| 1:13.1 | who are paying members will be getting our upcoming two-parter on Iwo Jima, the World War II |
| 1:18.2 | battles in the Pacific and the power of that iconic image of those Marines putting up that flag. |
| 1:24.4 | A really fascinating episode. And if you want to get it early, ad-free, sign up for the |
| 1:28.7 | newsletter as a paying subscriber, or just sign up for the newsletter at whatever level works for you. |
| 1:33.8 | Thisdaypod.com, thisdaypod.com. All right, after the break, roots the book. |
| 1:55.5 | Hello and welcome to this day in esoteric political history from Radiotopia. |
| 1:57.4 | My name is Jody Avergan. |
| 2:05.0 | This day, August 18, 1976, a new book hits the bookshelves. |
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