It's a rare privilege for an author to see, in their lifetime, the broad and deep social and cultural impact the one of their books has. 

One of those who were so privileged was author Alex Haley. His meticulously researched 1976 book Roots, which traced his own family's ancestry from Africa, became not just a best seller, but a cultural milepost. 

It awakened a new pride of family have ancestry among millions of And it Shone a harsh Spotlight on the horrors of slavery, four black and white alike. 

ABC TV recognized the power of roots, and turned it into television's first major miniseries. It was, and remains to this day, a landmark television achievement. 

I met him almost 33 years ago, after he had just finished a novel based, in part, on the kind of characters he popularized in Roots.