Alex Haley’s landmark book, Roots, began in Reader’s Digest, ... when I interviewed my parents and drew up my first family tree on the very day after we buried my father’s father.

George Haley (right) is shown with his brothers Alex (center) and Julius. (Special to The Commercial/Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas) We've got roots.

Alex Haley was born Aug. 11, 1921, in Ithaca, New York, although he wasn't there long, according to the biography on his website. Just six weeks after his birth, Haley's parents, Simon and Bertha ...