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Indeed, this oversimplification is the first point attacked in a BBC-produced series, The Fight Against Slavery, now being syndicated around the U.S. on PBS. Covering the same time period and similar material (the rise and fall of slavery in England's Caribbean colonies), it insists that slavery was a crime not merely against blacks but all humanity. Guilt must be shared by both races, since many slavers were Africans. More important, the series understands that the tragedy is so clear and bitter that it requires no melodramatic underscoring to hold the viewers' emotions in thrall. Slavery is seen as a routine part of 18th century life, so that its cruelties and its sexual implications are smothered by the matter-of-fact acceptance of the institution as a logical extension of the private-property system. The uncomprehending, near universal callousness revealed is infinitely more horrifying than any leering whip wielder can ever be. The dulled inarticulateness of slavery's victims is more terrible and moving than Kunta Kinte's showy rebelliousness. The Fight Against Slavery is, in short, a mature and subtle work. Roots, alas, is rooted in the paperback mentality. It is Mandingo for middlebrows. Richard Schickel