Harvard University professor and author Henry Louis Gates, Jr. begins Life Upon These Shores (Knopf Doubleday, 512 pp., $50) with the arrival of the first Africans in Jamestown and continues on through American history, telling the stories of African-Americans with accompanying photos, illustrations, and documents. Gates discusses events from the Civil War to the civil rights movement as he leads up to the 2008 election of President Barack Obama.