Genealogy Book Reviews

Though Americans have always been interested in their families’ origins, the roots of our genealogical past haven’t been fully documented until now. Frenchman François Weil, Chancellor of the Universities of Paris, chronicles this American fascination with ancestry in Family Trees: A History of Genealogy in America (Harvard University Press). 

James H. Johnston constructs From Slave Ship to Harvard: Yarrow Mamout and the History of an African American Family (Fordham University Press) from diaries, court records, photographs and more. This genealogical biography covers six generations of a Maryland African-American family, from the arrival of slave Yarrow Mamount to his modern descendants.

Best-known for her source analysis must-have Evidence Explained, Elizabeth Shown Mills provides at-a-glance tips in her four-page Quick Sheet Historical Biographer’s Guide to the Research Process (Genealogical Publishing Co.). Mills breaks down the model for conducting historical research so you can follow the research methods that pros and scholars use.