François Weil is the Chancellor of the Universities of Paris. He is professor of history and a former president of the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales.
For a nation…so committed presumably to the rejection of birth and
blood, the people of theUnited States throughout their history have
devoted an enormous amount of energy, time, and money to genealogy
and the search for ancestors. To explain this anomaly—indeed, to
explain how the search for ancestors evolved in different forms
over four centuries and eventually became a distinctly American
mode of genealogy—is the burden of François Weil’s well-researched
and readable book, Family Trees. Weil, who is chancellor of the
Universities of Paris and professor of history at the École des
Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, knows America well, but he has
sufficient distance to be honest and dispassionate about it. The
result is a succinct history of genealogy in a nation that
supposedly denies the importance of birth and ancestors.
*New York Review of Books*
[An] excellent, long-overdue survey.
*Harper’s*
[Weil] displays both thoroughness and grounding as he stakes out
the contours of his American genealogical culture into four
distinct periods, with successive dominant meanings and
touchstones… Weil convincingly delineates the fact that origins
matter; they fill many needs, from the noble to the nasty.
*Kirkus Reviews*
Weil considers why America’s present- and future-oriented society
with blended cultural values so treasures knowledge of group
identities… Clear, fully annotated, subtly analyzed, timely, and
nuanced, this book offers both general and academic readers a new
view of genealogical research in America in a ‘why they did it’
rather than a ‘how to do it’ presentation.
*Library Journal*
Fascinating… Like the families it’s meant to chronicle, genealogy
itself has changed quite a bit over time, but it remains, as ever,
a dynamic and captivating quest.
*Publishers Weekly*
This elegant social and cultural history of genealogy in America is
marked by meticulous research and astute comparisons with Europe as
American practices gradually diverged. The central theme of
democratization flowing, ebbing, and then flowing once again in the
twentieth century is brilliantly realized.
*Michael Kammen, past president of the Organization of American
Historians*
Acutely conscious of the irony that a culture which prizes novelty
is also preoccupied with genealogy, François Weil’s Family Trees
provides a revealing window into four centuries of cultural
transformation. A sweeping and eloquent account of how a
present-minded, future-facing people look to their personal past to
understand who they truly are.
*Steven Mintz, author of Huck’s Raft: A History of American
Childhood*
Brilliantly conceived, fresh in insight, and gracefully executed,
François Weil’s book offers a rich and entertaining account of the
American fascination with lineage and identity. In his hands
genealogy provides a rich measure of the changing parameters of
nationalism and the accommodation of pluralism.
*Thomas Bender, author of A Nation Among Nations: America’s
Place in World History*
A fascinating exploration of the uniquely American obsession with
genealogy, François Weil’s Family Trees is cultural history at its
very best—a tour de force.
*Ariela Gross, author of What Blood Won’t Tell: A History of
Race on Trial in America*
|
Ask a Question About this Product More... |
|
