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Sign up todayFinding Your Roots
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Learn moreWho are we, and where do we come from? The fundamental drive to answer these questions is at the heart of Finding Your Roots, the companion book to the hit PBS documentary series. As Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr. shows us, the tools of cutting-edge genomics and deep genealogical research now allow us to learn more about our roots, looking further back in time than ever before. Gates' investigations take on the personal and genealogical histories of more than twenty luminaries, including Congressman John Lewis, actor Robert Downey Jr., CNN medical correspondent Sanjay Gupta, former secretary of labor Linda Chavez, and comedian Margaret Cho. Interwoven with their moving stories of immigration, assimilation, strife, and success is practical information for amateur genealogists just beginning archival research on their own families' roots. Gates also details the advances in genetic research now available to the public. The result is an illuminating exploration of who we are, how we lost track of our roots, and how we can find them again.
Henry Louis Gates Jr. is the director of the W. E. B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research and the holder of the distinguished Alphonse Fletcher Jr. University Professorship at Harvard. The author of several award-winning works of literary criticism, he also wrote the memoir Colored People; The Future of the Race, coauthored with Cornel West; and Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Black Man.
Bill Andrew Quinnย is a veteran in the voice-over world. In addition to hundreds of commercials and audiobooks, his many credits include work on The Sopranos,ย The Montel Williams Show, andย Showtime at the Apollo, as well as characters forย Grand Theft Auto IVย and other video games. Totinos, Corona, Lincoln-Mercury, and McDonaldโs are among his many television campaign clients.
Reviews
โWho am I? Why am I here? Where am I headed? These are all fundamental questions to which every human being, regardless of race, gender, or background, wants answers. Professor Gates provides these answers to the people he profiles, but [Finding Your Roots] also encourage[s] viewers to explore their own family histories so they can know more about themselves.โ
โAn accessible and engaging book, Finding Your Roots is a veritable how-to guide for readers to explore their own past. Henry Louis Gates Jr. brings a wealth of genealogical research expertise to his interviews, which are witty, knowledgeable, and touchingโฆThroughout, Gates imbues the stories with a kind of intimacy that speaks to all of us in our personal journeys searching for our own histories. Thereโs nothing else quite like it.โ
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