“A fascinating exploration of the mysteries ignited by DNA genealogy testing—from the intensely personal and concrete to the existential and unsolvable.” —Tana French, New York Times–bestselling author You swab your cheek or spit in a vial, then send it away to a lab somewhere. Weeks later you get a report that might tell you where your ancestors came from or if you carry certain genetic risks. Or, the report could reveal a long-buried family secret that upends your entire sense of identity. Soon a lark becomes an obsession, a relentless drive to find answers to questions at the core of your being, like “Who am I?” and “Where did I come from?” Welcome to the age of home genetic testing.In The Lost Family, journalist Libby Copeland investigates what happens when we embark on a vast social experiment with little understanding of the ramifications. She explores the culture of genealogy buffs, the science of DNA, and the business of companies like Ancestry and 23andMe, all while tracing the story of one woman, her unusual results, and a relentless methodical drive for answers that becomes a thoroughly modern genetic detective story. Gripping and masterfully told, The Lost Family is a spectacular book on a big, timely subject.“An urgently necessary, powerful book that addresses one of the most complex social and bioethical issues of our time.” —Dani Shapiro, New York Times–bestselling author“Before you spit in that vial, read this book.” —The New York Times Book Review“Impeccably researched . . . up-to-the-minute science meets the philosophy of identity in a poignant, engaging debut.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review) Read more

The Second World War was the defining conflict of the twentieth century and it is one of the most popular and fascinating areas for historical research and for family historians. More records than ever are available to researchers whose relatives served during the war. And this new book by Phil Tomaselli is the perfect guide to how to locate and understand these sources and get the most out of them. He explains how, and from where, service records can be obtained, using real examples showing what they look like and how to interpret them. He also examines records of the military units relatives might have served in so their careers can be followed in graphic detail. The three armed services are covered, along with the merchant navy, the Home Guard, civilian services, prisoners of war, gallantry and campaign medals, casualties, womens services and obscure wartime organizations. Also included are a glossary of service acronyms, information on useful websites, an introduction to the National Archives and details of other useful sources. Read more

**WINNER OF THE COSTA BIOGRAPHY AWARD**Edmund de Waal uncovers the history of a family through a turbulent century through 264 objects.264 wood and ivory carvings, none of them bigger than a matchbox: Edmund de Waal was entranced when he first encountered the collection in his great uncle Iggie's Tokyo apartment. When he later inherited the 'netsuke', they unlocked a story far larger and more dramatic than he could ever have imagined.From a burgeoning empire in Odessa to fin de siecle Paris, from occupied Vienna to Tokyo, Edmund de Waal traces the netsuke's journey through generations of his remarkable family against the backdrop of a tumultuous century.'You have in your hands a masterpiece' Sunday Times'The most brilliant book I've read for years... A rich tale of the pleasure and pains of what it is to be human' Daily Telegraph**ONE OF THE GUARDIAN'S 100 BEST BOOKS OF THE 21st CENTURY* Read more

This book is an essential handbook for those researching their ancestry in the counties of Cornwall, Devon and Somerset and the city of Bristol. It begins with an introduction to the identity of The West Country, its geography and history over the centuries. It then guides family historians through the wealth of historical records available both online and in archives and libraries in order to add the flesh to the bones of the names of ancestors on their family trees.West Country expert Kirsty Gray highlights fascinating details that can be uncovered about the places where our ancestors lived, their occupations and the distinctive features, identity and character of the West Country itself. She provides case studies of some notable individuals from the counties as well as records of those individuals who never hit the headlines.This practical and informative guide is a must have for readers wishing to find out more about all aspects of life in this area of England. Read more

“Everyone seeking Irish ancestors will benefit immensely from using this complete resource. It is easy to understand and concise. The 250 links alone will quickly yield results and take a researcher, new or seasoned, into the best Irish genealogy sources currently available. The electronic format of this information makes searching the internet easy and direct.I have been involved in genealogy research since before we first published the Legacy Family Tree software in 1997 and I find “Help! I have Irish Ancestors!” to be one of the best resources.”—David Berdan, co-creator of Legacy Family Tree SoftwareThe island of Ireland is a lush, beautiful and mystical land filled with a long history of emigration of their inhabitants to other countries. The Irish are friendly with strong family values and an appreciation for tradition. Their land and history, their homes and stories, and their lives of love and loss stretch back thousands of years into the mists of time. The current population of Ireland is about seven million individuals, but it is estimated that up to 70 million people in the world have Irish forebears.Help! I Have Irish ancestors! Is a quick reference filled with time-tested strategies for finding your Irish people. The thrill and awakening you’ll experience in this process of discovery will be at once satisfying and challenging. Seeking your family that has gone before is a singular personal voyage through the years and places and faces.This marvelous little book is one of the most condensed sources ever written on this incredible topic and steers you from start to finish, from wherever you are right now in your research: step one or step one hundred, it’s all in this text. The 250 vital hyperlinks will direct you to the most useful and productive information you’ll need to find your kin and bind their hearts to yours. There’s help available too. You don’t have to go it alone. Start today and see just how far you can go. Read more

How to use British census records in your genealogical research—includes an appendix of key resources.The census is an essential survey of our population, and it is a source of basic information for local and national government and for various organizations dealing with education, housing, health and transport. Providing the researcher with a fascinating insight into who we were in the past, Emma Jolly’s new handbook is a useful tool for anyone keen to discover their family history. With detailed, accessible and authoritative coverage, it is full of advice on how to explore and get the most from the records.Each census from 1841 to 1911 is described in detail, and later censuses are analyzed too. The main focus is on the census in England and Wales, but censuses in Scotland, Ireland, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man are all examined and the differences explained. Particular emphasis is placed on the rapidly expanding number of websites that offer census information, making the process of research far easier to carry out. The extensive appendix gathers together all the key resources in one place.Emma Jolly’s guide is an ideal introduction and tool for anyone who is researching the life and times of an ancestor. Read more

_____________________________________THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLERWINNER OF THE JQ WINGATE PRIZE 2015SHORTLISTED FOR THE COSTA BIOGRAPHY AWARD'A gripping thriller, an unspeakable crime, an essential history.' JOHN LE CARRÉ_____________________________________Hanns Alexander was the son of a prosperous German family who fled Berlin for London in the 1930s, becoming an investigator of war crimes. Rudolf Höss was a farmer and soldier who became the Kommandant of Auschwitz Concentration Camp and oversaw the deaths of over a million men, women and children.The hunt was on.In the aftermath of the Second World War, the first British War Crimes Investigation Team is assembled to hunt down the senior Nazi officials responsible for the greatest atrocities the world has ever seen. Lieutenant Hanns Alexander is one of the lead investigators, Rudolf Höss his most elusive target.In this book Thomas Harding reveals for the very first time the full account of Höss’ capture. Moving from the Middle-Eastern campaigns of the First World War to bohemian Berlin in the 1920s, to the horror of the concentration camps and the trials in Belsen and Nuremberg, Hanns and Rudolf tells the story of two German men whose lives diverged, and intersected, in an astonishing way. Read more

Parish records are essential sources for family and local historians, and Stuart Raymond's handbook is an invaluable guide to them. He explores and explains the fascinating and varied historical and personal information they contain. His is the first thoroughgoing survey of these resources to be published for over three decades. In a concise, easy-to-follow text he describes where these important records can be found and demonstrates how they can be used. Records relating to the poor laws, apprentices, the church, tithes, enclosures and charities are all covered. The emphasis throughout is on understanding their original purpose and on revealing how relevant they are for researchers today. Compelling insights into individual lives and communities in the past can be gleaned from them, and they are especially useful when they are combined with other major sources, such as the census.Your Ancestors' Parish Records is an excellent introduction to this key area of family and local history research it is a book that all family and local historians should have on their shelf. Read more

An extensively revised and updated edition of Dr Janet Few's indispensable guide to one place studies, first published in 2014. A One Place Study involves dissecting a small, definable, geographical area, to examine the individuals, buildings and processes of the past, in as much detail as possible. Our ancestors did not live in isolation. To understand these ancestors, they need to be ‘put in their place’ by investigating the community of which they were a part. A One Place Study brings family and local history together, to the benefit of both fields. Ranging from how to choose your place, through locating sources, collating and interpreting your data, to publishing your findings; this book is suitable for experienced researchers as well as those new to One Place Studies. Elements that a One Place Study might incorporate and sources that could be used, are explained. Although sources are described, it is not primarily about the sources themselves. The emphasis is on how these records might be used and over thirty mini-projects for the one place researcher are suggested. Although the sources described apply primarily to One Place Studies in England and Wales, many of the techniques and suggestions are relevant to those whose places are elsewhere. One Place Studies are not just about indexing documents and collecting data. Ultimately they are about using that data to answer questions about a community, its residents and their lives. They are about making connections, between individuals, between inhabitants and locations and between people, places and events. In this way, it is possible to gain an insight into the lives of past residents and shed light on issues such as household composition, occupational structure, migration patterns and residential persistence. This book suggests some of the ways in which this might be done Read more

Bryan Sykes, the world's first genetic archaeologist, takes us on a journey around the family tree of Britain and Ireland, to reveal how our tribal history still colours the country today.In 54BC Julius Caesar launched the first Roman invasion of Britain. His was the first detailed account of the Celtic tribes that inhabited the Isles. But where had they come from and how long had they been there? When the Romans eventually left five hundred years later, they were succeeded by invasions of Anglo-Saxons, Vikings and Normans. Did these successive invasions obliterate the genetic legacy of the Celts, or have very little effect?After two decades tracing the genetic origins of peoples from all over the world, Bryan Sykes has now turned the spotlight on his own back yard. In a major research programme, the first of its kind, he set out to test the DNA of over 10,000 volunteers from across Britain and Ireland with the specific aim of answering this very question: what is our modern genetic make-up and what does it tell us of our tribal past? Are the modern people of the Isles a delicious genetic cocktail? Or did the invaders keep mostly to themselves forming separate genetic layers within the Isles? As his findings came in, Bryan Sykes discovered that the genetic evidence revealed often very different stories to the conventional accounts coming from history and archaeology. Blood of the Isles reveals the nature of our genetic make-up as never before and what this says about our attitudes to ourselves, each other, and to our past. It is a gripping story that will fascinate and surprise with its conclusions. Read more

At its height Renaissance Florence was a centre of enormous wealth, power and influence. A republican city-state funded by trade and banking, its often bloody political scene was dominated by rich mercantile families, the most famous of which were the Medici. This enthralling book charts the family’s huge influence on the political, economic and cultural history of Florence. Beginning in the early 1430s with the rise of the dynasty under the near-legendary Cosimo de Medici, it moves through their golden era as patrons of some of the most remarkable artists and architects of the Renaissance, to the era of the Medici Popes and Grand Dukes, Florence’s slide into decay and bankruptcy, and the end, in 1737, of the Medici line. Read more

“Inspirational and very useful . . . quite literally packed with valuable tips and exercises and is almost a mini-course in writing your family history.”—Bedfordshire Family History Society   Gill Blanchard’s practical step-by-step guide to writing a family history is designed for anyone who wants to bring their ancestors’ stories to life. She looks at ways of overcoming the particular problems family historians face when writing a family history—how to deal with gaps in knowledge, how to describe generations of people who did the same jobs or lived in the same area, how to cover the numerous births, marriages and deaths that occur, and when to stop researching and start writing.   Her book provides examples to help readers find their own writing style, deal with family stories, missing pieces of information and anomalies. It also offers advice on key aspects of composition, such as adding local and social history context and using secondary material. The focus throughout is on how to develop a story from beginning to end.   Exercises are a key feature of the text. There is guidance on the various formats a family history can take and how to choose the appropriate one, with examples of format and layout. Production and publishing are also covered—books, booklets, newsletters, websites, blogs and ebooks.   “If you’re toying with the idea of writing a family history-themed book, whether it be for general publication or simply for family members, read this first and then take the plunge. Who knows, it could be a bestseller!”—Family Tree Magazine Read more

“With its practical slant and focus on demystifying unfamiliar property documents, this is the perfect introduction to tracing a house history.” —Family Tree MagazineAnyone who wants to find out about the history of their house—of their home—needs to read this compact, practical handbook. Whether you live in a manor house or on a planned estate, in a laborer’s cottage, a tied house, a Victorian terrace, a twentieth-century council house or a converted warehouse—this is the book for you. In a series of concise, information-filled chapters, Gill Blanchard shows you how to trace the history of your house or flat, how to gain an insight into the lives of the people who lived in it before you, and how to fit it into the wider history of your neighborhood.A wealth of historical evidence is available in libraries, archives and record offices, in books and online, and this is the ideal introduction to it. Gill Blanchard explores these resources in depth, explains their significance and directs the researcher to the most relevant, and revealing, aspects of them. She makes the research process understandable, accessible and fun, and in the process, she demystifies the sometimes-obscure language and layout of the documents that researchers will come up against.“This book is more than a guide to researching the history of your house, or a house of interest. It is a font of interest if you are seeking to research and understand the social and domestic lives of people and their communities from early times.” —Federation of Family History Societies Read more

Tracing Your Pre-Victorian Ancestors is the ideal handbook for family historians whose research has reached back to the early nineteenth century and are finding it difficult to go further. John Wintrip guides readers through all the steps they can take in order to delve even more deeply into the past. Carrying research through to earlier periods is more challenging because church registers recorded less information than civil registration records and little census data is available. Researchers often encounter obstacles they don't know how to overcome. But, as this book demonstrates, greater understanding of the sources and the specific records within them, along with a wider knowledge of the historical context, often allows progress to be made. Most important, John Wintrip concentrates on how to do the research on the practical steps that can be taken in order to break through these barriers. He looks at online services, archives and their catalogues, factors that can influence the outcome of research, wider family relationships, missing ancestors and mistaken identity. Throughout the book he emphasizes the process of research and the variety of resources and search tools that can be used. Read more

In her first two books, Sheila Davis classified the major song forms and enduring principles that have been honored for decades by America's foremost songwriters. Those books have become required reading in music courses from NYU to UCLA.In The Songwriters Idea Book, Davis goes one step further, giving you 40 strategies for designing distinctive songs. You'll break new ground in your own songwriting by learning about the inherent relationship between language style, personality type and the brain.    • You'll go, step by step, through the creative process as you activate, incubate, separate and discriminate.   • You'll learn to use the whole-brain techniques of imaging, brainstorming and clustering.   • You'll expand your skilled use of figurative language with paragrams, metonyms, synecdoche and antonomasia.   • You'll be challenged to design metaphors, form symbols, make puns and coin words.   • And, you'll learn how to prevent writer's block, increase your productivity and maintain your creative flow. Over 100 successful student lyrics from pop, country, cabaret, and theater serve as role-models to illustrate the "whole-brain" songwriting process. Read more

Madresfield Court is an arrestingly romantic stately home in the Malvern Hills in Worcestershire. It has been continuously owned and lived in by the same family, the Lygons, back to the time of the Domesday Book, and, unusually, remains in the family's hands to this day. Inside, it is a very private, unmistakably English, manor house; a lived-in family home where the bejewelled sits next to the threadbare. The house and the family were the real inspiration for Brideshead Revisited: Evelyn Waugh was a regular visitor, and based his story of the doomed Marchmain family on the Lygons.Never before open to the public, the doors of Madresfield have now swung open to allow Jane Mulvagh to explore its treasures and secrets. And so the rich, dramatic history of one landed family unfolds in parallel with the history of England itself over a millennium, from the Lygon who conspired to overthrow Queen Mary in the Dudley plot; through the tale of the disputed legacy that inspired Dickens' Bleak House; to the secret love behind Elgar's Enigma Variations; and the story of the scandal of Lord Beauchamp, the disgraced 7th Earl. Read more

Almost all of us have a tradesman or craftsman a butcher, baker or candlestick maker somewhere in our ancestry, and Adle Emm's handbook is the perfect guide to finding out about them about their lives, their work and the world they lived in. She introduces the many trades and crafts, looks at their practices and long traditions, and identifies and explains the many sources you can go to in order to discover more about them and their families. Chapters cover the guilds, the merchants, shopkeepers, builders, smiths and metalworkers, cordwainers and shoemakers, tailors and dressmakers, coopers, wheelwrights and carriage-makers, and a long list of other trades and crafts. The training and apprenticeships of individuals who worked in these trades and crafts are described, as are their skills and working conditions and the genealogical resources that preserve their history and give an insight into their lives. A chapter covers the general sources that researchers can turn to the National Archives, the census, newspapers, wills, and websites and gives advice on how to use them. Adle Emm's introduction will be fascinating reading for anyone who is researching the social or family history of trades and crafts. Read more

Ever wondered where your first name came from? Discover the history behind English first names and how they evolved . . . First names are steeped in history and culture and have much to tell us about our ancestors, their lives and beliefs. Not only can parental choice be influenced by tradition and family but also by fashion. In the modern era names have arisen through radio, television, films as well as internet personalities. The Amazon BESTSELLING AUTHOR WILLIAM LEWIS uncovers the origins and development of first names in the Western World in this highly entertaining book. This unique and fascinating insight takes the reader from the names of ancient Britons in Roman times through to the modern day and the cult of the celebrity. From Aaron to Zoe ‘What’s in your First Name’ discusses the history of over 1,500 names in common use in English, including the very latest names as well as those dating back over 2,000 years. PRAISE FOR WILLIAM LEWIS’S OTHER BOOKS “Wonderful little book” “Scholarly and detailed, but immensely readable” “The book is one of the most comprehensive I’ve read on the subject” Whether you want to understand the origins of your own first name or that of your child's Buy 'What’s in your First Name?' today to discover the fascinating origins of hundreds of names in Britain and around the world Read more

500 Best Genealogy & Family History Tips could best be described as a “brain dump” of me, Thomas MacEntee, and my many years of knowledge about genealogy and family history. Basically, what I’ve done is to extract my favorite tips and tricks from over 85 presentations, 40 cheat sheets, 10 books and numerous articles. In addition, I’ve reviewed the social media posts and conversations from Facebook, Twitter, and other platforms to highlight those issues most important to today’s genealogists.What will you find in this “best tips” guide? Everything from practical ways to use Google, advice on protecting your privacy online, information about secret or little known resources for genealogy research, and more. The best way to use this guide is to browse the Table of Contents to find a topic of interest. Also simply search the book when trying to find a solution to a problem, such as how to cite a source or locate an app to generate bibliographic information.I hope you enjoy 500 Best Genealogy & Family History Tips and put it to good use while you hunt for ancestors. 500 Best Genealogy & Family History Tips covers a wide range of topics including:genealogy research methodology and strategyhow to use websites such as Google and Internet Archive to find your ancestorsrealizing the power of Facebook, Instagram and other social media platforms for genealogypreserving family photos and storiesstaying safe using social mediahow to secure your genealogy data on your computer and in the cloudand more! Read more

Jean Kirkpatrick is a professional genealogist living in the picturesque historic village of Rugby, Tennessee. Three of her clients are from different parts of the country with completely different backgrounds. Samantha McDougal is a professional entertainer with a beautiful voice who travels the world performing Celtic music. Robert Stuart Everett is a retired vocational high school teacher in Tampa, Florida. Timothy Lowery is the director of the Public Art Program at the Knoxville Museum of Art. These three seem to have nothing in common, but this is about to change and the change may not be what any of them had in mind when they hired Jean to begin a search for their ancestors. Jean suspects a link between the three. Jean Kirkpatrick has always enjoyed her work; however, she never thought she would be the one to uncover a mystery that might lead to murder. And if it is murder, it will affect the lives of all three of her new clients.With the help of her friend and researcher, Lilly Donovan, Jean carefully begins to unravel the mystery that will take her into the historical records of the United States, England, and Scotland….and to answers concerning a very special painting that in some way will help to solve the mystery. Read more