Roots Quest

In a pellucid style that belies the book's rigorous analytical framework, JackieHogan provides the reader with both the underlying motives for engaging in genealogical research and rich descriptive accounts of how people go about connecting with their ancestral pasts. The result is a rich tapestry of evidence on a phenomenon that has been monetized and translated into entertainment, while nevertheless offering people the prospect of reaching an authentic grounding for their identities. This humane book deserves a broad readership. -- Peter Kivisto, Augustana College
Genealogists spend countless hours putting their ancestors under a microscope, but now it's our turn. In Roots Quest, sociologist Jackie Hogan methodically ferrets out our secrets to see what makes us tick. The investigators have now been thoroughly investigated! -- Megan Smolenyak, author of Hey, America, Your Roots Are Showing
[Hogan] argues that globalization, secularization, hypermobility, and the virtualization of social life have destabilized individual and collective identities, and that "roots quests" in the U.S. evince a hunger for authenticity and deep connection with anything. . . Hogan approaches family historians' increasingly global searches for community, self-knowledge, and a kind of secular immortality with compassion and insight. Readers interested in a scholarly look at memory work, popular understandings of heritage and kinship, or identity formation in consumer society will find much of interest here.
[Hogan] presents a well-researched treatise on various aspects of genealogy. Rather than a how-to, this is an in-depth exploration of the emotional, social, philosophical, and psychological reasons why people want to know where they came from. . . . The end result of a true roots quest, then, is not so much about solving a mystery as it is about deepening one's self-identity and sense of belonging. Additionally, readers will discover the limits of DNA testing and why vast differences separate a tourist searching for her Irish roots versus someone searching for his Ghanaian ones. . . . a rich addition. * Booklist *