Humans have a natural curiosity about who they are and where they came from. Genealogy, or the study of tracing a line of descent, is the term for a wide variety of activities that lead us to clues about our ancestors. For many, genealogy is a hobby, pastime, or recreational activity they engage in on an occasional basis. The more dedicated spend countless hours combing through family religious texts, physical documents, photo albums, digital files, and DNA test results to construct a family history. Genealogy is also a profitable and lucrative business. For example, Ancestry.com claims over three million customers and one billion dollars in revenue. Historian Francesca Morgan has written a groundbreaking and thought-provoking work that addresses the politics and practice of genealogy and is the first comprehensive longue durée study of the topic in the United States.

A Nation of Descendants is a “a political history of genealogists...

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