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From: "GS Gary Smith (1555)" <>
Subject: RE: [APG] Family History Book Recommendations
Date: Thu, 31 Jul 2003 12:51:35 -0400


Elissa,

You are correct, it could have been published as a murder mystery and no one
would have known they were being genealogically enlightened.

Gary
-----Original Message-----
From: Elissa Scalise Powell, CGRS [mailto:]
Sent:Thursday, July 31, 2003 10:38 AM
To:
Subject:RE: [APG] Family History Book Recommendations

My favorite is John Colletta's "Only a Few Bones" (published in 2000 by
Direct Descent, 1245 Walter St., SE, Washington, DC 20003). You can see the
Prologue from the book at www.GenealogyJohn.com. This book reads like a
murder mystery with 12 different scenarios for the reason why his ancestor
died. It has almost 80 pages of endnotes which are also interesting reading.
(He knows that the horse slogged through mud on a certain trip because the
newspaper from that day said it had rained.)

I recommend this book to my students for an example of an end goal of their
research. I recommend it to anyone who likes a good historical story with
drama and real characters.

-- Elissa (who is not getting any compensation for the above. <g>)

> -----Original Message-----
> From: [mailto:]
> Sent: Thursday, July 31, 2003 9:51 AM
> To:
> Subject: [APG] Family History Book Recommendations
>
>
> I have a friend (MA in American History with some Ph.D.
> work) who has
> been working on her family history and wants to self-publish. In
> her words,
> she's not interested in doing a book with "just the begats" but one that
> dwells at least as much on the historical context as on the
> genealogy. I've
> already directed her to the NGS Quarterly Family History Writing
> contest examples
> and to our local librarian for examples in our library's collection.
> However, I'm interested in any suggestions from list
> members of good
> family histories that stress historical context. Thanks.
> Bob Keener
>
>
> ==== APG Mailing List ====
> The Association of Professional Genealogists
> http://www.apgen.org/publications/apg-l/index.html
>
>

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