![]() In Newton’s birth family, some breaks have never healed. Genealogy sites like Ancestry, which meld DNA testing and a massive computer base of records and research, have opened the door to stories of quiet heroism, closeted villainy and unimaginable pain.įor her mostly revelatory new memoir, “ Ancestor Trouble,” blogger, critic and essayist Maud Newton has spent the last several years reckoning with the personal and historical legacy of her ancestors, starting with her fractured immediate family and working backward in time, through and beyond her great-grandparents. What do we owe our ancestors, and what claim do they have on us? How do we shoulder the legacy of their shortcomings, sins and crimes? These questions cloud our country’s history and dog the conscience of anyone who has wandered into the weeds of and stumbled on a handwritten will revealing that their forebears owned slaves (and parceled them out to their children when they died). If you buy books linked on our site, The Times may earn a commission from, whose fees support independent bookstores. Ancestor Trouble: A Reckoning and a Reconciliation ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |