The Juggler's Children: A Journey into Family, Legend and the Genes that Bind Us
Carolyn Abraham
Language: English
Pages: 400
ISBN: 0679314598
Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub
Carolyn Abraham explores the stunning power and ethical pitfalls of using genetic tests to answer questions of genealogy--by cracking the genome of her own family.
Recently, tens of thousands of people have been drawn to mail-order DNA tests to learn about their family roots. Abraham investigates whether this burgeoning new science can help solve 2 mysteries that have haunted her multi-racial family for more than a century. Both hinge on her enigmatic great-grandfathers--a hero who died young and a scoundrel who disappeared. Can the DNA they left behind reveal their stories from beyond the grave?
Armed with DNA kits, Abraham criss-crosses the globe, taking cells from relatives and strangers, a genetic journey that turns up far more than she bargained for--ugly truths and moral quandaries. With lively writing and a compelling personal narrative, The Juggler's Children tackles profound questions around the genetics of identity, race and humanity, and tells a big story about our small world, with vivid proof that genes bind us all to the branches of one family tree.
the Y of a man who knew enough to write a book about his heritage, a book that led me, in part, to our Crooks story. But Longtang John Lin and my father cannot help each other much with their family history—neither one knows it. John’s knowledge reaches back only to his paternal grandfather, who left Fujian for Taiwan. It was one reason he had been drawn to the Genographic Project in the first place, to try to learn more about his ancestry in mainland China. He’d never had the chance to ask his
liberties.” The Observer, Aug. 8, 2004. “More women than men have kids, more female ancestors in the tree: Evolutionary Biology; Genes expose secrets of sex on the side.” Genomics and Genetics Weekly, Oct. 15, 2004. Nicol, Mark, and Ross Slater, “I’ve just been told I’m an African Warrior … and my friends at the Bowls Club are astonished.” The Mail on Sunday, Jan. 28, 2007. Olson, Steve, “The Royal We.” The Atlantic, May 2002. Ramachandran, R. “The genetics of caste.” Frontline (India’s
reference located at The National Archives online, File 7237/48. http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/a2a/records.aspx?cat=059-lpj7_12027-15831&cid=1-1-551-1189#1-1-551-1189 British Library online: www.bl.uk/ Cacciottolo, Mario, “My ancestor traded in human misery,” BBC News, June 23, 2006. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/5105328.stm Chandler, Arthur, “On the Symbolism of Juggling: The Moral and Aesthetic Implications of the Mastery of Falling Objects.” The Journal of Popular
proving again that it had a remarkable power to solve old family mysteries. On the heels of the kohanim report, a retired pathology professor turned to the Y to see if it could finally put to rest the endless whispers about a president and a slave girl. Eugene Foster of Tufts University in Virginia had been talking with an amateur historian friend about the relentless speculation that Thomas Jefferson, America’s third president and principal author of the Declaration of Independence, had
grandfather, who presumably had been Mariamal’s father. John Abraham’s profession was noted with every baptism. Whatever else he is said to have done for a living, he was always listed as a carpenter, even an “artisan Chinaman carpenter.” If he did build, he must have had steady work during the British-led construction boom, but it was odd that Julie never mentioned his woodworking, only his glassware, his candied peel and his juggling. The final mention of my grandparents in the records