The Genetic Strand: Exploring a Family History Through DNA (Hardcover)

by Edward Ball (Author)

No customer reviews yet. Be the first.

List Price:	CDN$ 28.99
Price:	CDN$ 18.26 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over CDN$ 39. Details
You Save:	CDN$ 10.73 (37%)
	o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o

In Stock.
Ships from and sold by Amazon.ca. Gift-wrap available.

Only 1 left in stock--order soon (more on the way).

Ordering for Christmas? To ensure delivery by December 24 to Toronto, Ottawa, or Montreal, choose Express at checkout. Read more about holiday shipping.

12 new from CDN$ 11.99 10 used from CDN$ 0.04

Frequently Bought Together

Product Details

Hardcover: 288 pages
Publisher: Simon & Schuster; 1 edition (Nov 6 2007)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0743266587
ISBN-13: 978-0743266581
Product Dimensions: 21.6 x 15 x 2.8 cm
Shipping Weight: 386 g
Average Customer Review: No customer reviews yet. Be the first.
Amazon.ca Sales Rank: #416,354 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)
Popular in this category:
#26 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Regional U.S. > South

Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?

See Complete Table of Contents

Product Description

From Publishers Weekly

Some locks of hair found in the secret compartment of a family heirloom was the catalyst for Ball, a National Book Award winner for Slaves in the Family, to embark on a genetic family history. He became animated with the thought that through DNA analysis of the hair he could discover some truths about his Ball ancestry, such as whether his father's maternal grandmother, Kate Fuller, was part African-American. As he relates his experiences with various DNA labs, Ball also describes the hard science behind DNA forensics, informed by conversations with experts in the field. But the account's drama comes from a finding that suggests a Native American ancestor in his family tree. Another lab contradicts this evidence, and the error affects Ball profoundly, leading him to rail about the fallibility of science, the dangers of making science the new religion and scientists, specifically molecular biologists, the new priests. Forensic DNA testing has become hot (exemplified by Henry Louis Gates Jr.'s televised testing results), and as Ball's own emotions show, is also playing into Americans' sense of identity. Ball's tale will intrigue America's many amateur genealogists and also serve as a cautionary tale. (Nov. 6)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review

"Powerful...Ball contributes to at least partly reclaiming the humanity slavery worked to obliterate. He reminds us that slavery was not just about economics or politics or even abstract questions of morality but most essentially about the millions of human beings imprisoned within its chains." -- Drew Gilpin Faust, The New York Times Book Review

"Ball is a first-rate scholar-journalist.... Outside Faulkner, it will be hard to find a more poignant, powerful account of a white man struggling with his and his nation's past." -- Shane Harrison, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

See all Product Description

Inside This Book (Learn More)