Learn how to add character to your family history by taking a
lesson from these genealogical narratives. 1. An American
Family: The Kennans, The First Three Generations by George F.
Kennan (W.W. Norton & Co., $22.95). Kennan is the author of 20
books and has been awarded the Pulitzer Prize and the National
Book Award. Now in his late 90s, he captures his family history
in print. He begins his narrative with the Kennan family's life
of poverty in late 17th- and early 18th-century Scotland. An
American Family details the Kennans' passage to America and the
hardships they faced as early settlers in Connecticut and
Massachusetts. Woven into the multigeneration family memoir are
major events in America's history. At just 136 pages, this book
can be read easily in a sitting or two. As in many commercially
published family histories, you won't find traditional
genealogical documentation, but Kennan reveals his sources as
part of the discussion within the text. Unfortunately, the book
lacks an indexan element every f