Reviews (1)

Waking up to invisible around us
I had always avoided the subject of genealogy as being completely boring. It conjured up visions of people sitting in libraries for hours and hours going over ancient records trying to find names of their long-deadancestors. What a weary way to waste one's days! However, a friend recentlyput into my hand Henry Z. Jones' PSYCHIC ROOTS, Serendipity & Intuitionin Genealogy. It has totally changed my views. I was amazed to find successin genealogy often comes from intuition, searching not with just the mind,but also an open heart, enjoying warm feelings with the desceased. Againand again in his book, Jones describes how helpful hints, items seeminglydroppped from nowhere, somehow unite the living with the thoughts and deedsof the departed. As the author concludes:"I do believe that ourancestors have no wish to be forgotten: they want to be found." And Iwould add, our ancestors have been over and about us since we were born,seeking to lead us into ever greater dimensions. Genealogy can open thedoors to deeper understanding of our larger family "in thebeyond," but still close in influence and love. Don't miss this book.It will open your heart to ancestors who are as close as breathing. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Genealogy    2. Psychic aspects    3. Reference    4. Biography: general   

Reviews (3)

Better for older children
In this book there is more historical information, and descriptions. Great for older children that can draw well.

Elementary
This book provides a very elementary introduction to Heraldry.The basic layout of a Coat of Arms is discussed, including a very brief history, along with the rules of placement and description for the major elements. The author also includes some discussion of the prevailing Heraldry of countries around the world, including medieval countries.The appendixes include elements for the user to trace or imitate when creating their own Coat of Arms. Lastly there is some contact information for organizations involved with Heraldry.
Great Intro to Coat of Arms heraldry (Scanable Blanks)
This is a great place to start playing with your family designfor your own Coat of Arms.. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Crafts & Hobbies    2. Devices (Heraldry)    3. General    4. Heraldry    5. Hobbies/Crafts    6. Puzzles    7. Reference    8. Juvenile Nonfiction / Games & Activities / General   

Reviews (6)

The book I recommend to anyone interested in family stories.
As president of the Association of Personal Historians (an international network of professionals who help others preserve their life stories and family history), I was often asked to recommend books for people interested either in preserving their own family history or in getting into the business of doing this for others. There are many books on this topic, but Vera Rosenbluth's excellent book was always my number one recommendation. It is well-written, easy to understand and filled with helpful information.

Still a classic
Numerous oral history guides have come out since Vera Rosenbluth wrote the first edition of, and then expanded (2nd edition, 1997) Keeping Family Stories Alive, but Rosenbluth's book still is tops for what it aspires to do. Her approach works for any caring person who seeks to preserve the treasury of family lore. She also outlines solid oral history technique and gives careful attention to sensitive issues, making this book an equally valuable resource for the professional personal historian. Speaking as a seasoned professional, this is the book I would aspire to write if Vera Rosenbluth hadn't already done it.

I found this book helpful
Before I read this book I had written my own life story, however I knew nothing about interviewing other people.The book gave explicit instructions about how to conduct an interview as well as many ideas about generating memories when interviewing older people.I found the last chapter very helpful as it contained many interview questions. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Family / Parenting / Childbirth    2. Family/Marriage    3. Genealogy    4. General    5. Oral biography    6. Recording and reproducing    7. Reference    8. Sound   

Subjects:  1. Crafts & Hobbies    2. Crafts / Hobbies    3. Hobbies/Crafts    4. Papercrafts    5. Scrapbooks, Memory Books    6. Art techniques & materials    7. Genealogy    8. Paper crafts    9. Reference   

Reviews (3)

Scots Heraldry (any edition)
I have all three editions of this book.Very highly recommended as the standard reference on Scots heraldry.

Editions
There are three editions of the text by Thomas Innes of Learney:1st Ed 1934; 2nd Ed 1956 after he was knighted; 3rd Ed 1978 for which the revisor was the author's son (Sir) Malcolm Innes of Edingight. Each edition has its own special values. Both father and son were the Lord Lyon King of Arms. The illustrations of the first ed may be more extensive than later ones. The 2nd ed is the most detailed. The 3rd has the arms of the Duke of Rothesay (HRH Prince Charles).

You have the author's name wrong
The author's name is not "Thomas Innes", it is "Sir Thomas Innes of Learney". The "of Learney" is an integral part of his name, as you would know if you had read the book. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Genealogy    2. Reference   

Reviews (1)

Unmatched by any history book
Unmatched by any history book, these letters constitute a rich and intimate glimpse into the 15th century.Read more

Subjects:  1. Biography / Autobiography    2. English letters    3. General    4. Great Britain    5. History    6. History: World    7. Letter writing    8. Medieval, 500-1500    9. Paston letters    10. Social History    11. Sources    12. To 1500    13. Wars of the Roses, 1455-1485    14. England    15. Family history    16. c 1000 CE to c 1500   

Editorial Review

The Helms have put together an excellent introductory guide to doing genealogical research online. They've avoided the usual trap of organizing their book by resources, which may be easy for the author but makes it harder on the user. So instead of devoting this chapter to useful Web sites, that chapter to valuable newsgroups, and so forth, they've organized the book in a way closer to the way you'd organize good family research. Read more

Reviews (10)

very basic
This book is for the beginner genealogist. It tells you how to plan your research and what kind of computer equipment to have. It takes you step by step in certain websites. It is extremely boring, even for a genealogy book. I was hoping for more info on what is contained in individual websites, where to find certain types of documents and explantions of software available to the genealogist. It is great if you don't have a clue but if you can navigate the internet on your own, you don't need this book. I will use it occasionally but The Genealogy Sourcebook and The Source: A Guidebook of American Genealogy are much more in depth.

Genealogy Online for Dummies, 4th edition,
Genealogy Online for Dummies is a handy how-to, where-to, what-to, who-to, and why-to book.Matthew L. Helm, one of the authors, is executive vice president and chief technology officer of FamilyToolbox.net, Inc.With a bachelor's degree in history and a master's in library and information science, he created and he maintains the Helm's various genealogy websites.April Leigh Helm, the other author, is the company president.She has degrees in journalism and higher education administration.They are no dummies, and anyone who reads this book will be no dummy about genealogy online. review of Genealogy Online for Dummies
Pros: Covers lots of topics and is a very valuable source for beginners with great, well written, summaries of many skills and sources needed for doing family historyRead more

Subjects:  1. Computer network resources    2. Computers - Other Applications    3. Databases    4. Directories    5. Genealogy    6. Handbooks, manuals, etc    7. Hobbies/Crafts    8. Internet - General    9. Reference    10. Family history    11. Reference / Genealogy   

Reviews (2)

Just What I Was Looking For
There are hundreds of books out there about the Pilgrims and the first Thanksgiving and all that goes with the subject. But the majority of these books are written either in a stodgy, encyclopedic (read: Boring!) format, or they are written for children. Well, now I have one that is actually written for adults, as well as in an easy to read manner.Written mainly from a genealogical stance, the author, Eugene Aubrey Stratton, did his "putting flesh on the bones" research; that is, he sought out how the pilgrims lived their daily lives in all aspects of their time and place. Instead of the cartoonish figures we all see come November, Mr. Stratton actually gives an authentic look to these early Americans. He makes the reader feel that they now know the pilgrims, not only through their historical prominence in our early history, but by name, and we feel their hardships, especially of their first winter here. After the first time reading this book, I re-read it, only this time I read the 'Biographical Sketches' section, located toward the back of the book, first, THEN I went to the beginning. My advice to the first time reader is to do the same. You will then know who you are reading about as names are mentioned. An excellent history of the Plymouth settlers.
In doing research on my own ancestor who was a passanger on the Mayflower and one of the original Pilgrims, I have used over 50 books.This one is by far the best.Very readable, this book provides an excellent narativeof many of the events of the first 70 years at Plymouth, and detaileddescriptions of many of the Pilgrims.For anyone interested in this era,this book is a must. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Genealogy    2. History    3. History: American    4. Massachusetts    5. New Plymouth, 1620-1691    6. Pilgrims (New England colonist    7. Pilgrims (New England colonists)    8. Pilgrims (New Plymouth Colony)    9. Reference    10. United States - Colonial Period    11. United States - General   

Editorial Review

Most books about Vietnam focus on the French who colonized it or the Americans who sought to "save" it. This combination of memoir and family history shows the Vietnamese "as they saw themselves as the central players in their own history." The author's perspective is particularly enlightening because her relatives, though unquestionably better-educated and better-off than the typical Vietnamese, made a variety of political and social choices over the course of the turbulent century she chronicles. Her great-grandfather was a mandarin and member of the imperial court; her father was a government official under French rule; her older sister married a Communist. Elliott herself enrolled in Georgetown's School of Foreign Service in 1960, married an American, and supported the U.S. crusade in Vietnam until her experiences interviewing Vietcong prisoners of war for a Rand Corporation study convinced her that the corrupt Saigon regime failed to offer a convincing alternative to Communism. Because she had family on both sides, Elliott's portrait of the war is subtler and less didactic than previous accounts by proponents of either ideology. Her prose is a bit formal and dense for the casual reader, but by telling her relatives' personal stories and explicating their culture's traditional values, her reflective narrative makes humanly complicated a history too often oversimplified. Read more

Reviews (11)

Recommended by a Vietnamese friend; did not disappoint
I did not realize the importance of reading a book written from a Vietnamese viewpoint until I began reading other books on Vietnam written from Western viewpoints. Certain events, such as the lasting meaning of the Tet Offensive of 1968 and Vietnam's engagement of the Khmer Rouge are shown in a completely different light in "Sacred Willow". A Personal Account of the Impact of history
Duong Van Mai Elliott has given the world as intimate an account of the entire breath of Viet Namese history as you'll ever encounter. It is remarkable how close to the ground her family has always been throughout her country's efforts to break the bonds of colonialism, regardless of the oppressor. She casts history accurately, relates its impact on her forebears and brings the whole discussion front and center in the conflicts that arise among siblings as they come to terms with some who embrace Ho Chi Minh, others who embrace US personnel. THE SACRED WILLOW
I am a Vietnam vet that thoroughly enjoyed this historic background as portrayed by Mai Elliiot in this remarkable book. I have always been amazed our government prepared us so lightly for a conflict that needed the knowledge Mai exhibits for this far-away land we tromped into so blatantly.Only a vet could begin to comprehend the extent of Mai's wonderful treatment of her native people's travails and create the respect one has to garner for their toughness and leathery resiliency.Read more

Subjects:  1. Asia - General    2. Asia - Southeast Asia    3. Biography / Autobiography    4. History    5. History: World    6. Personal Memoirs    7. Biography: general    8. Family history    9. History / Southeast Asia    10. History, World | Asian    11. Vietnam   

Reviews (3)

Dating Old Photgraphs 1840-1929
I really enjoyed the book but I feel the quality of the photographs were not as vivid as they could be. It is a good reference for my photos.

Not Worth the Money
I found that this book is not worth the money I spent for it. It is more like a magazine thana book. There are only 100 pages, (three of which are advertisements) and most of them are filled with old photographs with no explanations. The photos are classified in 5 year intervals and no detailed reasons given for why these photos are in those intervals. There is only 5 pages of text eplaining how to date these photographs and about half the text is used to give you a brief and very general history of early photography. The book, if that is what you want to call it, does not do a fair or even adequate job of helping a collector date old photographs.

Too little text
This magazine is less than 100 pages long and only five (5) pages are devoted to text describing how to date photos. While there is some useful information, it is too little. The rest of the pages are just old photos that are grouped by era, with no annotations to help you determine how the photo is dated. If you really want to know how to date photos as the title suggests, try a different book. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Photo Essays    2. Photography / Portraits    3. Reference / Genealogy    4. Dating    5. Genealogy    6. Photographs    7. Photography    8. Portraits    9. Reference   

Reviews (2)

Essential for all genealogists
This may be the most important general genealogical resource to appear since the revised edition of _The Source,_ to which it is the companion volume. Meyerink is an Accredited Genealogist and teacher of wide experience as well as a reference librarian and bibliographer at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City. As in _The Source,_ each of the 20 chapters is written by a recognized expert in a subject (the editor provides six chapters himself), ranging from published catalogs and indexes to printed land records, county histories, and family histories. The Introduction and the four chapters that make up the "Background Information" section should be read by all genealogists, preferably early in their development. Coverage in all chapters ranges from the very general (and essential) to the surprisingly detailed, such as a two-page table of the most useful published and unpublished statewide indexes to county and local histories. Practical examples abound, including the causes of incorrect record transcriptions in published collections, the shortcomings of census indexes (and how to work around them), the differences among the major genealogical journals, where to find key documentary collections, and scores of others. Subject bibliographies, lists of addresses (and Web sites), and assorted checklists are scattered thickly throughout. Of special interest is Appendix A: "CD-ROMs for Family Historians," which lists all the major titles available through early 1998 -- more than 200 of them -- and also the names and address of 45 CD-ROM publishers. Put this one in your letter to Santa Claus this year!

This is on my nearest bookshelf!!!
In their usual fine tradition, Ancestry Publishing has come up with yetanother definitive book to assist serious genealogy researchers with thetask at hand!Hot off the press and first distributed at the May 1998 NGSNational Genealogical Society Conference, critics are hailing this as a"must have" reference book extraordinaire.Read more

Subjects:  1. Bibliographies & Indexes    2. Bibliography    3. Genealogy    4. Reference    5. United States   

Reviews (4)

Excellent
Excellent book on solving the problem of tracing family history. As with any research the first step it to simply get started. Other helpful resources are "Trees That Grow Families" by Brison West and "Iowa Harvest" a book about families that settled in Iowa.A neat site is www.lesanville.com which includes books by Harold Barts, Greg Lesan, Brianna Lesan-Barts, and Francis Lesan-Brooks.Many of these writers are published in other counties and may be hard to locate, but if you can find their books they are worth the read.Good luck.

Valuable strategies for novice and experienced researchers alike
I disagree with both the author's and the other reviewer's comments that this book is only for the more advanced genealogical researcher.The valuable strategies here should be reviewed by every beginner genealogist, to prevent us from wasting time barking up the wrong trees, and proceeding to previous generations before we've fully exhausted the resources of documents regarding later ones.An invaluable book by an experienced researcher.

A first-rate textbook . . .
We all have "brick walls" -- those situations in which the courthouse records have disappeared, or no census record can be found, or there are four people with the same common name in the same neighborhood at the same time, not to mention people whom we come to suspect must have landed by flying saucer. After failing to find an obvious solution, the inclination often is to throw up one's hands and shift attention to an easier branch of the family. Marsha Rising, however, a well-respected author and long-time speaker in the field of genealogical methodology and case-making, wants us to embrace the brick wall as a challenge to our skills in research and evidence analysis. Her sessions at national conferences are always very popular, and with good reason, so you might think there's good reason to pay attention to anything she thinks is worth saying on the subject -- and you would be right.
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Subjects:  1. Genealogy    2. Handbooks, manuals, etc    3. Reference    4. United States   

Subjects:  1. Genealogy    2. Reference   

Reviews (6)

A Must-read book for Genealogy iResearchers n Poland
Mrs. Chorzempa explains step by step how to do the research through the archives available in America and in Poland, giving any necessary and useful addresses including the information where one can find the passengers lists. She uses the example of her own search - showing the photocopies from the archives.
Just when you thought
you'd never be able to find out anything about your Polish (in my case, Russian Polish) roots, Rosemary Chorzempa gives us a little hope that all is not lost for Polish genealogy.
POLISH ROOTS
This is an excellent book for anyone who is attempting to find their Polish ancestors here in the USA or abroad. Rosemary gives you all the resources you need, and then some,to begin tracing down those elusive Polish immigrant relatives. She even has sample letters in Polish to use in writing for family record; such as baptismal, marriage, and death records using both religious and civilan sources. She even provides the addresses.Read more

Subjects:  1. Genealogy    2. General    3. Handbooks, manuals, etc    4. History - General History    5. Poland    6. Polish Americans    7. Reference   

Reviews (11)

Everything you wanted to know about the Kings and Queens of England
There is a lot of history in this book. Over 1500 years is covered.The author digs deep into history to give us the histories of the people that became the Kings and Queens of England from the reign of Egbert in the 800's to Queen Elizabeth II who is currently reigning.
Great Tidbits Of History
This is a fun book that gives interesting and little known facts occuring in the royal history of England.It ties together many unions, births, deaths and other important events of English royalty and lesser royals.It is an easy read and a great reference for understanding the royal succession.

Chill out - people
Honestly, people - calm down.Did any of the previous readers/reviewers honestly expect a book with the title "Kings, Queens, Bones and Bastards" to be a flawless description of centuries of English history ? And that with scholarly accuracy and intellect ? Take it for what it is worth. Read the "Oxford Illustrated History of the British Monarchy" if you want accuracy. This book is a highly entertaining, easy read. I highly recommend it for its amusing anecdotes and enjoyable style. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Biography / Autobiography    2. Genealogy    3. General    4. Historical - British    5. History    6. History: World    7. Royalty    8. British & Irish history    9. British Isles    10. History / General   

Reviews (2)

Digitize this!
This is a book for dummies!It assumes you know nothing about scanners, cameras or the digital world. If that's the case, then this is the book for you. However, I found it difficult to read as the author does not get to the point. Too much time is spent on the simplest things while ignoring the point of the text. It would have been nice to pick up a book like this and get to the point of 'how to' without having to jump hoops through the history of things. That was not the point of the purchase of such a book nor the representation of the cover. There was no point reading the entire text as I quickly realized that much of it was "filler" text and I could skip to the parts I thought were interesting. My recommendation would be to look for other title options before this one.

Excellent guide to a relatively newsubject
When my father died a few years ago, my mother began systematically sorting through eight decades of accumulated stuff and giving the next generation "first dibs" on anything they wanted before the remainder was discarded. Of course, I took anything relating to the family's history, including old correspondence, military and employment files, and about forty pounds of old photo albums and several shoeboxes of loose snapshots. I'm slowly, steadily working my way through them, scanning not only photographs but also documents and old letters into a digitized format, cleaning up some of the older items with Photoshop, writing up brief text files (to be attached to the image files) explaining those people, places, and circumstances I could identify (and also transcribing my mother's penciled notes from the backs of many of the photos), and collecting everything in some sort of order on CDs for later distribution to the rest of the family. (Christmas is always coming.) Now, I'm reasonably computer-savvy and I have professional training in archival conservation, so all this seemed pretty obvious to me, but that probably would not be the case for many non-techies.
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Subjects:  1. Computer network resources    2. Digital preservation    3. Genealogy    4. Reference    5. Family history   

Reviews (5)

Family Tree Make for Dummies
This is an excellent read, and the book arrived in just a couple of days.

Family Tree Maker for Dummies
Done very well.Even I understood it.Could be a lot more concise.

Comments on Family Tree Maker for Dummies
I think the book is helpful in many ways. However, I think buyers should be advised that the book is not compatable with some older versions of Family Tree Maker. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Computer programs    2. Computers - Other Applications    3. Crafts & Hobbies    4. Data processing    5. Family tree maker    6. Genealogy    7. General    8. Hobbies/Crafts    9. Miscellaneous Software    10. Reference / Genealogy   

Reviews (1)

A nicely written book, but expensive
Michael Grant's book, The Severans, covers a very short period of Roman history that, due to the lack of source materials, is usually left untouched.My only complaint about the writing style is that the work really needs to be read twice: once to get the general feel of the ideas presented, and a second time to follow all the references to chapters found later on in the book.I would recommend this book to anyone interested in Ancient Roman history, even though I found the price a bit high for a 90-page work. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Ancient - Rome    2. Ancient Rome - History    3. History    4. History - General History    5. History: World    6. Rome    7. Severans, 193-235    8. Ancient Rome    9. European history: BCE to c 500 CE    10. Family history    11. Genealogy    12. History / Ancient / General    13. Italy   

Subjects:  1. English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh    2. Letters    3. Literary Criticism    4. Literature - Classics / Criticism    5. England    6. Family history    7. Literary Collections / English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh    8. Literature/English | British Literature | Medieval    9. c 1000 CE to c 1500   

Subjects:  1. Business / Economics / Finance    2. Business names    3. Dictionaries    4. Genealogy    5. General    6. Reference    7. Sales Promotion    8. Trademarks    9. Business & Management    10. Flags & insignia