29 June 2009

A genealogist's reading list

Some books I’ve read recently have given me insight into a time and place that parallels my New England genealogy research:

  • Tess Gerritsen, The Bone Garden (fiction; 1830s Boston medical school and present-day mystery; warning: graphic medical descriptions)
  • Kathleen Kent, The Heretic’s Daughter (historical fiction that weaves family lore and detailed research into the story of Martha Carrier and her daughter Sarah, both accused witches in 1692; author is a descendant of Martha Carrier)
  • Eve LaPlante, Salem Witch Judge: The Life and Repentance of Samuel Sewall (biography; Sewall was one of the great diarists, so the author had much material to mine, as she delves into small-town Boston and its environs; author is a descendant of Samuel Sewall)
  • William Martin, Harvard Yard (fiction; a mystery about a Shakespearean manuscript and the story of Harvard University from its founding to the present)
  • William Martin, Back Bay (fiction; set against the changing landscape of Boston, a mystery about a lost Paul Revere tea set)
  • Adele Crockett Robertson, The Orchard: A Memoir (memoir; one woman single-handedly tries to save the family farm in Ipswich, Massachusetts, during the Great Depression)
  • Nathaniel Philbrick, Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community, and War (history; from how historians figured out the name of the Pilgrims’ ship to what led to King Philip’s War of 1675)