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The Lost Family: How DNA Testing Is Upending Who We Are - Paperback | Diverse Reads

The Lost Family: How DNA Testing Is Upending Who We Are

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A deeply reported look at home genetic testing and the seismic shock it has had on our culture and on individual lives

You swab your cheek or spit in a vial, then send it away to a lab somewhere. Weeks later you get a report that might tell you where your ancestors came from or if you carry certain genetic risks. Or, the report could reveal a long-buried family secret that upends your entire sense of identity. Soon a lark becomes an obsession, a relentless drive to find answers to questions at the core of your being, like “Who am I?” and “Where did I come from?” Welcome to the age of home genetic testing.
In The Lost Family, journalist Libby Copeland investigates what happens when we embark on a vast social experiment with little understanding of the ramifications. She explores the culture of genealogy buffs, the science of DNA, and the business of companies like Ancestry and 23andMe, all while tracing the story of one woman, her unusual results, and a relentless methodical drive for answers that becomes a thoroughly modern genetic detective story. Gripping and masterfully told, The Lost Family is a spectacular book on a big, timely subject.

ISBN-13: 9781419747939

Media Type: Paperback

Publisher: Abrams Press

Publication Date: 06-01-2021

Pages: 304

Product Dimensions: 5.40(w) x 8.20(h) x 0.90(d)

Libby Copeland is an award-winning journalist who has written for the Washington Post, New York magazine, the New York Times, the Atlantic, and many other publications. Copeland was a reporter and editor at the Post for eleven years, has been a media fellow and guest lecturer, and has made numerous appearances on television and radio.

Table of Contents

Prologue 1

1 Alice Is Not Alice 7

2 Crude Beginnings 22

3 Somebody Ought to Start a Business 37

4 Your Truth or Mine? 52

5 Non-paternity Events 72

6 Alice and the Double Helix 92

7 Eureka in the Chromosomes 107

8 Search Angels 122

9 27 Percent Asia Central 144

10 What to Claim 163

11 The Mystery of Jim Collins 178

12 The Simplest Explanation 192

13 The American Family 203

14 Your Genes Are Not Yours Alone 222

15 Late Night 242

16 Alice Redux 259

17 Where We're Going 268

Selected Bibliography 277

Acknowledgments 279

Index 283