An Echo in My Blood: The Search for My Family's Hidden Past

by Alan Weisman

Piercing through his own family myths, an award-winning journalist journeys back to the Ukraine to reveal the truth about his grandfather's violent death, uncovering evidence of political turmoil and an act of "reconstruction" in his own family history. 20,000 first printing.

Genres: Memoir, Nonfiction, History

426 pages, Hardcover

First published October 15, 1999

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

Alan Weisman's reports from around the world have appeared in Harper's, The New York Times Magazine, The Atlantic Monthly, The Los Angeles Times Magazine, Orion, Wilson Quarterly, Vanity Fair, Mother Jones, Discover, Audubon, Condé Nast Traveler, and in many anthologies, including Best American Science Writing 2006. His most recent book, The World Without Us, a bestseller translated into 30 languages, was named the Best Nonfiction Book of 2007 by both Time Magazine and Entertainment Weekly, the #1 Nonfiction Audiobook of 2007 by iTunes; a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award in Nonfiction, for the Orion Prize, and a Book Sense 2008 Honor Book. His previous books include An Echo In My Blood; Gaviotas: A Village to Reinvent the World (10th anniversary edition available from Chelsea Green); and La Frontera: The United States Border With Mexico. He has also written the introduction for The World We Have by Thich Nhat Hanh, available this fall from Parallax Press. A senior producer for Homelands Productions, Weisman’s documentaries have aired on National Public Radio, Public Radio International, and American Public Media. Each spring, he leads an annual field program in international journalism at the University of Arizona, where is Laureate Associate Professor in Journalism and Latin American Studies. He and his wife, sculptor Beckie Kravetz, live in western Massachusetts.

Reviews

[Ray · Rating 4 out of 5]

Weisman is a good writer, with an amazing true story to tell. A journalist traveling to the Ukraine to investigate the Chernobyl disaster (an amazing story in its own right), he decides to visit his ancestral town of Elizavetgrad (Yelisavethgrad). This takes him on an unexpected odyssey of self-discovery and family history.
His insights into Jewish life (in Chicago and Russia) are especially engaging. Some readers will tire of his sometimes relentless left-wing agenda, but I was glad I didn't let that distract from the really fine cultural portrait he has composed.

[Jean · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a memoir mixing middle age angst with shock at learning that an event central to the family's sense of self is not true. I appreciated the Minnesota ties (Humphrey, McCarthy, Freeman; Ron Meshbesher is a cousin), but the memoir is written with a heavy hand in parts. Interesting, tho.

[Annie · Rating 2 out of 5]

So, this is a memoir of the author's family, a Jewish family that immigrated from Ukraine (then-Soviet Union) to the US when the author's father was a child. All his life, the author was told that his father's father had been murdered in the Ukraine by Communists.

This book (eventually) figures out that it's really more likely that the Cossacks murdered him, not the Communists.

... but I mean, does it REALLY matter? He was murdered by an anti-Semitic army, and this was bad. Is it a huge deal what army it was? In the grand scheme of things?

I mean, sure, I understand why it matters to the author - it's his family history. But to me? To you? I'm not really sure what the point of this book is. And even the core question of the book (which faction murdered his grandfather) is barely mentioned, as various tangents about the author's extended family are explored. They aren't particularly interesting tangents for an outsider, either - certainly not interesting or unique enough to merit a full memoir about it.

Basically, this feels like something that is valuable to share within the author's family but unless you're related to these people, I don't recommend it.

[Pancha · Rating 3 out of 5]

In parts a memoir, a family history, a travelogue, and an ecological treatise.