Book Review: The Invisible History of The Human Race
Genealogy, Lineage, Ancestry, Race, Identity.
Australian science/cultural journalist Christine Keneally’s 2014 book, ‘The Invisible History of The Human Race’ is a thoroughly captivating and well-rounded inquiry of genealogy, from inherited family traditions to the modern expansion of personal genomics.
The first section of the book is dedicated to a very thoughtful and in-depth look at what it means to people of various times and cultures to know where and who they come from. She deftly covers the worst of genealogy’s history, eugenics, and some of the greatest benefits, such as how clan history can powerfully bind people together. The author writes a very thorough consideration of the concept of race and how it relates to genealogy, which is well poised to answer all those questions that most people secretly hold in their mind when trying to parse both the idea that race is a social construct, yet somehow that ancestry is still a determinant of one’s characteristics. This first half of the book does well to put the reader’s mind at ease regarding the contentious theme of genealogy, then allowing Kenneally to comfortably dive into genealogy in the age of genetics.
The latter half of the book looks at modern lineage tracing and the impact personalised genomics is having on the age-old practice, including many case stories of individuals who have found their long lost identity, and conversely those who have been severed from the person they thought they were by the agnostic informer, genes.
Kenneally’s passion for the subject shines in her writing, the nonessential, but gloriously fun deep dives into rabbit hole after rabbit hole make this book feel almost like a well-researched and in-depth recount of Kenneally’s personal journey. Personally, I can trace my own lineage back to the 12th century in some directions and have long been fascinated by the evident heritability of certain traits within my family. I’m sure Kenneally’s work will resonate with any reader who’s taken an interest in their own family’s origin.
Some readers may dislike the somewhat indulgent lengths of some anecdotes and tangential passages, though they always prove eventually to be relevant. Personally, I find there is something joyous about indulging further than is essential into the information and the stories, just for the pure fun of it. It is this child-like sense of awe in Kenneally’s writing that kept me turning pages.
Regarding genetics, I must compliment the competency with which most key concepts are conveyed. However, I believe the author’s definitions of genetic drift, population bottleneck, genetic homogenisation and epigenetic markers are technically incorrect, although it does not seem to greatly impact the key takeaways and thus it is not detrimental. I do think that the book would have greatly benefitted from having a glossary, there are some definitions that are less integral to the story and are glossed over, so the book may be at risk of befuddling some readers who don’t have their phone open to Google in their other hand.
Admittedly, when I read popular science writing involving human genetics, I sometimes feel that I’m limited to assessing the author’s explanation of concepts that have been my daily bread and butter for years. With this book, however, I am humbled and delighted to say that I learned many things as well! The pedantic geneticist in me cautions the reader that the book is now eight years old and could benefit from an update as far as the science goes, although I do not think this detracts hugely from the message of the book, and for 2014, I applaud the thoroughness of Kenneally’s work.
In Kenneally’s chapter on the history of the world, I believe she conveniently overlooked the cultural impacts of colonialism. It is true that it is much easier to remain agnostic to the cultural impacts of colonialism when investigating how the human genome has been impacted by the human migrations of the last few centuries. If a book was purely investigating population genetics and wasn’t interested in individual human identity this would be acceptable. However, Keneally spends the first half of this book carefully addressing the various perspectives on genealogy, utilising narrative, and anecdote to really illustrate the individual human experience of genealogy and lineage investigation. Therefore, it is a great disappointment to have this chapter addressing human history on a global scale, that ignores the impact on the identity of those humans that have been colonised, colonisers, transported etc. and holds an air of genetic reductionism that is perhaps only acceptable in the population genetic academic literature, but certainly not in a popular science book such as this that claims in its subtitle to investigate “How DNA and History Shape Our Identities and Our Futures”.
All in all the book is refreshingly authentic, honest and agenda-free. Any reader interested in their own genealogy or the diverse history of genealogy and its potential futures may find something of interest here. Even readers of no specific interest will thoroughly enjoy the ride through Kenneally’s investigation of “how DNA and history shape our identities and our futures”.