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Skriv ut sidan - Äldre inlägg (arkiv) till 2010-03-08
Anbytarforum
Titel: Äldre inlägg (arkiv) till 2010-03-08
Skrivet av: Ernst Stjernberg skrivet 2008-02-16, 08:20
The book Some Family: the mormons and how humanity keeps track of itself was among three shortlisted for the 2008 $40 000 BC Award for Canadian Non-Fiction, the largest literary non-fiction prize in Canada. This is what the citation said: With a prose style that is both witty and wise, historian Donald Akenson explores and explains our culture's fascination and obsession with genealogy. His model is the massive genealogical database created by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints - or the Mormons - and their efforts to provide a single narrative on how humanity keeps track of itself. Rather than focus solely on the motives of the Mormons in attempting such an impossible task, Akenson applies his enormous gifts of scholarship and intellect to show how genealogy provides a significant tool in tracing our social and economic history. And he does so with clarity, charm and humour.
Donald Harman Akenson 2007; 349 p; ISBN 978-0-7735-3295-3; Published by McGill-Queen's University Press, Montreal and Kingston, London, Ithaca. It now sells for CA$22 on amazon.ca
While Donald Akenson did not win the prize, he received an honorary degree from the other Queens University - in Belfast, Ireland. Find more about him on Google.