Roots Quest : Inside America's Genealogy Boom

In Roots Quest, sociologist Jackie Hogan digs into our current genealogy boom to ask why we are so interested in our family history. She shows how the surging popularity of genealogy is a response to large-scale social changes, and she explores the way our increasingly rootless society fuels the quest for an elemental sense of belonging—for roots.

America is in the midst of a genealogy boom. In the last thirty years the number of Americans who said they were “very interested” in family history jumped from 29% to 87%. Online genealogy sites like Ancestry.com went from being a small genealogical research website into a NASDAQ-listed corporation with more than two million subscribers. In Roots Quest, sociologist Jackie Hogan digs into this genealogy boom to ask why we are so interested in our family history. She goes beyond simple demographics—retiring baby boomers with more time on their hands—to show that the surging popularity of genealogy is in part a response to some of the large-scale social changes transforming our lives, such as the increasingly virtual nature of social life, and the sense of rootlessness these transformations provoke. Roots Quest explores the way our increasingly rootless society fuels the quest for authenticity, for deep history, and for an elemental sense of belonging—for roots.