'Abraham's Children' and Jon Entine

It was standing-room only with more people in the hall crowding the open door when author Jon Entine spoke about his upcoming book at the 27th IAJGS International Conference on Jewish Genealogy in Salt Lake City a few months ago.

Entine was carrying a pre-publication proof with him and I was among the lucky few who had an opportunity to skim through its pages. For your own sneak peek, his presentation on "Abraham's Children: Race, Identity and the DNA of the Chosen People," was taped by Roots Television. See it here.

The just-published book addresses the human migration of the Y-chromosome, three major genetic groupings of Jews, origins of Ethiopian Jews and the migration of mtDNA.

In August, The Forward published a story about the book. Read it here.

Some early reviews:

Kirkus Review: "Engaging and informative reading for Jews and non-Jews alike," describing it as "an epic tale of 'The Chosen People'."

Library Journal: "[Jon Entine's] explorations take him from his own Jewish family members' cancer diagnoses to genetic labs and commercial the history of Israel and Zionism, and the split between social anthropology and biological anthropology."

Publisher's Weekly: "presents fascinating evidence from DNA studies" on vexing questions of "religion, history, culture and sometimes politics."

The Association of Jewish Libraries: "a fascinating popular read. Highly recommended."

The newest is the October 28 review by Sol Schindler in the Washington Times (Washington, DC) here.

I'm told my copy has arrived on my desk, and I'm looking forward to reading it when I arrive home next week.