Lisa Alther chronicles her search for the missing branches of her family tree in *Kinfolks: Falling Off the Family Tree, The Search for My Melungeon Ancestors*. Alther's mother hailed from New York, her father from Virginia, and every day they reenacted the Civil War at home. Then a babysitter with bad teeth warned Alther about the Melungeons: six-fingered child-snatchers who hid in caves. Forgetting about these creepy kidnappers until she had a daughter of her own, Alther learned they were actually an isolated group of dark-skinned people, often with extra thumbs, living in East Tennessee. Learning that a cousin had his extra thumbs removed, she set out to discover who these mysterious Melungeons really were, and why her grandmother wouldn't let her visit their Virginia relatives. Were there Melungeons in the family tree? Alther assembled clues over the years, but DNA testing finally offered answers. Part sidesplitting travelogue, part how (and how not) to climb your family tree, *Kinfolks* shimmers with humor, showing just how wacky and wonderful our human family really is.
