“Many socially progressive historians fantasize about using their research to change the world. If we have any hope of doing so” (147). With these bold words, Tanya Evans sets up the epilogue of Family History, Historical Consciousness and Citizenship, an evidence file intended to convince academic historians to both respect and engage with family historians. With the ever-present popularity of family history as a “hobby,” Evans also makes a business case for taking it seriously as part of our academic offerings.

For about a decade, Evans has been interviewing and running workshops with family historians and genealogists (she uses the words interchangeably [23]) in Britain, Australia, and Canada about their work. Using examples from these sessions, she develops an argument about how family historians’ research contributes to the field of history. “As historians,” Evans argues, “family history practitioners are self-consciously using microhistory to better understand macro-histories” and through the process they become “new social historians” (47). We are introduced to family historians who have converted their genealogical interest into successful Ph.D. theses, but we also hear from individuals who have been hurt by academics belittling the work of family historians.

Evans opens by contrasting the enthusiasm of family historians against the story of declining funding and support for the Arts and Humanities. In chapter 1, Evans argues that family history comes from the fields of social and public histories, and the history of emotions, and that family historians want to collaborate with academic historians but perceive problematic barriers between the two groups: “they operate in their own narrow worlds,” one participant stated (37). This flows to the participants’ perception of barriers in their ancestors’ lives. For some, the focus on ordinary people means there is less prejudice about someone’s historical background. Chapter 2 explores this theme in greater detail as it asks how family historians use their research to understand their personal place and their ancestors’ stories in a larger global context. This achieves both personal and public aims. For the individual it provides microhistories, while the gendered nature of genealogy, means the findings of its researchers can be used to give nuance to macrohistories, such as narratives of national creation.

Evans picks up the argument about family history’s gendered nature in chapter 3. Here she argues that family history is a feminist practice as it tells the stories of women, but more so as it highlights the problems with historical practices that have actively or passively excluded women’s stories from narratives and records. It should be noted that while the possibility of researching LGBTQIA+ histories is acknowledged, it is not a theme that is discussed in any detail in this book. Evans’ research participants reported feeling big emotions about their research—pride, anger, sadness, shame, excitement, and joy—and she takes time to discuss each in turn. Chapter 3 provides a meeting place of family history practitioners and academic historians when they both encounter records of domestic violence and struggle to respond. We see examples of family history as a power for social change: “If people have difficulties confronting the realities of domestic violence in the past, how much more difficult must it be to acknowledge its presence in the present?” (74).

The importance of community lies at the heart of chapter 4, in which Evans provides examples about the different ways family historians support each other around the world. This chapter is peppered with “Random Acts of Genealogical Kindness”—the small ways genealogists help each other. The focus is not only about small acts, however, it also describes how the participants benefit from being part of an international network of knowledge, and the self-regulation of ethical practices. This chapter closes with a discussion about the significance of memory work, and the ability of family history research to give individuals agency in their own lives.

This leads into chapter 5, which takes the ideas already discussed—of understanding global context, of experiencing emotional responses, and of working as part of a community—to consider how family history expands the empathetic capacity of its practitioners. Evans gives an overview of the concept of empathy and how it fits into historical consciousness, before explaining how it translates into the experience of her participants as global citizens. After a decade of observation, Evans has seen that “in response to contemporary political turmoil, individuals around the world are using their family histories to reframe an understanding of citizenship. They are interested in the familial, communal and social, and have no wish to live their lives as atomized individuals” (114).

The final chapter is an examination of how family historians see and plan their legacies, especially as they become more aware of the trace (or lack thereof) others have left. Different participants discuss how they manage the historical documents, the research, the objects, and the oral histories they accumulate and compile through the process of their work. Evans uses examples of creative family history projects to demonstrate the diversity of this research field—she wants the reader to understand that it is much more than family trees.

As someone who has been teaching into a family history program in Australia for many years and knows what these researchers are capable of, I need no convincing. I found the collated evidence resonated strongly with my own observations of my students’ experiences. As a dense package of quotes and examples, I am not sure this book will appeal to many who are not already familiar with the field, but it contains useful information for someone wanting to develop their understanding or build an argument. Family History, Historical Consciousness and Citizenship is an evidence-driven manifesto for the importance of family history in developing inclusive history curricula and research. As one of Evans’ participants, a professional researcher who makes a living from genealogy, said so well: “Family history has democratized access to the history I felt I should have been taught” (39).