Christine Kenneally

The shocking secret history of twentieth-century orphanageswhich for decades hid violence, abuse, and deaths within their walls For much of the twentieth century, a series of terrible eventsabuse, both physical and psychological, and even deathstook places inside orphanages. The survivors have been trying to tell their astonishing stories for a long time, but disbelief, secrecy, and trauma have kept them from breaking through. For ten years, Christine Kenneally has been on a quest to uncover the harrowing truth. Centering her story on St. Josephs, a Catholic orphanage in Vermont, Kenneally has written a stunning account of a series of crimes and abuses. But her work is not confined to one place. Following clues that take her into the darkened corners of several institutions across the globe, she finds a trail of terrifying stories and a courageous group of survivors who are seeking justice. Ghosts of the Orphanage is an incredible true crime story and a reckoning with a past that has stayed buried for too long, with tragic consequences.

La primera palabra relata la apasionante historia de la búsqueda de los orígenes del lenguaje humano. Estudios sobre temas como los gestos de los simios, la cognición de los loros, la competencia gramatical y numerica de los monos y la autoconciencia de los delfines estan modificando nuestra idea de como se origino el lenguaje: no como una transformacion repentina y decisiva en nuestros genes, sino como un proceso gradual que implico innovaciones somaticas, neurologicas y culturales. Finalmente, Kenneally, que escribe sobre lenguaje, ciencia y cultura para destacadas publicaciones, examina los resultados mas recientes en una variedad de disciplinas, desde la biologia hasta los estudios sobre inteligencia artificial, para abordar la pregunta ¿es el lenguaje un fenomeno exclusivamente humano? Un relato esplendido y claro de un nuevo campo de la investigacion sobre una cuestion fundamental relacionada con la especie humana. Steven Pinker

An accessible exploration of a burgeoning new field: the incredible evolution of language The first popular book to recount the exciting, very recent developments in tracing the origins of language, The First Word is at the forefront of a controversial, compelling new field. Acclaimed science writer Christine Kenneally explains how a relatively small group of scientists that include Noam Chomsky and Steven Pinker assembled the astounding narrative of how the fundamental process of evolution produced a linguistic ape-in other words, us. Infused with the wonder of discovery, this vital and engrossing book offers us all a better understanding of the story of humankind.

A New York Times Notable Book The richest, freshest, most fun book on genetics in some time. The New York Times Book Review We are doomed to repeat history if we fail to learn from it, but how are we affected by the forces that are invisible to us? In The Invisible History of the Human Race Christine Kenneally draws on cutting-edge research to reveal how both historical artifacts and DNA tell us where we come from and where we may be going. While some books explore our genetic inheritance and popular television shows celebrate ancestry, this is the first book to explore how everything from DNA to emotions to names and the stories that form our lives are all part of our human legacy. Kenneally shows how trust is inherited in Africa, silence is passed down in Tasmania, and how the history of nations is written in our DNA. From fateful, ancient encounters to modern mass migrations and medical diagnoses, Kenneally explains how the forces that shaped the history of the world ultimately shape each human who inhabits it.The Invisible History of the Human Race is a deeply researched, carefully crafted and provocative perspective on how our stories, psychology, and genetics affect our past and our future.