I am deeply grateful for the many thoughtful reviews my new book, From Fragments to Foundation: Uncovering a Buried History of Tragedy and Triumph, has received so far. Each one means a great deal to me, but this particular review from Lori Herbison, posted on Amazon, was especially meaningful. She titled it “10 of 10” and awarded the book a five-star rating. I wanted to share her comments here on my blog.

Ms. Herbison wrote:

“I would give all of the books by Melvin Collier a 10 of 10, if possible. The work he is doing is that important, and his newest book is a prime example.

I first became aware of Melvin’s many talents by fluke. A random search of a “brick wall” ancestor directed me to Melvin’s wonderful blog, ROOTS REVEALED. What a sunny day, for me, and others. In this post, Melvin pinpointed the exact location where my gggg-grandfather had lived in North Carolina in the late 1700’s — a bit of information my generation and numerous researchers before me had been seeking for decades. And Melvin did it using free internet resources like FAMILYSEARCH.ORG. When I contacted Melvin to tell him how much I appreciated this finding and to offer any documents that might be useful to his research, he couldn’t have been more gracious.

Months later, I accidentally (and serendipitously) encountered Melvin on YouTube in WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE (Season 1, Episode 7) — where he assists in Spike Lee’s search for long-ago ancestors — and enjoyed watching his helpful interactions firsthand.

Melvin is a consummate riddle solver and prover, an historian who thinks outside the box, and teaches all of us — expertly and methodically — how to find these same things in our own journeys. In FROM FRAGMENTS TO FOUNDATION, he lays out his case in documents, photographs, maps and charts through helpful narratives that even the layman can understand. Perhaps most importantly, this book focuses in on Melvin’s expertise with DNA in the relatively new field of genetic genealogy. He shows us, step by step, how this technology is transforming his own research and links it to the possibilities of connection for millions of people otherwise denied access to their ancestors for centuries.

This author’s work is revelatory. I hope an expert like CeCe Moore discovers Melvin’s work the way I did and employs his many talents to further the field of genealogical discovery.”

From Fragments to Foundation is available on Amazon HERE.