The Decision To Look Back
If ever a book was written in the nick of time, it is “The Lost” (Harper-Collins, 512 pages, $27.95), the hybrid memoir, travelogue, and detective story by Daniel Mendelsohn. Ever since he was a child in the 1960s, Mr. Mendelsohn — a classicist, memoirist, and regular contributor to the New York Review of Books — has been fascinated by the history of his family. For decades, he interviewed his relatives, wrote letters, and perused genealogy databases and Web sites, hoping to trace new branches on his family tree. for more click here