Across the Wild Atlantic Tracing a Family Through 400 Years

Diane Taraz roams through the centuries, tracing her ancestors from French Canada and Poland as they struggled to survive. Many came to America seeking a better life, and their experiences echo those of millions of others who have made the same leap of faith. The details of their everyday lives form a fascinating tapestry of culture, language, religion, social movements, and identity. Taraz discovers not just records and facts but the intimate parts of life that are the most interesting: what people ate, what they wore, how they organized their households, their relationships and social status, the songs they sang, how they raised their children, what they believed, and how they treated each other — and why.

Diane Taraz is an internationally known singer and songwriter with two dozen albums, several of which them companion recordings to her programs that explore various eras through the music of the time. She especially features those usually left out of historical accounts — women, servants, and people who were enslaved. In her two previous books she roamed through the daily life of the 18th and 19th centuries, and in this one she looks back through four centuries of her family's past.