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Your Family Story

The Essential Questions

Elizabeth Keating

$29.99

Paperback

Forthcoming
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English
Hardie Grant Books
28 October 2025
What are the questions you’d regret not asking when they’re gone?

In The Essential Questions, anthropologist Elizabeth Keating helps you to uncover the unique memories of your parents and grandparents and to create lasting connections with them in the process.

By asking questions that make the familiar strange, anthropologists are able to see entirely different perspectives and understand new cultures. Drawing on her lifelong work in this field, Keating has developed a set of questions that treat your parents and grandparents not just as the people who raised you, but as individuals of a certain society and time, and as the children, teenagers, and young adults they once were.

The Essential Questions helps you to learn about the history of your closest family members and to help you understand their perspective on the world.

'If you’ve ever thought of asking a parent or elderly relative about their past, read The Essential Questions first. After asking the questions Keating suggests, you’ll better understand not only your relatives and your heritage, but also your world and yourself' Deborah Tannen, New York Times bestselling author of You Just Don't Understand

'If you’ve ever heard anyone say, ‘I wish I’d asked my mom about that,’ then this is the book for you' Sarah Bird, author of Daughter of a Daughter of a Queen

'Down-to-earth and easy to use, it’s a wonderful guide' Michael Erard, author of Babel No More

'It has been a long time since I read a book that felt as urgent, timely, necessary, and utterly relatable throughout' Alexandra Georgakopoulou-Nunes, professor of discourse analysis and sociolinguistics at Kings College London
By:  
Imprint:   Hardie Grant Books
Country of Publication:   United Kingdom
Dimensions:   Height: 234mm,  Width: 156mm,  Spine: 17mm
ISBN:   9781835982389
ISBN 10:   1835982387
Pages:   160
Publication Date:  
Audience:   General/trade ,  ELT Advanced
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Forthcoming

Elizabeth Keating, PhD has been a Professor of Anthropology at the University of Texas at Austin for 27 years. She is the author of three books and over 50 academic articles. Her specialty is culture and communication, particularly narrative. She has conducted fieldwork in 7 countries and presented her research in 15 countries. She is fascinated by people’s personal histories.

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