Those who learn from the past are not condemned to repeat it. In this revelatory book, family therapist Monica McGoldrick explains how the use of genograms (family trees) can bring to light a family's history of estrangement, alliance, divorce, or suicide, revealing intergenerational patterns that prove more than coincidental.

McGoldrick's genograms of famous families, such as the Kennedys, Hepburns, Beethovens, and Brontes, complement discussion of the influence of birth order and sibling rivalry, family myths and secrets, cultural differences, couple relationships, and the pivotal role of loss. At the close of each chapter are questions that train the reader to think as researcher; with McGoldrick's guidance, we learn to mine previously untapped information about our own family patterns.