This dense, yet accessible book traces the history of persecuted Jews across Europe and the Southwest to a family in southern Colorado, where a young woman, Shonnie Medina, gets diagnosed with an aggressive form of genetically-inherited breast cancer at the young age of 26. The Medinas had no idea that their past ancestry included Ashkenazi Jews, one of whom carried the BRCA gene that was passed down through generations, and lead to Shonnie's cancer. Shonnie - not fully understanding the seriousness of the genetic nature of her cancer - rejected a mastectomy and other traditional cancer treatments, and died from breast cancer at age 28. Wheelwright's book deals not only with the history of crypto-Jews in the Southwest, but the genetic legacy of migrants to the Americas and how those legacies affect our health and well-being today. Millions of Americans have inherited ties to populations prone to certain genetic disorders and health problems, and don't even realize it. Wheelwright is a science journalist, and his vast medical and scientific knowledge adds tremendous depth and texture to a heartbreaking and valuable story.