Geologist and writer Lauret Savoy considers fossil hunting and historical inquiry to be versions of the same pursuit.

In Trace: Memory, History, Race, and the American Landscape, Lauret uses the search for her family story as a lens to better understand American history, and the landscape as a lens to better understand her past.

Her memoir is a winding journey from southern California to Puritan New England, from Lake Superior to the U.S.- Mexico Border, and finally to Washington, D.C., where she grew up. For Lauret, identifying the geologic story in the American landscape was often easier than finding  answers about her own family.

The next Outside/In book club pick is *Four Lost Cities: A Secret History of the Urban Age* by Annalee Newitz. Look for that episode in late summer.

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