I’m preparing for a “Genealogy Resources on the Web” workshop, and while I plan to cover the biggies (e.g., Cyndi’s List, USGenWeb Project, etc.), I found that Google Books can yield a treasure of family history!  Behold my second cousin, Samuel J. Betar, III:

Hanania, R. (2005). Arabs of Chicagoland. Charleston, SC: Arcadia. (via Google Books)

This led me to search my Great Uncle (Samuel J. Betar, II), who was a prosecutor in the Department’s organized crime unit in Chicago . Google Books allowed me to see that there is even more to read about my Great Uncle’s involvement with the Sam Giancana case in William F. Roemer’s book, Roemer: Man Against the Mob.

Census reports are loaded with information, but finding your relatives’ lives documented in a historical context is priceless!