But Mixed Roots is much more than just a family history. Thanks to meticulous research it describes in great detail the social and political conditions of the times in which it is set, and how ordinary people were affected and shaped by these. The backdrop to everyday life, both in Ireland and India, was invariably bleak: replete with poverty, famine, disease, religious and political tensions, discrimination, violence, institutional racism, and colonial supremacism and suppression,

A multi-exampled study of colonialism, and how it affected native peoples - in this case, those of Ireland and India - lies at the heart of Mixed Roots. And colonialism's attendant religious and cultural "proselytising" does not escape the book's attention. Most specifically, the attempts by colonisers to destroy and recast native religion(s) and culture(s) in their own image. Ostensibly for the benefit of local inhabitants, wholly regardless of the damage and human misery that invariably resulted.

The author's family history bears sad testament to much of the above.

Reviews:

"...his [Adams'] book, Mixed Roots, is another valuable contribution by him to our search for lasting peace. In it he turns to family history - an exploration back in time. What is identity? What makes us? What is important? What is the future?," Brian Rowan
Brian Rowan is a former BBC Northern Ireland correspondent, and an author on the peace process

"...this book encapsulates the wonder of how our individual and collective history is woven not just through the fabric of this country, but often through threads that stretch across the world - binding events and stories and the direction of life itself. Through painstaking research, and crafted writing, David Adams has written a gem.
Mixed Roots demonstrates that the history of family is happenstance and we all have the power to choose our own direction." M