A Wealth of Family: An Adopted Son's International Quest for Heritage, Reunion, and Enrichment

From the first page to the last, I was completely immersed in this riveting book as the author's journey, to find his biological parents, takes him down very diverse paths. I completed the book in one sitting experiencing emotions of sadness, sympathy, and happiness. The complex dynamics of exploring new familial relationships while legitimizing the love of existing ones makes for an intriguing story. I found this book to be inspirational and it has given me hope in my search to find my biological brother who was adopted at birth.

Thomas Brooks found out he was adopted in early adolescence. It wasn't until he was an adult that he decided to find the parents who gave him away. Through diligent research, he finds out that his birth mother was white and his birth father was a black Kenyan foreign student. Dispelling shock, stereotypes, and self-pity, Brooks plunges into his history and eagerly embraces his new, extended family, while never letting go of his loving adoptive family. A Wealth of Family is Brooks' emotional recording of his brave journey in and out of himself from a disadvantaged area of inner-city Pittsburgh across the ocean to Europe and Africa in search of his identity that was given away at birth. In doing so, Brooks adopts a healthy relationship with his three families: his adopted family, his birth mother's family, and his birth father's family. Additionally, with the amalgamation of these cultures participating in his life, Brooks' awareness of race relations and the ignorance of others is heightened and becomes one of the reasons he writes this story. "I wrote this book because I am proud of the heritage of my three diverse families...I have endeavored to provide a perspective on multicultural families and insights on overcoming poverty and racism." You will truly enjoy this endearing autobiography. It's an earnest account of pain, family history, reconciliation, and finally contentment...because you have to have the courage to find out who you are to be content with who you are.

After Thomas Brooks learned that he was adopted at age eleven, he began to wonder who his biological parents were. A Wealth of Family is the story of his search and the history of both his adoptive and biological parents. From inner city Pittsburgh to London to Nairobi, Brooks' physical journey mirrors his emotional journey of going from being an only child to being surrounded by many half-siblings in both Europe and Africa. Thomas' adoptive mother Joan was a struggling divorcee when he first learned of his adoption. Living on the north side of Pittsburgh, he had always thought he resembled his cousins who were light skinned African Americans. But he discovered that his biological mother was white and his biological father came from Kenya. Suddenly comments made to him by other African Americans about his multiracial appearance began to make sense. In spite of the prejudice and ignorance of many of his classmates (both black and white) in high school, Thomas went on to become the class valedictorian and entered the University of Pittsburgh to study engineering. But still the need to know where he came from was strong. Finally Thomas contacted the adoption agency and learned that his biological mother Dorothy had left a communication that it was all right for him to contact her if he ever was curious. He eventually met Dorothy, who by then resided in London, England with her children from a previous marriage. Thomas learned more about his father, who had been a Kenyan graduate student whom Dorothy had met as an undergraduate. After a brief affair, she learned she was carrying Thomas. Being unwed and pregnant in the mid-sixties with a biracial child, Dorothy did not have the support of her family. She felt she had no other option than to give Thomas up for adoption. Having grown up in a predominantly African American community, Thomas understood all too well how others' prejudice influenced Dorothy's decision. This is a moving story that demonstrates how with courage and determination an individual can bring together the separate strands of his heritage and weave them together into a loving whole.-- by Cindy Appel for the FEARLESS REVIEWS

Thomas Brooks' "A Wealth of Family" is an unbelievably moving account of one young man's quest to find and understand his roots. This book describes a motivational step by step journey of how Thomas Brooks overcame incredible odds to achieve rather ambitious goals. I believe this book will touch all those who read it and in my opinion is a "must read" for young black males in this country whom also face incredible odds, often without a roadmap for success and often without intact "traditional" family structures. This book is a "keepin it real" rendition that talks about failure as well as successes that often arise from those failures. Well done.

Thomas Brooks captures the true essence of ambition, which is depicted in his heart-felt book `A Wealth of Family'. His story takes you on a magnificent journey that pushes all stereotypical boundaries on race, culture and importantly understanding. It transcends ones own heritage and raises the question: nature or nurture? Who would we be if different people raised us; and, would we be less than we are or more? Brooks' search for his roots, which are today deeply embedded through many cultures, is testimony that aspirations far reaching ones own destiny is possible for all...