Americans have learned in elementary school that their country was founded by a group of brave, white, largely British Christians. Modern reinterpretations recognize the contributions of African and indigenous Americans, but the basic premise has persisted. This groundbreaking study fundamentally challenges the traditional national storyline by postulating that many of the initial colonists were actually of Sephardic Jewish and Muslim Moorish ancestry. Supporting references include historical writings, ship manifests, wills, land grants, DNA test results, genealogies, and settler lists that provide for the first time the Spanish, Hebrew, Arabic, and Jewish origins of more than 5,000 surnames, the majority widely assumed to be British. By documenting the widespread presence of Jews and Muslims in prominent economic, political, financial and social positions in all of the original colonies, this innovative work offers a fresh perspective on the early American experience. Challenging the myth of the US being settled primarily by British Protestants, Hirschman and Yates present a counter-narrative. Drawing on documents, firsthand accounts, genealogies, and DNA, they trace many of the early settlers to Sephardic Jewish and Moorish Muslim ancestry. -- Book News In America, unlike Britain, it is not true that "only the eminent have anything like a genealogy." Genealogy in this country is the second most popular hobby after gardening. We are assured, and it stands to reason, that every individual no matter how elusive or obscure left some evidence of their existence in public records. More and more, the genealogies compiled and published forsake the manufactured Lives of Great Men to include maternal connections, ordinary folk and minorities. With the emerging tools of the Internet it is possible to be both thorough and accurate and produce detailed genealogies motivated by a desire for gathering facts, for telling the truth and for redressing some of the injustices of traditional, orthodox accounts. The footnotes in this study are intended not only to document origins and surname histories in unequivocal fashion but also to cast a sidelight on celebrated Jewish Americans who can trace back to colonial forebears and their relatives in European Jewry. These range from the Massachusetts Kennedys to the Byrds of Virginia, from actors Johnny Depp and Adrien Brody to actresses Roseanne Barr and Gwyneth Paltrow, from writers Louise Glück and Neil Simon to politicians Barbara Boxer and Bernie Sanders and jurists Stephen Breyer and Elena Kagan. As biased and purpose-made genealogies recede into the background, privileged historical theses with vested interests must also be on the defensive. We hope that the remarkable stories of the men, women and families here will serve as a reminder of America's early diversity and stimulus for rewriting some of the inaccurate and injudicious portions in the proud chronicle of her birth and formative years. Elizabeth Caldwell Hirschman is a professor of marketing at the University of Virginia-Wise. She has written widely on genealogy, marketing and ethnic identity. Donald N. Yates is an American genealogist, cultural historian and DNA investigator. He is the author of  Old World Roots of the Cherokee  (McFarland, 2012). He lives in Colorado. For more information, visit donaldyates.com.