American Baby
A Mother, a Child, and the Secret History of Adoption
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4.5 • 53 Ratings
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- $6.99
Publisher Description
A New York Times Notable Book
The shocking truth about postwar adoption in America, told through the bittersweet story of one teenager, the son she was forced to relinquish, and their search to find each other.
“[T]his book about the past might foreshadow a coming shift in the future… ‘I don’t think any legislators in those states who are anti-abortion are actually thinking, “Oh, great, these single women are gonna raise more children.” No, their hope is that those children will be placed for adoption. But is that the reality? I doubt it.’”[says Glaser]” -Mother Jones
During the Baby Boom in 1960s America, women were encouraged to stay home and raise large families, but sex and childbirth were taboo subjects. Premarital sex was common, but birth control was hard to get and abortion was illegal. In 1961, sixteen-year-old Margaret Erle fell in love and became pregnant. Her enraged family sent her to a maternity home, where social workers threatened her with jail until she signed away her parental rights. Her son vanished, his whereabouts and new identity known only to an adoption agency that would never share the slightest detail about his fate.
The adoption business was founded on secrecy and lies. American Baby lays out how a lucrative and exploitative industry removed children from their birth mothers and placed them with hopeful families, fabricating stories about infants' origins and destinations, then closing the door firmly between the parties forever. Adoption agencies and other organizations that purported to help pregnant women struck unethical deals with doctors and researchers for pseudoscientific "assessments," and shamed millions of women into surrendering their children.
The identities of many who were adopted or who surrendered a child in the postwar decades are still locked in sealed files. Gabrielle Glaser dramatically illustrates in Margaret and David’s tale--one they share with millions of Americans—a story of loss, love, and the search for identity.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Journalist Glaser (Her Best-Kept Secret) chronicles the forcible separation of a young woman from her infant son, and their much-delayed reunion, in this sweeping and novelistic account. In 1961, 16-year-old Margaret Erle is sent by her outraged parents to a maternity home after becoming pregnant. There, she is bullied by the administrators into giving up her son, Stephen. Renamed David by his adoptive parents, he grows up to become a popular cantor in Portland, Ore. Glaser meets David in 2007 and learns what little family history he knows: he's adopted, and, in poor health, wants to find his birth family. In 2014, she receives a phone call from him after he'd successfully reunited with his mother. Inspired by David's story, Glaser starts looking into the history of adoption and uncovers a larger story. Post-WWII, she finds, an "adoption-industrial complex" transformed adoption from a largely informal process into an impersonal and secretive one intended to spare both teenagers and their families embarrassment. In capturing the meeting between Margaret and David as his health rapidly declines due to cancer, Glaser delivers more than just the story of "a lifelong separation and a bittersweet reunion," and the well-paced narrative is made stronger by Glaser's ability to write with intensity about a harsh reality. This is a page-turning, illuminating work.Correction: An earlier version of this review incorrectly stated the author helped David find his birth mother.
Customer Reviews
A must read
Amazing! Couldn’t put it down. Beautifully written and powerful.
I couldn’t put this book down
My mother had a baby in total secrecy at a home for unwed mothers in Texas in 1956. We reunited with my half brother 43 years later, in 1999. While I’ve known for years how traumatic this experience was for my mother, reading this book ushers in so many questions and feelings. I relished reading the historical perspective of adoption in the mid-century as well as the personal stories of all those involved in this story. Beautifully written.
I have words to my emotions because of this book
As someone who comes from a closed adoption, this book has brought forth words I’ve needed to identify feelings I have carried throughout my life. I had a good upbringing with loving parents but that doesn’t erase my roots and the relatives I have biologically. Born in 1973, I was at the tail end of this baby boom where closed adoptions were the norm. I’m not a fan of the lack of thought and care for consequences that closed adoption imposed upon all parties involved - especially the children. Thank you for writing an important book. I hope many people read it and it’s talked about openly. It’s time for the shame and secrets of how adoptees entered this world to go away.