AMERICAN BABY

A searing narrative that combines the detailed saga of one unwed teenage mother with deep research on all aspects of a scandalous adoption industry.

Glaser—a journalist who covers health and culture and whose previous book, Her Best-Kept Secret (2013), investigated women and problem drinking—describes the life of Margaret Erle, who grew up in 1950s Manhattan as a strong student and well-behaved Jewish girl devoted to her family despite a constantly harping mother and a tender but weak father. As with many girls at the time, Margaret understood little about anatomy or sex. She and her boyfriend, George Katz, felt certain that they would remain together forever, and in 1961, Margaret became pregnant at the age of 16, which infuriated their parents. Though women had begun to assert their rights more openly by this time, Margaret was still “part of a growing demographic of young women who for decades would feel shame, and stay silent.” From this point, the author, whose own Jewish faith informs the narrative, offers a consistently engaging, skillfully presented, nearly year-by-year account, aided by open cooperation from Margaret. The book derives from a 2007 newspaper feature Glaser researched about David Rosenberg, the son Margaret and George had been forced to surrender to a shady adoption agency in 1961. David had been adopted by a loving couple, and he knew nothing about his biological parents. When he required a kidney transplant, finding a donor became complicated. His transplant led to a series of articles (and eventually this book) about the outcome, including the developing bond between David and an unrelated donor identified almost miraculously through a Jewish network. Throughout, the author deftly follows this genuinely human story, exposing the darker corners of adoption in 20th-century America. In 2006, Ann Fessler’s The Girls Who Went Away lifted the curtain on the plight of other women just like Margaret, and Glaser accomplishes an equally impressive feat here. In a narrative filled with villains, a birth mother and her son exhibit grace.

A specific story of identity that has universal appeal for the many readers who have faced similar circumstances.