Our Take
Gabrielle Glaser has written an essential work of investigative history that brings long-overdue scrutiny to America's closed adoption era. American Baby succeeds on multiple levels—as meticulous social history, as exposé of institutional exploitation, and as deeply human story of loss and longing. Glaser grounds her larger critique in Margaret Erle's specific experience, making abstract injustice viscerally real while demonstrating how millions of women and children suffered under a system that prioritized secrecy and profit over human dignity. The book reveals how adoption agencies operated with minimal oversight, fabricating medical histories, conducting dubious psychological assessments, and severing bonds between mothers and children with permanent legal force. Glaser's research is impeccable, drawing on interviews, sealed records, and historical documents to build a damning case against an industry that claimed moral authority while inflicting profound trauma. Her writing balances outrage with compassion, never losing sight of the individuals damaged by these policies. Readers who appreciated the investigative rigor of Say Nothing by Patrick Radden Keefe or the social history of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot will find American Baby equally compelling. This is crucial reading for anyone interested in reproductive rights, family law, or the ways institutions shape individual lives—a book that illuminates the past while advocating powerfully for reform.
