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American Baby: A Mother, a Child, and the Secret History of Adoption
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.
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.
- GenresNonfiction
352 pages, Paperback
Published January 25, 2022
54 people want to read
About the author
Gabrielle Glaser
9 books51 followersGabrielle Glaser is the best-selling author of Her Best Kept Secret: Why Women Drink and How They Can Regain Control.
Glaser grew up in Tangent, Oregon, the Grass Seed Capital of the World (pop. 440). She spent her teenage summers driving John Deere combines on her family farm, listening to an unusual mix of local radio programming: the BeeGees, Marvin Gaye, Johnny Cash, and NPR. She was an indifferent member of her local 4-H sewing club, and her nearest neighbors were her grandparents. After high school, she attended Stanford University, where she received a bachelor's and master's degree in history.
She started her journalistic career as a news assistant at The New York Times in Washington, D.C.. She worked as a reporter at the Associated Press in Baltimore, Maryland, and Warsaw, Poland. From Eastern Europe, she also reported for The Economist, The Dallas Morning News, The Village Voice, and National Public Radio.
Since the late 1990s, Glaser has examined social, cultural, and national health trends for The New York Times, The New York Times Magazine, and The Oregonian in Portland, where she was a staff writer. She worked as a "County Lines" columnist at The New York Times, and her work has appeared in many publications, including The New York Times Magazine, Glamour, Mademoiselle, and ScientificAmerican.com. She taught feature writing at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, and won the Missouri Lifestyle Journalism award for her groundbreaking work exploring international and interracial adoption, "Sending Black Babies North." Before Her Best-Kept Secret, she wrote Strangers to the Tribe: Portraits of Interfaith Marriage, and The Nose: A Profile of Sex, Beauty, and Survival. She appears frequently as a commentator and a guest on local and national television and radio.
Glaser grew up in Tangent, Oregon, the Grass Seed Capital of the World (pop. 440). She spent her teenage summers driving John Deere combines on her family farm, listening to an unusual mix of local radio programming: the BeeGees, Marvin Gaye, Johnny Cash, and NPR. She was an indifferent member of her local 4-H sewing club, and her nearest neighbors were her grandparents. After high school, she attended Stanford University, where she received a bachelor's and master's degree in history.
She started her journalistic career as a news assistant at The New York Times in Washington, D.C.. She worked as a reporter at the Associated Press in Baltimore, Maryland, and Warsaw, Poland. From Eastern Europe, she also reported for The Economist, The Dallas Morning News, The Village Voice, and National Public Radio.
Since the late 1990s, Glaser has examined social, cultural, and national health trends for The New York Times, The New York Times Magazine, and The Oregonian in Portland, where she was a staff writer. She worked as a "County Lines" columnist at The New York Times, and her work has appeared in many publications, including The New York Times Magazine, Glamour, Mademoiselle, and ScientificAmerican.com. She taught feature writing at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, and won the Missouri Lifestyle Journalism award for her groundbreaking work exploring international and interracial adoption, "Sending Black Babies North." Before Her Best-Kept Secret, she wrote Strangers to the Tribe: Portraits of Interfaith Marriage, and The Nose: A Profile of Sex, Beauty, and Survival. She appears frequently as a commentator and a guest on local and national television and radio.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
June 16, 2023
Baby Boom and a rise in Adoption. In 1961, a 16 yr old becomes her pregnant. Her parents were enraged and sent her to a maternity home, where she was forced to withdraw her parental rights. The adoption business has a history built on lies and secrecy. Her son disappeared. The book is filled with stories with real names changed to cover the crimes committed. The real life non fiction book addresses a story of loss, love, and the search for identity.
My Jewish Book Club read this book in April 2023.
My Jewish Book Club read this book in April 2023.
June 5, 2022
Touching story of one young woman and the son she gave up for adoption in 1961, surrounded by the wider story of the adoption "business" of the 1950s and '60s. It is often hard for younger people to imagine what it was like then, when effective birth control was unavailable, when it was unbearably shameful to have a child alone, and when pregnant girls just disappeared from school or college. This is a book worth reading, both a personal story of resilience and a well-researched social history.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews