I think it’s well established by now when I’m struggling with real world events reading about those same topics is some sort of weird coping mechanism for me.
Enter this 650+ page tome on abortion in America!
With painstaking detail author Joshua Prager covers 50 years of American history relating to abortion in The Family Roe fleshing out not only important players, such as Jane Roe herself, AKA Norma McCorvey, in the landmark Supreme Court decision which legalized abortion for all U.S. citizens regardless of geographical location, but also providing social and cultural context on the topic (pre-Dobbs which upended everything including the legitimacy of the Supreme Court! The Family Roe published in September 2021.)
I knew a good bit about the topic of abortion in America going into this book and The Family Roe further enriched my understanding.
One of the most interesting parts of this book for me is the discussion of the Roe adjacent case, 1992’s Planned Parenthood vs. Casey and specifically how conservative justices wanted to use it as an opportunity to overturn Roe, but ultimately felt it unconstitutional to do so, that it would erode the authority of SCOTUS and damage trust in our nation’s democratic institutions. And yet… SCOTUS came to the exact opposite conclusion with Dobbs. Ain’t that some shit?
A+ for effort on this one. The Family Roe is a 2022 Pulitzer Prize Finalist for Nonfiction and it shows. The balance of comprehensive reporting plus engaging narratives woven throughout is truly impressive.
That Bookish Life 