The Family Roe: An American Story

Prager tells the story behind Roe v. Wade by focusing on the people whose lives were shaped—and often shattered—by the case and its consequences. The book is meticulous in its reporting, with a novelist’s sense of scene and momentum. Prager shows how legal history is made not just by courts but by families, secrets, and political machinery. The narrative complicates familiar slogans, revealing the messy, human realities beneath ideological battles. It is attentive to how power works through institutions, media, and strategic storytelling. Prager also captures the long afterlife of Roe: the ways it has been used, misunderstood, and weaponized. The writing is propulsive but careful, resisting sensationalism even when the material is dramatic. You finish with a deeper understanding of how one case became a cultural fault line. It’s both intimate and politically illuminating. A gripping, clarifying work of narrative journalism.