The broken cord

the long version

This book is the inspiring story of a family confronted with a problem with no known solution and the first book for the general reader that describes the tragedy and lifelong blight of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. In 1971, Michael Dorris became one of the first unmarried men in the United States to legally adopt a very young child, and affectionate Sioux Indian he named Adam. At that time, little was revealed about Adam's past except that his biological mother died of alcohol poisoning. During the course of the next two decades, the growing Dorris family (through the single-parent adoption of two more infants, and the 1981 marriage to writer Louise Erdrich, which produced three more children) went through a time of alarming discovery as the new information about the genetic and cultural causes of FAS became apparent and paralleled the family's battle to solve their oldest son's developing health and learning problems. Author Michael Dorris explains how traditions weave through the lives of many Native Americans and how alcoholism and despair have shattered so many lives. He also chronicles the effects of fetal alcohol syndrome on their adopted son and on the Native American community as a whole. -- from Publisher description