Off the Bookshelf

Solomon's Sword:

Random House, $25 hard

Shapiro, a journalism professor at Columbia University, grapples with complex issues: One is the abandonment of a newborn in Connecticut and the subsequent Kafkaesque adoption process; the other is a horrendous case in Chicago of the severe neglect of 19 children in an extended family. Shapiro shows us that even the experts in this field can't agree on some of the most fundamental issues. He is ultimately successful in taking us through the cold, labyrinthine legal processes without forgetting the individuals involved or the very real human emotions that play out in every case involving the well-being of children.