Each of the chapters begins with a case study, the first-person story of an individual who held, or discovered, a family secret. A close friend of mine browsed through the book and became hooked when she read page 78, the opening to chapter 3. That opening examined the story of a young girl who was desperately trying to keep her mother from knowing that she was pregnant. Because she had been forced to give up a baby for adoption, my friend identified with the girl in that story, and she wanted to know more about that kind of secret. My brother became interested in the book when he read page 17, the opening to chapter 1, with its evidence of parents keeping silent about the institutionalization of a child. He felt that the silence in that family mirrored the silence in our own. One of my colleagues especially appreciated the first page of chapter 4 because, as a historian, she was interested in the surveillance of families in which one member was known to be (or thought to be) a Communist. I would hope that a casual reader would begin any one of the substantive chapters and become similarly interested in reading more. And I would hope that having become interested, that reader might go back to the beginning and then explore the conclusion to assess the conceptual apparatus that frames the individual chapters.‍It seems to me that our society now is going in entirely the wrong direction with respect to secrets. What is called the “Don’t say Gay” law in Florida is an example: teachers and students cannot discuss gender identity and sexual orientation until grade 4 and even then must be careful. Or we could consider how the Supreme Court Dobbs decision means that in some states even trying to buy—or helping someone else buy—an abortion pill like Mifepristone could put someone in danger. And, of course, undocumented immigrants have long had to conceal their status from others.I would hope that readers of this book would think about the ways in which social norms and social policies require that individuals—on their own and as members of families—keep secrets from other people. During the period I studied, the shame attached to bearing a child out of wedlock meant that young girls were often sent away during their pregnancies and were then forced to relinquish babies for adoption. I would also hope that readers of this book would then think about the costs of keeping secrets. During the 1950s, when children with Down Syndrome and other disabling conditions were institutionalized, the siblings of those children experienced unexplained and unbearable loss. Finally, I would hope that the readers of this book would think about whether changes in social norms and social policies could make for a more open society in which individuals do not bear the burden of silence.‍