Reviews
"Expertly blending biography and history, and using the life of Ann Cooper Hewitt as a backdrop, Farley has created an absorbing biography effectively explaining how the legacy of eugenics still persists today. Hewitt's story will engage anyone interested in women's history."-- Library Journal, "Farley has presented an excellent case here. The book is fascinating on a variety of levels . . . not just a titillating story about greed, but one that delves further into the human mind and poor judgement, to say the least."-- New York Journal of Books, "[Farley] keenly investigates the culture of eugenics that surrounded and pervaded both Ann's life and court case...The most indicting feature of Farley's book is not America's eugenic past but America's eugenic present."-- Lady Science, "Shocking. . . a disturbing yet thought-provoking tale of family strife and ethically unsound medical practice."-- Kirkus Reviews, "Farley sets a brisk pace and persuasively reimagines the dynamic between Ann and Maryon. This is an eye-opening portrait of an obscure yet fascinating case."-- Publishers Weekly, "THE UNFIT HEIRESS is a sensational story told with nuance and humanity with clear reverberations to the present. Historian Audrey Clare Farley's writing jumps off the page, as Ann Cooper Hewitt, once a one-dimensional tabloid fixation, is brought into full relief as a complicated victim of her time, standing in the crosshairs of the growing eugenics movement and the emergence of a "over-sexed" and "dangerous" New Woman. But most importantly, this book is a necessary call to remember the high stakes and terrible history of the longstanding fight for control over women's bodies." -- Susannah Cahalan, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Brain on Fire, "In Audrey Clare Farley's book, the fascinating and unsettling case--and the worldwide media sensation it caused--is carefully revisited to expose what it meant to be considered an unfit parent and how easily family can become foes."-- Town and Country
