“A vibrant tale of the radical political and social activism swirling through New York City's Greenwich Village in the early 20th century.... Scutts's comprehensive account skillfully situates Heterodoxy's members at the forefront of the era's most important movements for change and renders lively portraits of suffrage parades, labor strikes, and birth control advocacy. This feminist history shines.”—Publishers Weekly
"An enlightening contribution to the history of feminism."—Kirkus
“A fascinating view of feminist activism at the beginning of the 20th century.”—Library Journal
“In Joanna Scutts’s capable hands, the individual lives of the members of the Heterodoxy Club become a prism through which to examine the defining issues of New York City in the early 1900s, from suffrage to workers’ rights, from racism to sexism. Incredibly resonant in today’s times, and a profound read.”—Fiona Davis, New York Times–bestselling author of The Lions of Fifth Avenue
“Scutts treats these world-changing feminists and activists as they treated each other: with clarity, candor, and warmth. Hotbed is both a formidable work of scholarship and a transporting tour de force of storytelling. The women of the secret club known as Heterodoxy would surely have recruited Scutts as one of their own.”—Janice P. Nimura, author of The Doctors Blackwell
“Hotbed: Bohemian Greenwich Village and the Secret Club that Sparked Modern Feminism is a spirited, inspiring history of a little-known enclave of feminist movers and shakers in an expertly evoked early twentieth-century Greenwich Village. How I long to visit! But then, reading Scutts’s book, I almost feel as if I have. Deeply researched and deftly rendered, Hotbed is a must-read for anyone seriously interested in feminism, feminist history, and the power of the city to help women change their lives.”—Lauren Elkin, author of Flâneuse
“With spirit and panache, Scutts’s lively Hotbed tells the little-known story of Heterodoxy, an early twentieth-century society of women that set the gears in motion for the revolution that soon followed. Catnip for anyone interested in the history of feminism, friendship, or New York City.”—Ruth Franklin, author of Shirley Jackson
“In this fascinating book, Scutts introduces us to the women behind some of the early twentieth century’s most radical and important movements: suffragism, prison reform, free love, organized labor, antiracism, pacifism, and, of course, feminism. Scutts is an able guide to this historical milieu, one made up of doctors and writers, psychoanalysts and journalists, organizers and hostesses, mothers and wives. Hotbed is a wonderful tribute to the ‘restless audacious [and] creative spirit’ that pushes a culture beyond convention and complacency and toward something new.”—Maggie Doherty, author of The Equivalents
