The Unfit Heiress

February 15, 2021
The shocking story of an heiress who was sterilized without her consent. In 1936, Ann Cooper Hewitt, daughter of inventor Peter Cooper Hewitt and socialite Maryon Cooper Hewitt, sued her mother for $500,000. She alleged that Maryon conspired with Ann's doctors to have her sterilized during a scheduled appendectomy in order to deprive Ann of her inheritance since Peter's will stipulated that Ann's share of his estate would revert back to her mother if Ann died childless. In this dramatic work of creative nonfiction, Farley focuses primarily on the lives of Maryon and Ann, exploring each of their abusive childhoods, subsequent relationships with men, and, particularly, how they were portrayed in the media. She also chronicles the trials of Maryon and her alleged accomplices and the estranged mother-daughter relationship at the heart of the story and weaves in bits of the history of eugenics. At the time of the trial, writes Farley, "many Americans didn't know that tens of thousands of individuals had been sterilized in state institutions nationwide." Due to the social status of the family, Americans from all walks of life followed the proceedings closely, stimulating conversations about medical ethics, especially the use of sterilization for population control and the ability of doctors to perform surgery "without written consent." The author also sheds light on the number of sterilizations that have occurred more recently, either involuntarily or under false pretenses, in order to selectively control the population. She highlights both instances where federal funds have been used to sterilize low-income, Indigenous, incarcerated, and other marginalized women as well as related lawsuits and legislative amendments. Throughout, Farley maintains the focus on Ann and her family. While she does not provide a comprehensive discussion of eugenics, the eye-opening story of the family is a concrete example of lamentable policies that continue to shape the reproductive rights of women. A disturbing yet thought-provoking tale of family strife and ethically unsound medical practice.

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March 1, 2021

In this debut, writer and historian Farley recounts the story of heiress Ann Cooper Hewitt (1914-56), who made headlines in the early 20th century. After being taken to the hospital for an appendectomy, Hewitt learned that her mother had paid doctors to also remove her fallopian tubes in an effort to deprive Ann of her father's inheritance; his will stipulated that if Ann died childless, her share would revert back to her mother. While concurrently following the court case and its proceedings, Farley also charts the dark history of the eugenics movement, showing how eugenicists targeted people in psychiatric wards and those considered to be sexually deviant, and also how, in many cases, consent was not required. Chapters on the life of Cooper Hewitt portray a woman who is sympathetic in some ways, especially for her lack of bodily autonomy, and eccentric in others, including her connection to a suspicious suicide of the wife of one of her lovers. VERDICT 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.--Stacy Shaw, Denver

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Starred review from March 15, 2021
In 1934, Ann Cooper Hewitt underwent what she thought was an appendectomy. To her shock and horror, she discovered that her fallopian tubes had been removed. Ann's money-grubbing mother, Maryon, had conspired with doctors to label Ann "feeble-minded" and therefore subject to involuntary sterilization under California law. Maryon had her eyes on Ann's considerable inheritance, which included a child-bearing stipulation. The resulting trial was a media circus that skyrocketed women's reproductive rights, sexual liberation, and eugenics to the forefront of the public's attention. The salacious details of the trial placed both women under intense scrutiny by the press, making them tabloid fodder for years. Farley takes creative license to set the scene and craft conversations, a method that creates an extremely readable narrative. She goes beyond Ann's story to include the voices of Black, Indigenous, Latina, and poor white women forcibly sterilized throughout modern history--segments that very well could have been expanded into their own book. Given the allegations of forced sterilization at ICE detention centers in 2020, this book is as timely as ever. A gripping tale about the atrocity of systematic reproductive control.

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