Really interesting premise but I had a hard time getting through this. It felt long and packed with information, which was exciting, but it also felt dense and hard to get through at times. The research was amazing. I'd love to try reading this again as an audiobook.

In 1912, in New York City, feminist Marie Jenney Howe started a new social club called Heterodox, a meeting place for radical women thinkers of all stripes, a place where they could come together and plan to change the world. With just 25 members at the start, the club grew to more than 100 by the 1940s, when, for a variety of reasons, the group disbanded. In this meticulously researched, wide-ranging and comprehensive account of the club, the author focuses on the period up to the 1920s. Many of the members went on to play important and significant roles in the burgeoning feminist movement. The book is a complex social history, which sometimes feels overwhelming with so many characters introduced, and the style can occasionally feel overly academic and dry. It’s certainly hard keeping track of everyone. But it’s a wonderfully illuminating survey of the early days of feminism in the US and a significant contribution to women’s studies. Many photos enhance the text and the effort and concentration needed to read it is amply repaid. Highly recommended.

This book was a super fact-packed history of the women's movement centered in Greenwich Village in NYC. I was excited to read it, but it was SO fact-packed that I think it would be better for someone who was studying it for school instead of a casually interested reader.

Hotbed is a history of women who were at the center of trying to change the world politically and personally in 1912, the era of bohemian folks.
The book is well researched and brings these formerly invisible women to light and cements them centrally in the world of women's rights in America

Hotbed tells the story of the early days in Greenwich Village that sparked the feminist movement. I really enjoyed learning about the women who were influenced by the Heterodoxy club. This book is, overall, very well researched and a good source for anyone wanting to learn more about feminist history. Thanks to NetGalley, the author, and Seal Press for an ARC in exchange for an honest book review.

First, thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for this eARC in exchange for a fair and honest review. Now on to the fun part!

This book was both informative and entertaining, centering around the early days that sparked modern feminism in Greenwich Village early on in 20th Century U.S. While from Scutts, we as readers learn more about who was involved, how, etc., she is also sure to mention those who were excluded and the limits of the Heterodoxy group. The different causes the group members champion were endlessly fascinating, and to get a bit more behind the fight for things we now have was awesome. Another benefit is to see how much hasn't changed, how much that still needs to change

As far as the writing, you can tell there has been extensive research done, and overall, it's well-written. It was able to more or less keep my attention through the more dense sections.

4/5

A shining look at the marvelous women that gathered at a club on Greenwich Village’s MacDougal Street and their quest for equal rights.
Comprised of writers, reformists, artists and socialites, they would sit around a table at Polly’s and share new and bold ideas. In these very early days of women's suffrage, their vision was looking at the whole; independence, inclusion, marriage equality, free love and self-expression. Their agendas were radical and their support for one another absolutely necessary as they lived somewhat unconventionally to forge the path for a better, fuller life.
Joanna Scutts shares their voices, thoughts, feelings, opinions and endless fight to set a foundation that all women can build upon. She triumphantly breathes life into these magnificent women. This is a wonderful journey to travel on and highly recommended.
My thanks to NetGalley, the author and Seal Press for an ARC in exchange for an honest book review.

I received this as a e-galley ARC from NetGalley.

This is the second of Joanna Scutts' feminist-focused history books I have read and I enjoyed this one even more than the first. She picks a time period and some folks I may know about (1910s-1920s, Greenwich Village) and then teaches me so much more about the time period.

A feminist manifesto of the early days of feminism in New York City, specifically Greenwich Village. A group of women meet regularly at a club called Polly's on MacDougal Street and call their group Heterodoxy.. They want lives independent of their identities as wives. The group consists of women who are wealthy, white, and have influence. They blossom into a political and activist group as well as a social group.

The group grows, quickly becoming diverse regarding race and economic standing. Individual members become champions of political and social actions as the right of women to vote, birth control, pregnancy as cause for termination at work, and womens' independence from men as a definition for their existence.

This is an overlooked segment of the Womens' Movement for equality. So much is based in Greenwich Village, in the first decade of the 20th Century. The author has done extensive research. A valuable addition to any Womens' Studies curriculum.

Thanks to Net Galley for the eARC.