Audrey Farley biography

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Audrey Farley
Photo: Grace Farley

Audrey Farley

Audrey Farley Biography

Audrey Clare Farley is a scholar of twentieth-century American culture with special interests in science and religion. She earned a PhD in English literature at University of Maryland, College Park. She now teaches U.S. history at Mount St. Mary's University and history writing for Catapult.

Her first book, The Unfit Heiress: The Tragic Life and Scandalous Sterilization of Ann Cooper Hewitt, tells the story of a 1930s millionairess whose mother secretly sterilized her to deprive her of the family fortune, sparking a sensational case and forcing a debate of eugenics. Girls and Their Monsters: The Genain Quadruplets and the Making of Madness in America explores the lives of the four women behind NIMH's famous case study of schizophrenia. It was published by Grand Central in June 2023.

Audrey's essays have appeared in The Atlantic, The New Republic, The Washington Post, and many other outlets. She lives in Hanover, Pennsylvania.

Audrey Farley's website

This bio was last updated on 06/03/2023. In a perfect world, we would like to keep all of BookBrowse's biographies up to date, but with many thousands of lives to keep track of it's simply impossible to do. So, if the date of this bio is not recent, you may wish to do an internet search for a more current source, such as the author's website or social media presence. If you are the author or publisher and would like us to update this biography, send the complete text and we will replace the old with the new.

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Books by this Author

Books by Audrey Farley at BookBrowse
Girls and Their Monsters jacket The Unfit Heiress jacket
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Read-Alikes

All the books below are recommended as read-alikes for Audrey Farley but some maybe more relevant to you than others depending on which books by the author you have read and enjoyed. So look for the suggested read-alikes by title linked on the right.
How we choose read-alikes

  • Harry Bruinius

    Harry Bruinius

    Harry Bruinius is the author of Better for All the World: The Secret History of Forced Sterilization and America’s Quest for Racial Purity. He was born in Chicago and attended Yale University, where he studied ... (more)

    If you enjoyed:
    The Unfit Heiress

    Try:
    Better for All the World
    by Harry Bruinius

  • Hilary A. Hallett

    Hilary A. Hallett

    Hilary Hallett was born in Alton, Illinois, grew up in St. Louis and has spent most of her adult life in New York City. After attending the Tisch School of the Arts at NYU she worked briefly in film production before entering... (more)

    If you enjoyed:
    The Unfit Heiress

    Try:
    Inventing the It Girl
    by Hilary A. Hallett

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