The Secret Feminist History of the Temperance Movement

The radical women behind the original “dump him” discourse

A gathering of members of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union, 1924.

A couple years ago, while researching my memoir about a love affair with a man addicted to heroin, I got lost in the testimonies of temperance women. I was trying to understand the deleterious effects of men’s addictions on women’s lives throughout history; still, it was a…