Girl Writing. Milton Avery. 1941. Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C.

Praise for Huddle Fever:

“Schinto writes fluently and with zeal about class in America” and she “cannot fail to provoke readers to ponder deeply held beliefs about themselves and others and about the American dream.” -– Booklist

“A provocative and evocative book that blends [Schinto's] own immigrant heritage; the history of Lawrence; and an examination of the current generation of Latino, Middle Eastern and Asian immigrants.” -– Susan Jacoby, Newsday

“Written in a conversational, friendly style as if the author were talking with her readers rather than giving them a history lecture, [Huddle Fever] is full of vignettes about Lawrencians and peppered with [Schinto's] own perceptions. The result is exceptionally personal reading.” -– Library Journal

“Jeanne Schinto goes a good way toward rebuilding Lawrence in this informal history and memoir of the 10 years she and her husband lived there. The book follows threads of the city's identity back to its founding 150 years ago, and suggests why Lawrence is so easily ignored by the rest of the state and so essential to understanding where we are.... By the end of her book, it is impossible not to share both her frustrations with Lawrence and her affection and hope for a city that, without resources or acclaim, is building a new America.” –- The Boston Globe

“Immensely readable.... Huddle Fever is... a worthwhile examination of one corner of America's industrial wasteland.” –- The Cleveland Plain Dealer

“In a highly readable personal account, Schinto describes contemporary life in the changing immigrant city of Lawrence, Mass.... [She] poignantly narrates the effects of Lawrence's industrial decay on the lives of earlier Irish and Italian immigrants and their descendants.... [Huddle Fever] may bring enlightenment to an issue [immigration] that speaks to what kind of society we will become in the 21st century.” –- The Washington Post

“... powerful and painfully honest...” –- Yankee Magazine

“... a deeply insightful portrait of a city in trouble.” –- Los Angeles Times

“... a classic study of a New England mill town, recommended for anyone who wants to understand the economic and recent social history of the entire region.” –- Providence (RI) Journal-Bulletin

“..an intriguing blend of reportage, history, and reflection.” –- Publishers Weekly

“Tolstoy's observation about unhappy families--they're all unhappy in their own ways--holds true for troubled cities, too. That's why this book works for any reader... Huddle Fever is An Important Book. Without charts or footnotes, Schinto combines an historian's curiosity with a journalist's eye to add to the debate over the fate of America's cities.” – -New Haven Advocate

 “The story of gritty, never-celebrated Lawrence, Massachusetts, springs to life in Jeanne Schinto's Huddle Fever. It's a vivid, honest, unsugared, compelling story of immigrant America –- that is to say, the ongoing story of America itself.” –- Tony Hiss

"...unclassifiable..." -- Paul Theroux, The New York Times Book Review