Jyotsna Sreenivasan - Utopias in American history

Cover

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J yotsna S reenivasan

Santa Barbara, California Denver, Colorado Oxford, England

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Copyright 2008 by ABC-CLIO, Inc.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review, without prior permission in writing from the publishers.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Sreenivasan, Jyotsna.
Utopias in American history / Jyotsna Sreenivasan.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-59884-052-0 (hard copy : alk. paper)ISBN 978-1-59884-053-7 (ebook : alk. paper) 1. UtopiasUnited StatesHistory. I. Title.
HX653.S64 2008
307.770973dc22 2008027051

12 11 10 09 08 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

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A cknowledgments , ix

I ntroduction , xi

C hronology , xxi

A mana C olonies , 1

A mish , 8

A nanda C olonies , 16

A narchism , 23

A ntislavery C ommunities , 27

B ellamy , E dward , 33

B ible C ommunism , 35

B ishop H ill , 36

B ohemia M anor , 41

B rook F arm and F ourierist P halanxes , 45

B rotherhood of the N ew L ife , 52

B ruderhof , 57

B uddhist C ommunities , 64

B urned -O ver D istrict , 68

C amphill M ovement , 70

C apitalism , 76

C atholic W orker M ovement , 78

C hildren and C hild R earing , 84

C ivil R ights M ovement , 87

C ivil W ar , 89

C ohousing , 90

C ooperatives , 96

C ults , 98

D avidian and B ranch D avidian M ovements , 100

E covillages , 107

E ducation , 108

E phrata C loister , 113

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F airhope and S ingle -T ax C ommunities , 120

F amily , 126

T he F amily /C hildren of G od , 130

T he F arm , 137

F ellowship for I ntentional C ommunity , 144

F errer C olony (S telton ), 145

G eorge , H enry , 151

G reat D epression , 153

G ronlund , L aurence , 154

H armony S ociety , 155

H ippies , 162

H ome C olony , 165

H ouse of D avid M ovement , 170

H utterites , 175

I carian M ovement , 183

I ndustrial R evolution , 190

I nternational S ociety for K rishna C onsciousness (H are K rishna M ovement ), 192

J erusalem /S ociety of U niversal F riends , 200

J esus P eople USA, 203

J ewish A gricultural C ommunities , 210

K aweah C ooperative C ommonwealth , 216

K eil C ommunities B ethel and A urora , 221

K oinonia F arm /K oinonia P artners , 226

K oreshan U nity , 232

L eadership and D ecision M aking , 237

L iterary U topias , 243

L lano del R io and N ew L lano , 245

L ove F amily , 251

M illennialism , 256

M oravian M ovement , 257

M ore , T homas , 264

N ew D eal C ommunities , 266

N ew H armony and O wenite M ovement , 273

O neida C ommunity , 280

O rderville and M ormon C ommunalism , 287

O wen , R obert , 294

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P acifism , 297

P eace M ission M ovement , 300

P ersecution , 307

P oint L oma and T heosophical C ommunities , 310

R ainbow F amily of L iving L ight , 317

R ajneeshpuram , 323

R enaissance C ommunity /B rotherhood of the S pirit , 330

R ugby , 335

R uskin , 339

S hakers , 344

S kinner , B. F., 352

S ocialism , 354

S ociety of the W oman in the W ilderness , 358

S teiner , R udolf , 360

S ynanon , 362

T ranscendentalism , 369

T win O aks C ommunity , 373

V alley of the S wans , 379

W omen , S tatus of , 381

Z oar S ociety , 385

I ndex , 391

A bout the A uthor , 418

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I would like to thank my editors at ABC-CLIO for their enthusiasm, insights, and help with this book: Steven Danver and Alexander Mikaberidze. I would also like to thank Betsy Bybell at the Latah County Public Library in Moscow, Idaho, for going beyond the call of duty to procure stacks of obscure books on long-forgotten communities through the Inter-Library Loan system. I couldnt have written this book without all of you!

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Utopia is a word coined by Thomas More, a 16th-century English writer, from two Greek words. It literally means nowhere. More imagined and wrote about an ideal country where citizens lived in harmony and prosperity. He called his ideal country Utopia.

Today, a utopian community refers to a group of people trying to live according to their highest values. Utopian communities are communities in which unrelated people live together by choice and that are designed to foster values that the members think are important, such as spirituality, cooperation, economic equality, or a simple lifestyle. These communities are formed to offer what are seen as better alternatives, a better way of life, than what can be found in the larger society. These kinds of communities are also called communes, collective settlements, or intentional communities.