Two Hundred Years of American CommunesTransaction Publishers, 1987 M01 1 - 516 pages The United States is the only modern nation in which communes have continuously existed for the past two hundred years. This definitive history of communes in America examines the major factors that have supported the existence and growth of communes throughout American history. The most impressive survey of the communal experience since the works of Noyes and Nordhoff, it is informed by a deep respect for the human subjects and organizational forms of American communes. The findings in the analytical chapters are of considerably theoretical import beyond the historical narrative. Oved details the founding, growth, development, and sometimes failure of alternative societies from 1735 to 1939: Icaria, Ephrata, Oneida, Shaker, religious, secular, and socialist communes. Extensive reference material cited will assure this work a special place in the archives of the literature on communes. |
From inside the book
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... period ? The extent and continuity of the phenomenon make me believe in neither coincidence nor chance but rather in the uniqueness of the American experience . Time and again I was faced with this question and I therefore decided to ...
... period of transition and settlement in the New World . These communes were founded during a period of social mobility which characterized a society that absorbs immigration . Some of those who founded communes in the United States ...
... period was indigenous communalism . It was influenced by American thinkers and intellectuals who were affected by the development of United States society and its economy . This renewed communal activity was set against the background ...
... periods : 1. The period between the seventeenth century and the appearance of the Shakers 1 1787 ) . in which the communal idea and its founders arrived from Europe . They existed then in complete isolation in the New World . 2. A period ...
... period in living rooms , assembly halls , and places of work make history come alive . Everything is meticulously reconstructed to bring back the special atmosphere of the past . Most impressive are the solidly built wooden houses which ...
Contents
3 | |
19 | |
The Shakers American Religious Communes | 39 |
Religious Immigrant Communes | 69 |
Robert Owen and the First Socialist Communes | 109 |
Fourierist Communitarian Settlements | 129 |
Oneida Commune with Complex Marriage | 167 |
Icaria The Socialist Immigrant Communes | 193 |
Sunrise and Anarchist Communities | 311 |
The Hutterites A Bridge between Past and Present | 333 |
A COLLECTIVE PROFILE IN A COMPARATIVE APPROACH | 367 |
Ideological Principles | 369 |
Social Activity and Management | 379 |
Education Culture and Rituals | 393 |
The Family and Womens Status in the Communes | 411 |
Economic Assets and Liabilities | 427 |
Victor Considerant and the Fourierists at La Reunion | 215 |
New Odessa A Jewish Commune of the Am Olam Group | 223 |
The Kaweah Cooperative Colony in California | 233 |
Ruskin The Communitarian Settlement in Tennessee | 247 |
Communitarian Settlements and Socialist Parties in Washington State | 257 |
The Christian Commonwealth in Georgia | 275 |
Llano de Rio A Socialist Commune in California and Louisiana | 285 |
Dualistic Relationships with the Outside World | 447 |
Dissolution of the Communes Options or Inevitability? | 467 |
Epilogue | 481 |
Appendix | 485 |
Index of Names | 495 |
Index of Communes | 499 |