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The 60's Communes: Hippies and Beyond (Peace and Conflict Resolution)

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If you've ever lived on a commune or if you're interested in studying intentional communities from roughly 1967 to 1975, this book is a page turner.

Having lived through the '60s era and having participated in the communal scene, I often find myself irritated by inaccurate reporting by authors who only seem interested in sensationalism (such as Robert Houriet's *Getting Back Together*, 1971), but Timothy Miller does his homework carefully, and I don't find such inaccuracies or biases in his work.

*The 60s Communes: Hippies and Beyond* is not a glib dismissal of a blip on the screen of American community. Miller makes it clear that this is an ongoing phenomenon. Many of these communities still exist (such as The Farm in Tennessee) even though many have gone through countless evolutions and restructuring.

Miller compares land and food arrangements, architecture, parenting, and social interaction of diverse communities across this country along with their philosophies, ideologies and spiritual perspectives. He doesn't unrealistically romanticize and neither does he condemn. He just tells it like it is--and was. And he bakes it into a cake.

The book illustrates the profound effect that these communities have had on our society. It doesn't pretend to include in-depth personal reminiscences or ideological transformations (such as those chronicled in Peter Coyote's excellent *Sleeping Where I Fall*), but it brings all elements together in an informative Big Picture of what was, what is, and what may follow from this movement. While the communes of the American past were primarily arks, says Miller, those of the 60s were lighthouses. I agree. This is one good read. I recommend it. pamhan99@aol.com

I grew up in a Jesus Freak commune, the Highway Missionaries, one of five communes I've lived in my life. The first commune I was born into, Jesus People Milwaukee, is actually mentioned (though not by name) as the precursor of Jesus People USA, JePUSA, in this book. So I came into this book with a high degree of interest, hoping to see something familiar, and learn new insights into myself, and how we were.

I was not disappointed. This is a top-notch book, well-written, scrupulously researched, sociological and anthropological, a wealth of information. Miller's primary purpose is to look at 60's communes in general, of which he says the Jesus People were perhaps the largest single contingent, but still a minority overall. The book not only mentions many different groups, giving a brief blurb on them, but ties them together in genuine scholarly treatment, so that we learn how the different aspects of various groups fit in an overall framework.

Miller's treatment of daily life in community and children from communes was very on-target, as was his look at the eventual dissolution of the communal movement, and what happened to the millions involved in it afterward. This is not an easy topic, as there was a wide variety of communes: Jesus People, environmental, anarchist, LSD, Sufi, Jewish , Hindu, Krishna, and middle-class communes, to name a few. Yet he is able to combine all these diverse elements into an overall thesis, while still treating each type unique. He makes a strong point that many communes are not covered in his treatment, and of the 1000's that existed in this time period, many don't even have any written record any longer.

I think I'd bring up only one minor flaw- his discussion of us, Jesus People Milwaukee, was not entirely correct, as we were neither fundamentalist (but more in line in thinking with Sojourners), nor reaching out to youth, but a Discipleship Training School for young adults.

It is true, as Miller says, most of us in the communes were unaware of what was going on in other communes. It seemed to be just a spontaneous move all around the nation, and to those within the Jesus Movement, a spontaneous move of the Holy Spirit. It was something that had a huge impact on our lives, as Miller describes, and something that continues to highly impact the culture today.

An interesting overview of the 60's commune phenomenon. I was part of a Christian community in the 70's to early 80's. I like the appendix which lists several hundred of the known communes here in America. There is a resurgence of the phenomenon in that many folks from the era who are retiring now are going back to commune life. This is the second book of what will be a trilogy when it is finished. The first covers communes from 1900 till the 60's, the last book will cover the commune movement from the late 70's to the present.

This is not the type of dry, dull text you might fear from an academic. The unobtrusive footnotes in the book guide the reader to new sources to read. This tightly edited book moves at a very fast pace thanks to the focus on the interesting aspects of commune life and lack of academic pretense.

Timothy Miller wrote a great history of earlier utopian communities (The Quest for Utopia in Twentieth-Century America: 1900-1960), and has also written about 1960s issues (e.g., The Hippies and American Values); in this 1999 book he extends his survey of utopian communities into the era from 1960-1975 (with a brief appendix on "Communal Life after 1975").

He covers this in thematically-arranged chapters, such as "The Roots of 1960s-Era Communes," "The New Communes Emerge: 1960-1965," "Out of the Haight and Back to the Land," "Religious and Spiritual Communes," "Communal Ideologies, Economics, and Organization," "Daily Life in the Communes," etc.

He included in his survey only communities that had (1) a sense of common purpose and of separation; (2) some form of self-denial, (3) Geographic proximity, (4) Personal interaction, (5) Economic sharing, (6) real existence, and (7) critical mass [i.e., more than just a few people]. He covers many different communities, including Tolstoy Farm; Drop City; Morning Star; Twin Oaks; Sunrise Hill; Koinonia Farms; Twelve Tribes; Kerista; Harrad West; Stelle, and many others.

Miller's comments are incisive, as well: "Woodstock directly inspired several communes founded soon afterwards"; "But extensive anecdotal evidence makes it clear that almost all communes were very largely white places"; "The lesbian communes made the larger, earlier mark, with most gay male settlements coming after 1975," etc.

This book will be of continuing interest to anyone interested in the 1960s, hippies, intentional communities, utopian societies, communes, ecovillages, and similar experiments in living.

This was required reading for a graduate course in American history.

The 1960's was a time of radical change in American history. Timothy Miller's book is a look into the controversial subject of the effect the hippies had on American society and its values. Since post World War II American society had seen so many changes in just a few decades. "Hippiedom" was another new change the nation had to deal with in the late 1960's and early 1970's.

The "Hippiedom" movement in the 1960's became known as the counterculture. This movement was composed of teenagers and persons in their early twenties who chose to separate themselves from the traditional American lifestyle. Hippies were usually young, white and came from the upper middle class. The hippie culture's basic beliefs were in peace, racial harmony, and equality. Their culture condoned smoking marijuana, engaging in liberated sex, and living communally they felt that as long as no one was hurting anyone else or themselves it was okay.

The main characteristic of the hippies was dope, and the majority of the hippies used it. Dope was one of the main elements that separated the counterculture from the mainstream. Hippies looked upon dope as good, and approved the use of any drug that was perceived as being able to expand consciousness. Drugs that made people "dumb" were bad (25). The main elements of hip ethics of dope looked something like this:

Use it positively. Use it sanely. Know what you're doing. Avoid bad drugs. Avoid misuse of (good) dope. Don't use dope to hurt others. Assert your freedom to make your own decisions
about dope. And have a good trip (27).

Hippies believed that dope was about fun, revolution and was good for their body and soul. They lived by the creed: "If it feels good, then do it so long as it doesn't hurt anyone else." (29) Dope was believed to be useful in many different ways. One specific use of dope was to heighten intimacy and interpersonal interaction.

In the counterculture movement dope and sex were often intertwined. Hippies believed that people should be free to express their sexuality as they chose and use dope to boost the sexual experience. Hippies had extensive reasoning as to why they should enjoy sex. They used the same credo for sex as they did for dope.

Homosexuality and nudity developed a consciousness within the Hippiedom as well and became part of the new sexuality. It was not long before the consequences of this life-style forced the counterculture to deal with issues such as social diseases, birth control and abortion. These new obstacles did not deter them from participating in orgies and organized free sex which they believed was harmless, helped break down social barriers, created community spirit and was beneficial to one's private sex life (65).

While dope and sex were major elements of the counterculture movement in the late 1960's and early 1970's the movement was not complete without rock and roll. Rock and roll was believed to have been a major influence on the feelings and beliefs of the counterculture. It became a way of life and a means of communication. The lyrics reflected the counterculture's values and in turn helped shape them (78). Rock and roll festivals and concerts were considered sacramental gatherings by the counterculture. They provided opportunities for massive indulgence in dope, nudity, sex, rock and community. Woodstock was one such example of a sacramental gathering to hippies.

Rock and roll and dope played a major role in developing communal living arrangements within the hippie countercultural movement. Those who lived in the communes believed they were rejecting mainstream society. The communes were usually located in the country so that the communards could "get back to the basics", by living off the land."

Hippies created their own "love" generation (104). Although the counter-culture movement attempted to stay free of the mainstream, they were not immune to opposition from the traditional society. Conventional society was opposed to dope, sex, rock and roll and hippies' sense of community. Hippies believed love was the only answer to major problems afflicting the world (105). As a result of their beliefs on love, they had some political implications.

Hippies believed in disinvolvement and felt that voting was useless and politics were not a concern of "free" people. This resulted in hippies "dropping out" as they fell out of the mainstream society and into a New Age (110). Despite "dropping out" they had to keep one
foot in the mainstream door because they had to work. While hippies worked by necessity they believed money was meaningless and just a necessary evil. They considered play to be much more important in their value system. In order to stay true to their beliefs they would only play games, such as Frisbee, that did not require score keeping, competition and rules. If people did not incorporate play into their day, hippies believed they were missing out.

By all accounts hippies did their own thing and believed they were starting something new with the "sexual" revolution, the drugs and the rock and roll. However, while they were "loving" everyone and "getting back to the basics" they were just repeating history; but their movement is probably the most substantial remnant of hip culture we have (136). They did not look at the past to see how wrong they were. For example, they were iconoclasts. However, iconoclasm is another classic American virtue. They were different in that new issues were under attack. They chose to confront rationality, technocracy, and materialism (126).

The hippies' idea of living in the country in their communes was also not a new idea. The establishment of thousands of communes in rural areas was a replay of the agrarian ideal not
to mention a communal vision - which was well established in the nineteenth century. Sexual freedom was another case in point. For years there have been groups who deviate from the norm when it comes to patterns of heterosexuality, monogamy, marriage and wearing clothes (127).

In the counterculture movement women were referred to as "chicks" or if they were in a relationship they were "old ladies" (16). Women withdrew from the "sexual" revolution
because it involved male predominance. "Free" sexuality, like any other kind, "carries with it an
unwarranted domination by the man, of the woman, which injures both," a hip southern female wrote.

Another woman was more blunt: ''The talk of love is profuse but the quality of
relationships is otherwise ...The idea of sexual liberation for the woman means she is not so much free to f*** as to get f***ed over ...Our mothers could get a home and security, a prostitute money, but a hippie woman is bereft of all that "(67).

The question will forever remain as to whether the hippies had a lasting effect on American society and its values. They certainly attracted public awareness during their time with the popularization of recreational drugs and the new attitudes toward sex. They believed with all their heart, at the time that they were making a huge impact on the world. Although after their "heyday" it is questionable if what they thought they were working towards was ever accomplished.

Recommended reading for anyone interested in American history, counter-culture history.