Customer Reviews

America's Communal Utopias

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This is an excellent book with an intro. to the idea of communal movements in America, and then is divided into chapters regarding many of the communal movements throughout history. It is well written, and easy to read. We used it as a textbook in a college course I took entitled "American Utopianism". Not your typical, boring, gotta read it a couple times to make sense of it book. It has really inspired me to learn more.

While others can rightly be considered greater experts in specific groups or movements, no other scholar has done the work of Don Pitzer over the length of a career to understand the patterns and discontinuities of the massive number of experimental societies across American history and beyond. His theory of "developmental communalism" avoids the limited and misleading analysis found in many other sources to place the success of a group's efforts within the context of their development over time. And, it is exceptionally readable considering the wealth of material covered. A great teacher translates his guidance of students into this peculiar aspect of our heritage for all readers. It is the crowning achievement of a brilliant career. peace