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Ellen Wayland-Smith

Oneida: From Free Love Utopia to the Well-Set Table Hardcover – May 3, 2016

by Ellen Wayland-Smith (Author)

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A fascinating and unusual chapter in American history about a religious community that held radical notions of equality, sex, and religion―only to transform itself, at the beginning of the twentieth century, into a successful silverware company and a model of buttoned-down corporate propriety.

In the early nineteenth century, many Americans were looking for an alternative to the Puritanism that had been the foundation of the new country. Amid the fervor of the religious revival known as the Second Great Awakening, John Humphrey Noyes, a spirited but socially awkward young man, attracted a group of devoted followers with his fiery sermons about creating Jesus’ millennial kingdom here on Earth. Noyes established a revolutionary community in rural New York centered around achieving a life free of sin through God’s grace, while also espousing equality of the sexes and “complex marriage,” a system of free love where sexual relations with multiple partners was encouraged. Noyes’s belief in the perfectibility of human nature eventually inspired him to institute a program of eugenics, known as stirpiculture, that resulted in a new generation of Oneidans who, when the Community disbanded in 1880, sought to exorcise the ghost of their fathers’ disreputable sexual theories. Converted into a joint-stock company, Oneida Community, Limited, would go on to become one of the nation’s leading manufacturers of silverware, and their brand a coveted mark of middle-class respectability in pre- and post-WWII America.

Told by a descendant of one of the Community’s original families, Ellen Wayland-Smith's Oneida is a captivating story that straddles two centuries to reveal how a radical, free-love sect, turning its back on its own ideals, transformed into a purveyor of the white-picket-fence American dream.

Print length

320 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Picador
Publication date

May 3, 2016
Dimensions

6.42 x 1.06 x 9.64 inches
ISBN-10

1250043085
ISBN-13

978-1250043085
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"A lively and often entertaining account.... In Wayland-Smith’s extended chronicle, we see utopia as it sails through the world, assaulted on all sides by the forces of assimilation and greed."―The New Yorker

"Wayland-Smith is a gifted writer. Her lively account of how Oneida eventually succumbed to 'the gods of Science and Doubt' is a welcome change from most 'as told by' family histories."―The New York Times Book Review

“Remarkable… a detailed, riveting account.”―The Guardian

"Lively...[Wayland-Smith's] nuanced and empathetic book vividly captures the spirit of a brief historical moment."―The Boston Globe

"[A] fascinating, beautifully-told history."―The New Republic

“An incredible story.”―WBUR’s Here and Now

“An intimate, quirky family portrait.”―The Nation

"A gimlet-eyed book about Wayland-Smith's family history."―Gawker

"Drawing from letters, diaries, newsletters, and family stories, the author, an original-family descendant, adds inside information to this retelling of a radical movement’s transformation in the shifting current of American ideals. The narrative is engaging and detailed. This is a must-read for those interested in American social history, and should have broad appeal."―Booklist (starred review)

“[An] impressively thorough and engaging work…. This book is a fascinating look into the strange history of Oneida silverware and how its origins reflect an exhilarating period of American history.”―Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“This compelling narrative seamlessly threads the unlikely alliance between a ‘free love utopia’ and a household brand name. Fans of Joseph Ellis and David McCullough will appreciate this engrossing entry.”―Library Journal (starred review)

“The spotlight Wayland-Smith shines on this remarkable community's beginnings and ending offers a riveting glimpse into the quintessentially American early-19th-century struggle with the rights of the individual and separation of church and state. A smartly contextualized tale of ‘the tension between radical social critique and unapologetic accommodation….between communal harmony and individual striving.’”―Kirkus Reviews

About the Author

Ellen Wayland-Smith teaches in the Writing Program at the University of Southern California, and received her PhD. in Comparative Literature from Princeton University. A descendent of John Humphrey Noyes, the founder of the Oneida community, she lives in Los Angeles with her family.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Picador; First Edition (May 3, 2016)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 320 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1250043085
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1250043085
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.14 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.42 x 1.06 x 9.64 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #302,103 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #199 in General History of Religion
- #370 in History of Religions
- #4,635 in U.S. State & Local History

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Ellen Wayland-Smith

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Ellen Wayland-Smith is a Professor of Writing at the University of Southern California and received her Ph.D. in comparative literature from Princeton University. A descendant of John Humphrey Noyes, the founder of the Oneida Community, she lives in Los Angeles with her family.

Customer reviews

5 star		66%
4 star		16%
3 star		7%
2 star		10%
1 star 0% (0%)		0%

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Top reviews from the United States

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Review349085

Bias, but solid

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on August 3, 2020

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A pretty good book about the Oneida Community. It ties in a lot of relevant US history and culture. It tends to draw out the book quite a bit, but it does provide useful context - other books on Oneida don't offer that. The author does tend to interject with her own opinions and thoughts on the matter, yet presents them as fact. It's pretty obvious when it happens, but this is definitely not a work free of bias. Overall, a solid piece.

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Susan P. Champion

An interesting book with scholarly insights.

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on August 7, 2016

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This is an interesting book about a very interesting group of people. It is not written as a novel, however, which causes the story line to lag a bit for the average reader. The author has approached this story of her family and Oneida from a scholarly viewpoint and has a scholar's insights as to the social and historical implications of the Oneida Community. I found it very interesting.

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H. T. Price

A great and wild read

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on May 4, 2016

Verified Purchase

This is a fascinating book--a wild ride from free love utopia in New York to the silver kings of Oneida. Its great for American history buffs and an amazing family tale told by one of the descendants with the "inside" goods. I learned a lot about religion and advertising too. Waiting for the mini series!!!

4 people found this helpful

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Lisa

but don't expect an easy read. I found the sentences quite long and ...

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on September 20, 2016

Verified Purchase

The author is an English professor and this book reads as such. Lots of interesting insights, but don't expect an easy read. I found the sentences quite long and requiring full engagement. Also, she rambles a bit throughout philosophical and religious history.

One person found this helpful

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Chuck G. Weger

Great book.

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on July 20, 2017

Verified Purchase

Excellent content. Did eventually get a bit dry.

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on May 4, 2016

Verified Purchase

A fascinating, insider's look at the Oneida community. Wayland-Smith explores the darker corners of the utopian dream, using a rich trove of archival material. Her crisp, elegant prose keeps the reader hooked from beginning to end. A terrific read!

5 people found this helpful

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Sara Manning

Four Stars

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on October 28, 2016

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Great story, decent writing.

One person found this helpful

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Shari B.

Interesting Read

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on September 11, 2017

Verified Purchase

This book was well written and I learned a lot about the community which gave us Oneida Silverware.

One person found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

telsurrey

Not an easy read!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on January 21, 2022

Verified Purchase

The author, without expertise in the many diverse topics discussed here, should be congratulated for attempting such a challenge. Arcane aspects of 19th century American religious groups, eugenics, the history of the Oneida Cutlery Company, were all covered, as well as the history of the Oneida Community.
I must admit, I found most of the book heavy going, especially after the break-up of the Community. The author, who was descended from former members of the Community, was determined to give us the whole story including this last bit tagged on the end.

In fact, I think the author was restrained from writing a better book by her closeness to the subject matter. To a modern reader, this is a classic story of a Cult. Its about a narcissistic leader, John Humphrey Noyes, who becomes a religious fanatic, and starts a Community of followers at Oneida, N Y State. It charts the progress of this experiment which lasts about thirty years.

If you are familiar with cults, you will have a pretty good idea what happens next. The leader is a benevolent leader but a 'control freak' like most cult leaders. His particular tools for controlling the group, which eventually reaches 300, are by his religious fanaticism, and by manipulating the sexual behaviour of the group. All the details are given by the author.

I think the author gives J H Noyes an easy run for his money. I finished the book with a distinct dislike for this very manipulative man. I thought he was using the whole set-up as a means of feeding his appetite for power and sex. Furthermore, there is evidence that he was also enjoying this power by 'grooming' under age thirteen year old girls and introducing them to sex for the group.

I don’t think the author explored this aspect as much as she should have done.

P S. George Bernard Shaw was Irish, not English.

SCS

From breaking out of the confines of monogamy to celebrating romantic domesticity

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on April 11, 2019

Verified Purchase

This is an amazing look into the inside of a utopia that turned into a a sad end. Utopias have ended worse! However the fascinating story of the birth and death of fancy Oneida cutlery is an interesting addition which adds a layer of social history to the utopian dream. Well written, well researched with material unavailable before, this is both informative and fun to read.

Drew

The decline and fall of a 19th century American utopian community

Reviewed in Australia 🇦🇺 on April 1, 2018

Verified Purchase

I found this book an excellent history of the Oneiden Community between 1860 and 2006. Lovingly documented by one of John Noyes descendants, the book traces the community from its roots in its founders psychotic religious experiences through its ultimate apogee as an apologist bourgeois corporation promoting American patriotic values during WWII.
The book is balanced, avoiding the easy temptations of salacious gossip around their unorthodox sexual practices or liberal judgements about their decline into neo-liberal managerialism and bankruptcy.

In an odd way, this book parallels a similar trajectory of American values across the same period. The community spans the last remnants of the Jeffersonian yeoman farmer through the transcendentalist vision and then the downward spiral into the inequalities of class, race and gender that characterize modern capitalism. The Oneiden community track this same trajectory their heterodox alternative community reflecting in the microcosm, the greater changes in the broader culture.

The book also treats the founder, John Noyes, with a sharp but compassionate eye. Neither judgement or hagiography mark the authors voice about her ancestors and she deftly situates the community within the press of cultural forces swirling through the 19th Century American psyche.

I enjoyed this book, it nicely balances critical distance and intimacy, it provides a unique insight into 19th century religious Utopianism.

One person found this helpful

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