Description
Book SynopsisFrom colonial times to the present, the United States has been home to a steady stream of utopian experimental communities. This title takes us inside one of the longer-lived of such communities, Celo Community in western North Carolina, to explore the dynamics of intentional communities in America.
Trade Review"This work, the product of extensive interviewing and examination of pertinent documents, should become a 'standard' in the literature of secular American utopianism." -- Choice "Provides the first detailed scholarly consideration of a utopian experiment that has remained largely unknown to all but a handful of specialists in American communitarian history... Hicks has given us not only a fresh new way to rethink the contributions of utopianism but also some thoughtful guidelines for a reconsideration of national priorities." -- Louis J. Kern, The North Carolina Historical Review "Raises a number of intriguing theoretical questions and provides social scientists with a lot more raw material to digest... The constellation of ideas and material proves very fruitful, and the uncommon depth of the investigation suggests that this book will be a fascinating read for a broad range of social scientists." -- James A. Kitts, Contemporary Sociology ADVANCE PRAISE "This is the definitive treatment of Celo, a major utopian community experiment that endures in modified form to the present. Hicks's ethnographic insights are significant and useful, illuminating the dynamics within the community as well as the reactions of surrounding neighbors to these communal utopians."-- Donald Pitzer, editor of America's Communal Utopias
