Review by Booklist Review
*Starred Review* Reece (An American Gospel, 2009) takes us on a delightful road trip into the optimistic past of a unique form of American idealism. The early 1800s saw the proliferation of a widespread notion that life in this new world could be better, that the new continent deserved a society based upon something nobler, more uplifting than transplanted European industrialism. The philosophy of the day bore the newly coined term, socialism, and between 1820 and 1850, some two-hundred separate communities sprang up across the country. Following in the philosophical footsteps of the likes of Emerson, Thoreau, John Humphrey Noyes, and the Shakers, Reece visits the homes of these rugged individualists. Clearly, he's enamored of their dreams and their resolve, and he observes that whatever fault brought them down, it wasn't their embrace of socialism. Rather, it was the crush of an American consumer culture so unsustainable . . . that we now stand on the verge of both environmental calamity and an intractable federal plutocracy. Even as he acknowledges the failures of these communities, Reece is confident that we can learn from them and create a sustainable future. Hitching a ride on Reece's journey and catching his contagious optimism is entertaining and engaging.--Chavez, Donna Copyright 2016 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Visionary hopes, eccentric beliefs, and hard work animate this impassioned history of and meditation on American utopian settlements. Environmental journalist Reece (Lost Mountain) tours sites of famous 19th-century intentional communities, including the Pleasant Hill, Ky., Shaker congregation, whose celibacy commandment channeled energies into making classic furniture; New Harmony, Ind., where industrialist Robert Owen built a benevolent socialist dictatorship; anarchist Josiah Warren's Modern Times village on Long Island, N.Y., which used a "labor notes" currency denoted in working hours to banish exploitation; Thoreau's Walden Pond, Mass., utopia of one; and the Oneida, N.Y., free-love commune of prophet John Humphrey Noyes. Reece also visits Twin Oaks, Va., a flourishing modern-day hippie commune. He regales readers with the colorful oddities and excesses of these groups, and warms to their feminism, anti-racism, and egalitarianism. The book examines utopian theories of what's wrong with the world-capitalism, private property, egotism, either sex or monogamy-and Reece chimes in with Jeffersonian jeremiads against banks, consumerism, mass production, agribusiness, and genetic engineering, never registering how industry and technology make utopian aspirations practical. (His idea of paradise seems to be an organic farm with solar panels.) The result is an engaging exploration-and example-of the fruitful tunnel-visions of dreamers turned doers. Agent: Jin Auh, Wylie Agency. (Aug.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review
Reece (Lost Mountain: A Year in the Vanishing Wilderness Radical Strip Mining and the Devastation of Appalachia) was looking for ways to address what he sees as American economic and environmental crises. To that end, he began to consider 19th-century American utopian communities for new approaches to agriculture, resources, and our environment. The result is a road trip to visit the sites of these communities and a discussion of what ideas the communities could offer in dealing with social and environmental problems. American utopian communities are often viewed as failures. Reece counters that idea by pointing to their innovations and inventive approach to problem-solving. Reece believes utopian ideas and ideals are useful to forming alternative solutions to economic and environmental concerns. James Patrick Cronin delivers a well-paced narration. Verdict Recommended for listeners interested in environmentalism and American history. ["Recommended for readers interested in travel writing, environmentalism, and U.S. history": LJ 7/16 review of the Farrar hc.]-Cynthia Jensen, Gladys Harrington Lib., Plano, TX © Copyright 2016. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
