Since the seventeenth century North America has provided a home for religious and political movements whose teachings have found expression in communities where their members lived and, most important, worked together in structures where there was a degree of common ownership. These “communes” form an important aspect of American history and this encyclopaedia both documents and celebrates them.
The year 1663, when the first commune was set up, is the natural starting date; 1963 has been chosen as the cut‐off date for new foundations to avoid confusion with the large number of very different experiments in communal living which grew out of the ferment of the 1960s. The author does, however, cover more recent developments, including events in the 1990s.
A short introduction outlines theoretical justifications for communal living and surveys the overall history of communal foundations. In the main part of the encyclopaedia communes are listed alphabetically by name. The ideologies behind the communes are clearly described, usually in the entry or the founding commune. Shorter entries dealing with offshoots or others sharing the same ideology refer back to these entries. The standard of cross‐referencing is high with references between the frequent communes sharing the same site at different periods. The arrangement by name is usefully complemented by the index which lists both founders and movements.
The variety of groups covered is enormous. The earliest communes were founded by groups of radical Protestants who had fled from persecution in Europe and these have been some of the longest lasting. The author describes in detail the Hutterite Bruderhofs and Shaker settlements. Religious groups of American origin of course feature strongly, notably the Mormons. There are valuable entries on the groups of Mormons who did not follow Brigham Young to Utah. In the nineteenth century America attracted European political and social radicals so that there is useful material for students of pre‐Marxian Communism and of social theorists such as Fourier and Henry George. The account of Robert Owen and New Harmony can be considered definitive. Of particular interest are the pre‐Zionist Jewish communal farms. More mainstream churches enter the picture in the twentieth century. There is good coverage of the Catholic worker farms inspired by Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin. An Appendix lists the rather different communal experiments fostered by the Federal Government in the 1930s and 1940s under the New Deal programme.
Another appendix lists all the communes by date. The introduction gives brief information about the geographical spread of communes and a map showing numbers of communes in each state. However the geographical information could be improved Maps showing locations would be helpful and an index relating place names to commune names. Attractive features of the encyclopaedia are the good photographs, many taken by the author, and Lois Will’s evocative line drawings.
Writings about individual communes are cited in the text and there is a very comprehensive bibliography. It covers writings from the mid‐nineteenth century to the 1990s and does not confine itself to North American publications. A variety of general studies of social and religious movements as well as biographies of the main founders are included together with such travelogues as Charles Dickens’ rather unkind description of the Shakers. The literature must be vast and personal accounts and even fiction inspired by communes would be worthy studies in themselves.
The Encyclopaedia of American Communes is a monument to its author’s enthusiasm and scholarship. His exploration of the various communitarian movements and their ramifications make his work relevant not only to American and religious studies but to the study of sociology, social theory, politics, education and much else.
