
Communes in America, 1975-2000
Timothy Miller(Author)
Syracuse University Press
Published on 31. March 2019
Book
Hardback
280 pages
978-0-8156-3630-4 (ISBN)
Description
Communes in America: 1975-2000 is the final volume in Miller's trilogy on the history of American intentional communities. Providing a comprehensive survey of communities during the last quarter of the twentieth century, Miller offers a detailed study of their character, scope, and evolution.
Between 1975 and 2000, the American communal experience evolved dramatically in response to social and environmental challenges that confronted American society as a whole. Long-accepted social norms and institutions-family, religion, medicine, and politics-were questioned as the divorce rate increased, interest in spiritual teachings from Asia grew, and alternative medicine gained ground. Cohousing flourished as a response to an increasing sense of alienation and a need to balance community and private lives. At the same time, Americans became increasingly concerned with environmental protection and preservation of our limited resources. In the face of these social changes, communal living flourished as people sought out communities of like-minded individuals to pursue a higher purpose.
Organized topically, each chapter in the volume provides basic information about various types of communities and detailed examples of each type, from ecovillages and radical Christian communities to pagan communes and cohousing experiments. Miller also takes a step back to look at the prevalence of communal living in American life over the twentieth century. Based on exhaustive research, Miller's final volume provides an indispensable survey and guide to understanding utopianism's enduring presence in American culture.
Between 1975 and 2000, the American communal experience evolved dramatically in response to social and environmental challenges that confronted American society as a whole. Long-accepted social norms and institutions-family, religion, medicine, and politics-were questioned as the divorce rate increased, interest in spiritual teachings from Asia grew, and alternative medicine gained ground. Cohousing flourished as a response to an increasing sense of alienation and a need to balance community and private lives. At the same time, Americans became increasingly concerned with environmental protection and preservation of our limited resources. In the face of these social changes, communal living flourished as people sought out communities of like-minded individuals to pursue a higher purpose.
Organized topically, each chapter in the volume provides basic information about various types of communities and detailed examples of each type, from ecovillages and radical Christian communities to pagan communes and cohousing experiments. Miller also takes a step back to look at the prevalence of communal living in American life over the twentieth century. Based on exhaustive research, Miller's final volume provides an indispensable survey and guide to understanding utopianism's enduring presence in American culture.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
New York
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 151 mm
Thickness: 19 mm
Weight
568 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-8156-3630-4 (9780815636304)
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Schweitzer Classification
Person
Timothy Miller is professor of religious studies at the University of Kansas. He is the author of numerous books, including The Quest for Utopia in Twentieth-Century America: 1900-1960 and The 60s Communes: Hippies and Beyond.