History of American Socialisms

A methodical survey compiles and narrates the rise, organization, and outcomes of nineteenth-century American communal and cooperative experiments, assembling newspaper reports, letters, and eyewitness material to document phalanxes, religious communes, and intentional communities. The author catalogues leading movements, describes their organizing principles, daily life, internal personnel, and literature, and evaluates causes of success or failure with an inductive, non-dogmatic approach. Chapters alternate case studies, comparative overviews, and thematic analyses of social theories, personnel, and community architecture, concluding with reflections on results, two contrasted schools of socialism, and lessons for future experiments.