New World Utopias: A Photographic History of the Search for CommunityHere is a surprising photographic survey of communal life in the American West from 1870 to the present. Many of the nearly three hundred photographs assembled here have never before been published. Some were discovered by Paul Kagan among the remains of vanished communities. Others, taken by Kagan himself, depict the present-day ruins of once thriving communes. The communities that these photographs and the accompanying text bring so vividly to life include the political, the religious, and the occult - from Fountaingrove and Icaria Speranza to Pisgah Grande and the Tassajara Zen Mountain Center. All of them hold valuable lessons for the world of the future. As Paul Kagan writes: "Much of the life, and much of the story, is in the photographs. The photographs that I made represent my feelings about the communal remains, and the historical photographs show a little of the daily life of the groups. The accompanying text tells the communal history and, hopefully, raises some pertinent questions. The search for community is generally directed toward someplace 'over there.' Can the vision of the utopians be pursued here, in the context of life in the world?" |
Contents
Utopia in the Nineteenth Century | 13 |
Fountaingrove | 19 |
Icaria Speranza | 36 |
Copyright | |
9 other sections not shown
Common terms and phrases
acres Adyar American Angeles Annie Besant Bancroft Library became Betty Warrington Brocton Brotherhood building Cali Calif California Historical Society California Zen Center Christian claimed Co-operative Colony colonists colony's COMMUNES IN CALIFORNIA County Courtesy of Betty Courtesy of Gaye Courtesy of H. J. Courtesy of Iverson Divine Father Divine fornia Fountaingrove gardens Gaye LeBaron H. J. Smith Halcyon Happy Valley School Harriman Harris's Haskell Historical Society Library Huntington Library Icaria Speranza Job Harriman Kagan Collection Katherine Tingley KAWEAH CO-OPERATIVE COMMONWEALTH Krishnamurti Krotona land Laurence living Llano del Rio munity Oliphant Paul Kagan Photograph by Paul Pisgah Grande Pisgah Home Point Loma Raja-Yoga religious Santa social socialist spiritual Temple Theosophical Society THEOSOPHIST COMMUNES Theosophists Thomas Lake Harris Tingley's tion utopian Varian Walter Millsap Western Comrade White Race William Wind Bell women Yoakum York zazen Zen Mountain Center