History 12 Reading Guide
Utopian Communities—Intentional Communities
- Robert Fogarty, "Foreword," and Charles Nordhoff, "Introduction," in Nordhoff, American Utopias, xiii-23.
- Paul S. Boyer, "Foreword," and Donald E. Pitzer, "Preface" and "Introduction," in Pitzer, America's Communal Utopias, ix-13.
Questions:
The forewords and introductions to these two texts give us an opportunity to get to know the scholars and informed contemporaries who will guide us this semester in our exploration of utopian communities, communal societies, intentional societies.
- According to Robert Fogarty, what makes Nordhoff's account unusual, both for his era and for our own?
- In Nordhoff's introduction, what assumptions about the "political economy" of his own society shaped his understanding both of that society and of the efforts of "communistic societies"?
- How did he set up his "examination" of the Communistic Societies?
- How did he explain what he was looking for and what he found, from personal visit and careful examination?
- How did he describe his method?
- According to Pitzer, what do the scholars contributing to this collection of essays bring to our understanding of the history and evolution communal utopias, and of the visions and efforts of both founders and members?
- How does the concept of developmental communalism help us understand what Nordhoff saw when he visited the "communistic societies"?
- What are the three assumptions on which developmental communalism rest?
