Free Land, Free Love: Tales of a Wilderness Commune

by Don Monkerud, Malcolm Terence (Editor), Susan Keese (Editor)

From it's founding in a remote 80-acre wilderness valley surrounded by national forest during the turbulent 1960s, Black Bear Ranch was committed to creating a counter-culture more in tune with humanistic values than those found in commercial American culture. The original occupants left the Haight Ashbury, New York, Los Angeles and a dozen other cities to free themselves from the constraints of middle-class America. Pledging to experiment and create new forms for society, they jettisoned the values, practices and habits they grew up with and tested themselves in ways that few others of the time did. A gathering of over fifty voices, the stories in this anthology are authentic memoirs that capture true-to-life experiences of the subculture spawned by the time. The accounts resonate as a wild untold history and of heartfelt tales told first hand by participants. More than mere nostalgia the accounts are a cultural treasure map that trace the beginnings of many of today's movements for natural healing, women's rights, environmentalism and ecology, natural childbirth, organic gardening and new spiritual alternatives. By understanding the origins, readers will be better able to evaluate where these movements are headed and what they seek. The stories address contemporary issues of identity, community and values that remain important today and as we go forward into the next millennium.

344 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2000