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Oneida Utopia: A Community Searching for Human Happiness and Prosperity
"Oneida Utopia offers a fresh new reading of this fascinating American experiment, freed of the sociological and religious assumptions that have guided more traditional studies of the topic. An eye-opener."--Ellen Wayland-Smith, author of Oneida
"Anthony Wonderley's fresh insights and wealth of knowledge illuminate the realities of communal life at Oneida, where the members created a work environment that combined fun, flirtation, and opportunity for personal and social development."--Carol Faulkner, author of Lucretia Mott's Heresy
Oneida Utopia is a fresh and holistic treatment of a long-standing social experiment born of revival fervor and communitarian enthusiasm. The Oneida Community of upstate New York was dedicated to living as one family and to the sharing of all property, work, and love. Anthony Wonderley is a sensitive guide to the things and settings of Oneida life from its basis in John H. Noyes's complicated theology, through experiments in free love and gender equality, to the moment when the commune transformed itself into an industrial enterprise based on the production of silverware. Rather than drawing a sharp boundary between spiritual concerns and worldly matters, Wonderley argues that commune and company together comprise a century-long narrative of economic success, innovative thinking, and abiding concern for the welfare of others.
Oneida Utopia seamlessly combines the evidence of social life and intellectual endeavor with the testimony of built environment and material culture. Wonderley shares with readers his intimate knowledge of evidence from the Oneida Community: maps and photographs, quilts and furniture, domestic objects and industrial products, and the biggest artifact of all, their communal home. Wonderley also takes a novel approach to the thought of the commune's founder, examining individually and in context Noyes's reactions to interests and passions of the day, including revivalism, millennialism, utopianism, and spiritualism.
"Anthony Wonderley's fresh insights and wealth of knowledge illuminate the realities of communal life at Oneida, where the members created a work environment that combined fun, flirtation, and opportunity for personal and social development."--Carol Faulkner, author of Lucretia Mott's Heresy
Oneida Utopia is a fresh and holistic treatment of a long-standing social experiment born of revival fervor and communitarian enthusiasm. The Oneida Community of upstate New York was dedicated to living as one family and to the sharing of all property, work, and love. Anthony Wonderley is a sensitive guide to the things and settings of Oneida life from its basis in John H. Noyes's complicated theology, through experiments in free love and gender equality, to the moment when the commune transformed itself into an industrial enterprise based on the production of silverware. Rather than drawing a sharp boundary between spiritual concerns and worldly matters, Wonderley argues that commune and company together comprise a century-long narrative of economic success, innovative thinking, and abiding concern for the welfare of others.
Oneida Utopia seamlessly combines the evidence of social life and intellectual endeavor with the testimony of built environment and material culture. Wonderley shares with readers his intimate knowledge of evidence from the Oneida Community: maps and photographs, quilts and furniture, domestic objects and industrial products, and the biggest artifact of all, their communal home. Wonderley also takes a novel approach to the thought of the commune's founder, examining individually and in context Noyes's reactions to interests and passions of the day, including revivalism, millennialism, utopianism, and spiritualism.
288 pages, Hardcover
Published December 15, 2017
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February 12, 2025
I liked this feature: At the end of each chapter the author wrote a summary of about one page in length. But he didn't label them, so at first, I thought he was simply being repetitive. If you are not going to read this book for the details, read this section (no headings to guide you!) at the end of each chapter.
But I did read (or skim) all of the book. The author knows so much about this place and these approximately 40 years. But his view seemed slanted a bit toward the admiring.
A little more than halfway through the book author says: “The Oneida Community was not a totalitarian state structured to compel obedience.” Well, ain’t that faint praise?
And yet, it kind of *was.*
Wonderley goes on to say “Compliance depended on the consent of the governed..” (except when there is physical force, or threat thereof - and no force was active in Oneida.) But reading the words of the members, one can discern coercion. And if a woman, in particular, felt the Community was not what she wanted, where was she to go?
I am still interested in how the children fared. They seemed to have been cared for ably, but largely ignored? Compared to helicopter parenting, group child-raising by rotating non-biological (mostly) adults and older kids might be better.
But I did read (or skim) all of the book. The author knows so much about this place and these approximately 40 years. But his view seemed slanted a bit toward the admiring.
A little more than halfway through the book author says: “The Oneida Community was not a totalitarian state structured to compel obedience.” Well, ain’t that faint praise?
And yet, it kind of *was.*
Wonderley goes on to say “Compliance depended on the consent of the governed..” (except when there is physical force, or threat thereof - and no force was active in Oneida.) But reading the words of the members, one can discern coercion. And if a woman, in particular, felt the Community was not what she wanted, where was she to go?
I am still interested in how the children fared. They seemed to have been cared for ably, but largely ignored? Compared to helicopter parenting, group child-raising by rotating non-biological (mostly) adults and older kids might be better.
Displaying 1 of 1 review