The Utopians: Six Attempts to Build the Perfect Society
Written by Anna Neima
Narrated by Tania Rodrigues
5/5
()
About this audiobook
'Neima’s book, impeccably researched and beautifully written, will be an inspiration for anyone looking to an alternative future today.' - Stella Tillyard, author of Aristocrats and The Great Level
'Deeply interesting and a pleasure to read, The Utopians illuminates the history of “social dreaming” at a time when it has never been more needed.' - Alison Light, author of A Radical Romance, Common People and Mrs. Woolf and the Servants
The Utopians is the remarkable story of six experimental communities – Santiniketan-Sriniketan in India, Dartington Hall in England, Atarashiki Mura in Japan, the Institute for the Harmonious Development of Man in France, the Bruderhof in Germany and Trabuco College in America – that sprang up in the aftermath of the First World War.
Each was led by charismatic figures who dreamed of a new way of living. Rabindranath Tagore, Dorothy and Leonard Elmhirst, Mushanokoji Saneatsu, G. I. Gurdjieff, Eberhard and Emmy Arnold and Gerald Heard all struggled to turn ambitious ideals into reality. They – and their fellow communards – left their jobs, their homes and their social circles. They faced mockery and persecution, penury, hunger and discomfort, and their own doubts about whether their efforts to change society would ever make a difference.
Anna Neima’s absorbing and vivid account of these collectives, from creation to collapse, reveals them to be full of eccentric characters, outlandish lifestyles and unchecked idealism. They were dramatic, fractious places where high ideals collided with the need to feed the chickens, clean the toilets, bring up squabbling children and grow the grain for the daily bread.
These communities were small in scale and dismissed in their time. Yet, a century later, their influence still resonates in realms as disparate as progressive education, environmentalism, medical research and mindfulness training. They provided, and continue to provide, a rich store of inspiration for those who aspire to improve the world. Without them, the post-war world would have been a poorer place.
Anna Neima
Anna Neima is a historian with a PhD from the University of Cambridge. She lives in north London with her husband and son. The Utopians is her first book.
Related to The Utopians
Related audiobooks
The Human Age: The World Shaped By Us Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Philosophy of Ruin: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Chill in the Air Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Siddhartha - Booktrack Edition Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Science of Hate: How prejudice becomes hate and what we can do to stop it Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Of Color Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Avoid the Day: A New Nonfiction in Two Movements Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Unworthy Republic: The Dispossession of Native Americans and the Road to Indian Territory Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Team Human Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Mismeasure of Man Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fat Time and Other Stories Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAn American Martyr in Persia: The Epic Life and Tragic Death of Howard Baskerville Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Cultural Amnesia: Notes in the Margin of My Time Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Altruistic Urge: Why We're Driven to Help Others Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Animal Spirits: The American Pursuit of Vitality from Camp Meeting to Wall Street Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe City Always Wins: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Personal Record Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsIll Fares the Land Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsShelter: A Black Tale of Homeland, Baltimore Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Through the Narrow Gate Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Adrianne Geffel: A Fiction Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSand Talk: How Indigenous Thinking Can Save the World Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Lies of the Land: Seeing Rural America for What It Is?and Isn't Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Buying Buddha, Selling Rumi: Orientalism and the Mystical Marketplace Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5In Extremis: The Life and Death of the War Correspondent Marie Colvin Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Uncommon Measure: A Journey Through Music, Performance, and the Science of Time Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A World on Edge: The End of the Great War and the Dawn of a New Age Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFight of the Century: Writers Reflect on 100 Years of Landmark ACLU Cases Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Montecore Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5
Historical Biographies For You
Benjamin Franklin: An American Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Benjamin Franklin: Autobiography Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Leonardo da Vinci Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ten Caesars: Roman Emperors from Augustus to Constantine Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Lincoln Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Alexander the Great Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Diary of Anne Frank Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Up From Slavery Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Mysterious Case of Rudolf Diesel: Genius, Power, and Deception on the Eve of World War I Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5African Samurai: The True Story of Yasuke, a Legendary Black Warrior in Feudal Japan Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Light of Days: The Untold Story of Women Resistance Fighters in Hitler's Ghettos Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes: Cultural Studies in the Gospels Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Prairie Fires: The American Dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Benjamin Franklin Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A. Lincoln: A Biography Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Book of Charlie Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bonhoeffer Abridged: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Anne Frank Remembered: The Story of the Woman Who Helped to Hide the Frank Family Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Longstreet: The Confederate General Who Defied the South Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Van Gogh: The Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Greatest Beer Run Ever: A Memoir of Friendship, Loyalty, and War Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Butch Cassidy: The True Story of an American Outlaw Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Professor and The Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Eliza Hamilton: The Extraordinary Life and Times of the Wife of Alexander Hamilton Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Rebel Yell: The Violence, Passion and Redemption of Stonewall Jackson Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Goodbye Christopher Robin: A. A. Milne and the Making of Winnie-the-Pooh Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for The Utopians
1 rating0 reviews