The Communitarian Moment: The Radical Challenge of the Northampton Association - Hardcover

Clark, Christopher

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0801427304 ISBN 13: 9780801427305

Publisher: Cornell Univ Pr, 1995

Synopsis

In 1842 a group of radical abolitionists formed a community in Northampton, Massachusetts, in order to pioneer "a better and purer state of society." Calling themselves the Northampton Association of Education and Industry, they envisioned a world free of poverty and inequality, religious intolerance, slavery and racial injustice. In telling the fascinating and little-known history of the Association, Christopher Clark offers insights into the "communitarian moment" of the 1840s which saw the establishment of dozens of utopian communities by Americans determined to challenge the tenets of their society.
The Northampton community was home to almost two hundred and fifty men, women, and children during its four and a half years of existence. The membership comprised an unusual collection of individuals, among them small manufacturers, abolitionist lecturers, teachers, craftsmen, laborers, and former slaves, including Sojourner Truth. Offering biographical sketches of a variety of intriguing characters, Clark describes the inhabitants' daily routines, their struggle to support themselves through the production of silk, the roles of men and women, and tensions among members of different cultural backgrounds. Finally, he looks at the reasons for the closing of the community and follows the lives of its members, recounting the subsequent softening of their political convictions.

About this title

From the Publisher:

An insightful study of a group of utopian reformers--women and men, black and white--in antebellum Massachusetts.

From the Inside Flap:

"A masterful work; it is a model for how a study of an individual utopia should be crafted. Clark has skillfully pieced together the often tantalizingly obscure history of the Northampton Association to provide thoughtful, comprehensive coverage of an undeniably significant communitarian endeavor, and he has not forgotten the appropriate secondary works. Clark’s imaginative and impressive research has paid off handsomely. . . . A joy to read."--American Historical Review

"Clark documents the details of the association’s fascinating four-and-a-half year existence in lively, informative prose. . . . Scholars from a variety of fields will find Clark’s scrupulously researched book to be a valuable and necessary addition to works on nineteenth-century communitarianism and to social and intellectual history in general. But the reading public as well will enjoy this well-written and jargon-free book that, among other things, tells a good story."--Journal of American History

"Through a careful use of recently rediscovered records of the association, Clark fashions a first-rate scholarly study that deals successfully both with the inner life of this social experiment and its place in the landscape of social and economic change."--Journal of the Early Republic

"Clark has written an important book, one elucidating the vision of some quite practical people. Eventually, bowing to continuing external adversity, the challengers retreated, the ‘moment’ passed. Making exemplary use of wide-ranging research in primary sources and of the relevant scholarly literature, Clark is instructive in how we remember their challenge."--Communal Studies

"Making use of the recently rediscovered (although still incomplete) account books, membership register, minutes, and outgoing correspondence of the group, . . . Clark has managed to glean from [the members’] experiences with everything from silk-making to hydropathy a compelling view of New England (and radicalism) in transition."--Civil War History

"Clark has meaningfully brought to life a period in American history when society seemed corrupt but redeemable through the efforts of individuals banded together in a utopian community dedicated to social justice, economic equality, and religious toleration."--Utopian Studies

About this edition

• Publisher: Cornell Univ Pr
• Publication date: 1995
• ISBN 10: 0801427304
• ISBN 13: 9780801427305
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 269