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A review by theconorhilton
Utopia Drive: A Road Trip Through America's Most Radical Idea by Erik Reece
4.0
A fun read! Not a 'scholarly' book, but packed with engaging, well-written anecdotes and history of various utopian communities along the east coast. I'd heard of some of these groups before, but much of the material was new. The book's very readable and introspective, with Reece thinking about his project and the value or lack thereof of various utopian ideas.
I would've liked a little more digging into the history and practices and such of the various groups, but the snapshot nature of the book is also probably a selling point for many. A useful introduction to American utopias and utopians. Perhaps most importantly, Reece does a lot of work to reframe how we think about these, mostly earlier, utopian experiments--suggesting that referring to them as 'failures' may be missing the point and underselling what they accomplished.
Gave me lots of interesting stuff to think about digging into more.
I would've liked a little more digging into the history and practices and such of the various groups, but the snapshot nature of the book is also probably a selling point for many. A useful introduction to American utopias and utopians. Perhaps most importantly, Reece does a lot of work to reframe how we think about these, mostly earlier, utopian experiments--suggesting that referring to them as 'failures' may be missing the point and underselling what they accomplished.
Gave me lots of interesting stuff to think about digging into more.