Table Of ContentThe LasT UTopians
The Last Utopians
FoUr LaTe
nineTeenTh- CenTUry
Visionaries
and Their LegaCy
Michael Robertson
prinCeTon UniVersiTy press
prinCeTon & oxFord
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ConTenTs
Acknowledgments · vii
inTrodUCTion 1
ChapTer 1 Locating Nowhere 17
ChapTer 2 Edward Bellamy’s Orderly Utopia 37
ChapTer 3 William Morris’s Artful Utopia 78
ChapTer 4 Edward Carpenter’s Homogenic Utopia 131
ChapTer 5 Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s Motherly Utopia 172
ChapTer 6 After the Last Utopians 223
Notes · 273
Bibliographical Note · 305
Index · 311
[ v ]
aCknowLedgmenTs
UTopia is a proCess a s much as it is a destination; the generos-
ity I’ve encountered and the pleasure I’ve had in writing this book
have been truly utopian.
The book had its origins in a lunch with Hanne Winarsky. The
sushi was so- so, but the conversation was inspiring. I had the chance
to try out ideas in a number of settings, including two conferences
of the Society for Utopian Studies and a Politics Forum at The Col-
lege of New Jersey. My presentation at the forum led to some won-
derful conversations with colleagues; my thanks to Juda Bennett,
Tim Clydesdale, Piper Kendrix Williams, and Kim Pearson. I also
shared work-i n- progress with colleagues in the Religion in the
Americas workshop of the Princeton University Department of Re-
ligion, where I spent a happy and productive year as a visiting fel-
low; special thanks to Wallace Best, Jessica Delgado, and Judith
Weisenfeld.
Three brilliant writer-e ditors read every word of this book in
draft and showed me the way forward; I’m immensely grateful to
David Blake, Lynn Powell, and Michelle Preston. Jonathan Green-
berg, another superb writer- editor, offered to read the manuscript
at a crucial moment and provided invaluable help. Dan Rodgers
shared his knowledge and wisdom when I was at the start of this
project and, at the end, read the entire manuscript. Florence Boos
read the finished book and saved me from many errors.
Steve Jendrysik, chair of the Chicopee Historical Commission,
showed me around the Edward Bellamy house. Sally Goldsmith and
Rony Robinson served as guides in Derbyshire, and Jo Magee allowed
me to poke around the grounds of Carpenter’s Millthorpe cottage.
David Capron joined me at Red House, and Helen Elletson, curator
at Kelmscott House, introduced me to the William Morris Society
collections. Special thanks to John Baker, who took an interest in this
project from its inception, shared his vast knowledge of Edward Car-
penter, connected me with his large network of friends, rode along to
Kelmscott Manor, and hosted me at his Hammersmith flat.
[ vii ]
[ viii ] aCknowLedgmenTs
Exploring the varieties of contemporary utopianism was a par-
ticularly pleasurable form of research. My concluding chapter names
some of the people who went out of their way to host my visits, an-
swer my questions, and share their visions of a better world. People
who aren’t named there include, at Erraid, Britta and her fellow
residents and all my fellow visitors: Alison, Neal, Roz, Chris, Julia,
Andy, Liz, Chris, and Melanie. At Findhorn, Carin Bolles arranged
for me to talk with some of the community’s most interesting,
knowledgeable residents: Mari Hollander, Graham Meltzer, and
Lisa and Michael Shaw. Steve Bremner, Peter McAlinden, and David
Wray took me under their wing at an Edward Carpenter Community
retreat. I am also grateful to David Adler, Peter Davey, Will Iles, and
Ted Vidler for sharing their experiences in the community. I’m
grateful to everyone I met at Faerie Camp Destiny. David Edleson
made it possible, and he and Joey Cain made me feel at home. Ste-
phen Duncombe encouraged me to visit Occupy Wall Street. Diane
Barlow and Nancy Lemmo welcomed me to Waldorf School of
Princeton. Marty Johnson of Isles shared his years of experience
with Trenton’s community gardens. Though I never attended Burn-
ing Man, I appreciated Ethan Dunn’s invitation and our long con-
versation about Burning Man while hiking in the Oakland hills.
A Rodney G. Dennis Fellowship from the Houghton Library at
Harvard made it possible for me to spend a month there researching
the Edward Bellamy papers; Fiona Carr, Silvia Chiang, and Parker
Van Valkenburgh made my time in Cambridge a joy. The sabbatical
and SOSA committees at The College of New Jersey supported this
project from inception to conclusion. Dean Ben Rifkin supported
two research trips to the U.K. The students in my “Utopia” course
at The College of New Jersey were valued collaborators, as were the
students in “The Utopian Tradition in Western Literature” at North-
ern State Prison.
It has been a pleasure to work with friends old and new at Prince-
ton University Press, Kathleen Cioffi, Thalia Leaf, and Anne Sava-
rese, and with copyeditor Daniel Simon and indexer Steven Moore.
Miranda Robertson was unfailingly supportive during the years
I was writing, as was my companion in many of the adventures de-
scribed in these pages, Mary Pat Robertson. My life with them
proves that utopia can be found in the here and now.
The LasT UTopians
