Transcendentalism and Theosophy were popular spiritual and philosophical movements that emerged in fringe circles during the nineteenth century and continued into the early twentieth century.
Transcendentalism, inspired by the writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson, emphasizes philosophical and intellectual exploration.
Theosophy, developed by Helena Blavatsky and Henry Steel Olcott, focuses on the spiritual emancipation of the soul and the belief in reincarnation.
Before Oneida became a silverware company, it was a utopian commune founded by John H. Noyes in 1848. Dedicated to communal living, shared property, and gender equality, the Oneida Community blended spiritual ideals with innovative social experiments like free love. Anthony Wonderley’s Oneida Utopia explores the commune’s evolution from its theological roots to its transformation into a silverware enterprise, highlighting a century-long narrative of economic success and social innovation. Drawing on material culture, such as maps, photographs, and communal artifacts, Wonderley provides a nuanced study of Oneida’s history, including Noyes’s engagement with revivalism, millennialism, and utopianism.
Louisa May Alcott’s father, Bronson Alcott, was a transcendentalist who, in 1843, founded the utopian community Fruitlands in Massachusetts. Alongside Englishman Charles Lane, Alcott sought to transform society through veganism, celibacy, and transcendentalist ideals, with guidance from thinkers like Emerson and Thoreau. However, emotional conflicts, physical hardships, and philosophical tensions—especially between Lane and Alcott’s wife, Abigail—led to the community’s quick collapse. Richard Francis’s account, drawing on letters and diaries, offers a vivid, often humorous exploration of Fruitlands, revealing the struggles and contradictions of utopian experiments and the broader transcendentalist movement.
Louisa May Alcott’s Diary of her time at Fruitlands.
We are all going to be made perfect . . .
In 1843, with all their possessions loaded onto a single wagon, ten-year-old Louisa May Alcott and her family bravely set out into the wilderness to make a new home for themselves on a farm called Fruitlands. Louisa’s father has a dream of living a perfect, simple life. It won’t be easy, but th
Sssshhhhhhhh…
For Edwardian-era spiritualists and illusionists, silence is more than a strategy; it’s a way of life. And when Max Grahame, a bullied, small-town teen, discovers a secretive world of occultism and séances right under his nose, he can hardly contain his excitement.
But as Max begins his conjurer’s lessons in earnest, his newfound knowledge exposes the group’s dark and deeply sinister designs, leading a game of supernatural cat and mouse that takes him from the ancient hills of rural Georgia and the mystic plains of the Midwest to fin-de-siècle Manhattan…and beyond.
Impeccably researched and wild
An English-language debut that reveals and subverts contemporary conceptions of normative sexuality, capitalist culture, and environmental degradation.
Farah moves into Liberty House – an arcadia, a community in harmony with nature – at the tender age of six, with her family. The commune’s spiritual leader, Arcady, preaches equality, non-violence, anti-speciesism, free love, and uninhibited desire for all, regardless of gender, age, looks, or ability. At 15, Farah learns she is intersex, and begins to go beyond the confines of gender, as she explores the arc of her own desires. What, Farah asks, is a man or a woman? What does it mean to be part of a community? What is utopia when there are refugees nearby seeking shelter who cannot enter?
Emmanuelle Bayamack-Tam delivers a magisterial novel, both a celebration and a critique of innocence in the contemporary world.
Contains mature themes.
from the ancient hills of rural Georgia and the mystic plains of the Midwest to fin-de-siècle Manhattan…and beyond.
Impeccably researched and wild
A Stolen Twin. A Family Secret. A Dangeous Cult.
Carla Bisset wants nothing more than to put the tragedy of her past behind her and provide a normal life for her daughter Lydia. The abduction of Lydia’s twin, Nadia, has left the family prey to sordid media tabloids, and Lydia hounded by paparazzi.
A move to a small sleepy town in New York provides several years of respite from the public eye. But when three men are found brutally murdered in the park near the Bissets’ home, Carla finds her world once again uprooted and plunged into darkness.
For investigative journalist Katie Garrison and Detective Don Anderson, the initial search for the missing Bisset twin left a lot of dead ends.
A collaborative effort to find Nadia unravels a cunning web of deceit, betrayal, and a powerful family that will stop at nothing to fulfill its destiny.
You May Also Like
