Oneida: From Free Love Utopia to the Well-Set Table

A pretty good book about the Oneida Community. It ties in a lot of relevant US history and culture. It tends to draw out the book quite a bit, but it does provide useful context - other books on Oneida don't offer that. The author does tend to interject with her own opinions and thoughts on the matter, yet presents them as fact. It's pretty obvious when it happens, but this is definitely not a work free of bias. Overall, a solid piece.

This is a fascinating book--a wild ride from free love utopia in New York to the silver kings of Oneida. Its great for American history buffs and an amazing family tale told by one of the descendants with the "inside" goods. I learned a lot about religion and advertising too. Waiting for the mini series!!!

This is an interesting book about a very interesting group of people. It is not written as a novel, however, which causes the story line to lag a bit for the average reader. The author has approached this story of her family and Oneida from a scholarly viewpoint and has a scholar's insights as to the social and historical implications of the Oneida Community. I found it very interesting.

Excellent topic.

A must read for anyone interested in the evolution of religious movements in the United States.Well-written and a riveting read.

great reading

Interesting if you are interested in Oneida Limited or early American Society

I have many Oneida books - this one added a lot of new info!

I found this book an excellent history of the Oneiden Community between 1860 and 2006. Lovingly documented by one of John Noyes descendants, the book traces the community from its roots in its founders psychotic religious experiences through its ultimate apogee as an apologist bourgeois corporation promoting American patriotic values during WWII.The book is balanced, avoiding the easy temptations of salacious gossip around their unorthodox sexual practices or liberal judgements about their decline into neo-liberal managerialism and bankruptcy.In an odd way, this book parallels a similar trajectory of American values across the same period. The community spans the last remnants of the Jeffersonian yeoman farmer through the transcendentalist vision and then the downward spiral into the inequalities of class, race and gender that characterize modern capitalism. The Oneiden community track this same trajectory their heterodox alternative community reflecting in the microcosm, the greater changes in the broader culture.The book also treats the founder, John Noyes, with a sharp but compassionate eye. Neither judgement or hagiography mark the authors voice about her ancestors and she deftly situates the community within the press of cultural forces swirling through the 19th Century American psyche.I enjoyed this book, it nicely balances critical distance and intimacy, it provides a unique insight into 19th century religious Utopianism.

This is an amazing look into the inside of a utopia that turned into a a sad end. Utopias have ended worse! However the fascinating story of the birth and death of fancy Oneida cutlery is an interesting addition which adds a layer of social history to the utopian dream. Well written, well researched with material unavailable before, this is both informative and fun to read.