First published 1987
Pulitzer Prize winner Frances FitzGerald investigates America's persistent urge to create perfect societies. She traces this impulse back to John Winthrop's famous words to the Pilgrims about becoming "A City Upon a Hill" before the watching world. FitzGerald travels to four distinct modern communities that embody this visionary drive. She studies a fundamentalist church, a commune built around a spiritual guru, a retirement city in the Sunbelt, and a gay activist community. Each group seeks to abandon the past and construct something entirely new. Through detailed observation and sharp analysis, FitzGerald reveals how these communities reflect a uniquely American desire to start over. Her work combines careful journalism with literary skill to capture both the eccentricity and the prophetic nature of these social experiments. The book offers readers insight into the continuing power of utopian thinking in American culture.
Genres: 20th-century, social-science, american, non-fiction, 21st-century, american-history
Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: abandoning-the-past, constructing-something-new, visionary-drive
Setting: America, Sunbelt
Period: 20th-Century, 21st-Century
416 pages · Paperback · Simon & Schuster