The Earth for All

Throughout history, groups of people disillusioned with society have tried to create utopian communities organized on new principles. Typically, they hold some or all of their property in common. Often, they are motivated by religious convictions, or by some type of socialist ideology. While many of these communities collapsed, some in a matter of months, a few of them continued for decades and even generations.
This book analyzes what makes a utopian group successful and what can be learned from their example. Among the most successful of these utopian experiments were those inspired by the teachings of American economist Henry George. George’s vision of expanded individual freedom coupled with economic justice gives us a map towards a better world.

Jeremy E. C. Genovese is an emeritus associate professor of human development and educational psychology at Cleveland State University. He has lived in several intentional communities and been an active participant in the labor movement. He is a member of the Communal Studies Association, a group of scholars focused on communal societies and serves as the Great Lakes coordinator for Esperanto-USA.

Jeremy E. C. Genovese
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 218
Bibliographic Info: 15 photos, appendix, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2025
pISBN: 978-1-4766-9358-3
eISBN: 978-1-4766-5506-2
Imprint: McFarland

Acknowledgments vii

Preface 1

Were Utopian Communities Failures? 3

The Utopian Dilemma 10

The Shakers and Other Religious Communities 22

Bellamy’s Utopia 42

Bellamy Colonies 59

The Message of Henry George 70

Marie Howland: From Fourierism to the Single Tax 83

The Georgist Utopias 96

Utopia and Behaviorism 134

Justice and Utopia 164

Conclusion 174

Appendix: Esperanto and Market Fundamentalism 183

Bibliography and References 189

Index 203