A
dazzling tour through 2,000 years of audacious utopian thinking and
experiments, exploring better ways to arrange our daily lives, plus a
globetrotting jaunt to the communities already putting these
seemingly fanciful visions into practice today.
In
the 6th century BCE, the Greek philosopher Pythagoras--a man
remembered today more for his theorem about right-angled triangles
than for his progressive politics--founded a commune in a seaside
village in what's now southern Italy. The men and women there shared
their property, lived as equals, and dedicated themselves to the
study of mathematics and the mysteries of the universe.
Ever
since, humans have been dreaming up better ways to organize how we
live together, share our property, raise our children, and determine
who's part of our families. Some of these experiments burned brightly
for only a brief while--but others carry on today.
In
Everyday Utopia, fascinatingly feminist thinker Kristen R. Ghodsee
whisks you away on a tour through history and around the world to
explore those places that have boldly dared to reimagine how we might
live our daily lives: from the Danish cohousing communities that
share chores and deepen neighborly bonds to matriarchal Colombian
ecovillages where residents grow all their own food; and from
Connecticut, where new laws make it easier for extra "alloparents"
to help raise children not their own, to China, where planned
microdistricts ensure everything a busy household might need is
nearby.
One
of those startlingly rare books that upends what you think is
possible, Everyday
Utopia offers
a radically hopeful vision for how to build more contented and
connected societies, alongside a practical guide to what we all can
do in the meantime to live the good life each and every day.