The Utopians: Six Attempts To Build The Perfect Society

The Utopians is the remarkable story of six experimental communities—Santiniketan-Sriniketan in India, Dartington Hall in England, Atarashiki Mura in Japan, the Institute for the Harmonious Development of Man in France, the Bruderhof in Germany, and Trabuco College in America—that sprang up in the aftermath of the First World War. Each was led by charismatic figures who dreamed of a new way of living. Rabindranath Tagore, Dorothy and Leonard Elmhirst, Mushanokoji Saneatsu, G. I. Gurdjieff, Eberhard and Emmy Arnold, and Gerald Heard all struggled to turn ambitious ideals into reality. They left their jobs, homes, and social circles, facing mockery, persecution, penury, hunger, discomfort, and doubts about whether their efforts would ever make a difference. Anna Neima’s vivid account of these collectives reveals them as places of eccentric characters, outlandish lifestyles, and unchecked idealism. Though small and dismissed in their time, their influence endures in progressive education, environmentalism, medical research, and mindfulness training, inspiring those who seek to improve the world.