The Original New Age Movement

So, confession time: I've been trying to get through this book unsuccessfully for about two months now! That's not to say that this book isn't very good or isn't very interesting. It is both of the above. My struggle came more from the writing style in which the book was penned, wherein the author interweaves the story of several commune members, including that of her own parents.

As anyone who has lived through the 90's can attest to- or even the 80's for that fact! - we tend to recycle fashion (among other things). In fact, there is nothing new under the sun - including belief systems. Even as the New Age belief system seems to once again be growing in popularity - including everything from yoga to alternative medicines - I thought it would be worthwhile to revisit the original New Age years - the groovy 70's and the hippies who inhabited them.

This book chronicles the "Back to the Land" movement that occurred during those years. In fact, the 1970's were the only time period in American history during which more people moved out of cities than into them (Daloz, 2016, pg 8). Feeling a disconnection from nature and unsatisfied with adult lives that seemed to depend on people who had lied to them (Daloz, 2016, p. 36), many wealthy, privileged young people chose to abscond to rural communities seemingly in the middle of nowhere. Young and idealistic - as most of us are in our 20's - they decided to build their own homes, do without indoor plumbing, and undertake organic farming. As the first winters arrived, and the pioneering lifestyle proved more difficult than many had anticipated, members of communes throughout the country turned to local neighbors for support and began revisiting their original commune set-up.

The reality is that many of these idealistic young people eventually returned to a more traditional lifestyle, finding the hard work and unpredictability of this commune life unsustainable. In fact, as I eventually put down the book a final time about a third of the way through, I turned to google to elucidate more facts (in far less pages). The Rolling Stone magazine has a great article about how this movement paved the way for Bernie Sanders (who shows up in the pages of this book, btw!): https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/how-the-back-to-the-land-movement-paved-the-way-for-bernie-sanders-65188/.  Yet, even as this movement was a rather tiny blip on the larger scale of American history, it did have some lasting impacts: midwivery was essentially pioneered by communes, as was organic farming and health food stores. The popularity of goat cheese is due largely to communes on which it was made, and today's soy ice cream dates back to the first of its kind, made on a commune! And some communes continue to persist today, having found a more sustainable means of providing for themselves and selling goods to the larger, capitalistic system from which is originally tried so hard to separate itself.   

While I did find the book a bit hard to follow, due to its pace and the sheer number of people in the pages - all of whom had varying, though similar, stories - it definitely peaked my curiosity and provided me with a more complete picture of the 1970's. I would suggest checking this book out if you're interested in better understanding today's New Age movement, as parts of it can be traced back to the Back to the Land movement. It's also a nice reality check if, like me, you've ever fantasized about moving away from it all and returning to a simpler time. As it turns out, that simpler time wasn't so simple, and today's amenities (indoor plumbing and all!) greatly improve our quality of life -  who knew....?  

References:
Daloz, K. (2016). We Are as Gods: Back to the Land in the 1970s on the Quest for a New America.

Public Affairs Publishing: New York, NY.