Heartland Utopias (review)

In Heartland Utopias, a new synthesis by the late Robert P. Sutton, the author posits that the Midwest (Heartland) has not garnered the attention it merits as the major locus of utopian communalism in the nineteenth century. The Heartland as defined in this book includes the states of Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, and the Dakotas. Sutton, a scholar published extensively in the field, states that “the history of the Heartland during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries is unrivaled for the number and importance of utopian communities found here” (3). Operating from this premise, Sutton endeavors to focus attention on these communities, both religious and secular.

The book’s chapters are structured roughly chronologically, with each chapter focusing on a particular utopian movement or, in cases of less significant or shorter-lived utopias, a group of separatist communities related in some way. Sutton discusses many of the better-known utopias, such as the Shakers, New Harmony, Fourierist phalanxes, the Icarians, and the Hutterite Bruderhofs, as well as several shorter-lived and lesser-known communities. He also includes a closing chapter on the few twentieth-century utopias found in the region.

The book is constructed in a narrative format highlighting the major founders, spiritual leaders (in the religious utopias), social and economic activities, and worldviews espoused by each community. As this is a synthetic work, Sutton relies heavily on secondary literature, including several of his own works, to tell the stories of these communities. That being said, the book is not bereft of some well-selected primary sources. Sutton’s coverage of the secular utopias such as the Icarians and Fourierist phalanxes is particularly strong and well written. The brief conclusion (181–84) features Sutton’s discussion of the evolving schools of analysis of utopian communalism in the latter half of the twentieth century. Though it may have been better placed in the introduction and may have benefited from more attention, the discussion of the analytic lenses used in the secondary literature is a benefit to this study. Overall, the text is highly readable and interesting.

While Heartland Utopias contains numerous positives, a few weaknesses do merit consideration. After finishing the book, this reviewer was still left wondering why the Heartland played host to so many of these communities. Perhaps the availability of cheap land in sufficient quantities combined with the simple fact that the Midwest was in the midst of rapid growth of all types of settlers, including communitarians, explains the trend. Sutton briefly alludes to this issue (4) but does not engage it in a significant way. However, that question relates to the biggest unanswered question this reviewer perceives in the book: Was there something about the Heartland in a social or cultural sense that drew utopian communities to it, and how are these communities distinct or different from those in other parts of the United States? Clearly, the Heartland was not remarkably tolerant of utopias, especially those like the Shakers or Zoarites, who held unorthodox views on religion, family structure, gender roles, or sexuality. Also, the fact that many of these communities originated in nonmidwestern areas and/or later moved on to lives farther west indicates that the Heartland may have been simply a stoppingover place in the histories of several of these movements. Simply put, was the Heartland unique or different for these communities, or did it merely host a lot of them for a century?

Despite the lingering questions, Heartland Utopias stands as a welcome addition to the literature about utopian communities in the Midwest as well as a fitting final chapter in the career of one of utopian studies’ most important voices.