Brook Farm: The Dark Side of Utopia

by Sterling F. Delano

Life at Brook Farm resembled an Arcadian adventure, in which the days began with the choir singing Mozart and Haydn and ended with drama and dancing. But how accurate is this image? In the first comprehensive examination of the famous utopian community in West Roxbury, Massachusetts, Sterling Delano reveals a surprisingly grim side to paradise as the Brook Farmers faced relentless financial pressures, a declining faith in their leaders, and smoldering class antagonisms. Delano weaves through this remarkable story the voices of the Brook Farmers themselves, including their founder, George Ripley. Ripley founded Brook Farm in 1841 as an agrarian and pastoral society that would "insure a more natural union between intellectual and manual labor," yet he was surprisingly unprepared to lead it. Three years after its founding, Brook Farm was transformed into an industrial Phalanx. Longtime members departed, and key supporters withdrew. A smallpox scare, a financial lawsuit filed by Nathaniel Hawthorne, and a devastating fire all contributed to the community's ultimate demise. Despite its failure, however, the Brook Farmers recalled only its positive aspects, including the opportunities there for women and its progressive educational program. In his wonderfully evocative account, Delano gives us a more complete picture than ever before of Brook Farm, and vividly chronicles the spirit of the Transcendental age.

448 pages, Hardcover

First published April 16, 2004

Reviews

[Kristi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Delano's history of Brook Farm focuses on the financial instability, ideological obstacles, and social conflicts underlying the idealism of the utopian community. This deeply researched account is a worthy companion to Richard Francis's work on Transcendental utopias and the memory writings of the Brook Farmers themselves.

[Dan Gorman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Or, How Not to Run a Utopian Community. Delano captures the joy and misfortune of Brook Farm, a commune that began as a Transcendentalist farm and ended as a failed socialist manufacturing "phalanx." The author makes compelling use of primary source quotations, to the point that the historical figures in question seem to be telling the story themselves. Keeping track of Fourierist socialist groups (all of them had acronyms for names) gets tricky by the end of the book, but the voices of Hawthorne, Emerson, and George and Sarah Ripley keep the narrative lively. We get a sense of the social networks, the mundane activities (so much manure shoveling!), and the utopian dreams of these New England eccentrics. This is really well done.

[Jessica · Rating 2 out of 5]

For someone truly interested in the subject of transcendental utopias, this is probably a four star or even five star book. But I went into it knowing I’d only skim-read it because I just wanted the basics, and not the deep dive that the author provides. It was fairly useful and enjoyable even for the partial attention I gave it.

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

Brook Farm, a 'utopian' community in West Roxbury Massachusetts founded in 1841, has long interested me because the principles it was founded on were so wise and the setting so idyllic. This history of Brook Farm was an interesting read, particularly strong on George Ripley and his wife and how Brook Farm came about. But I thought there was too much emphasis on Ripley's involvements outside of Brook Farm and after almost 400 pages I still had a lot of questions on how the community actually operated.