Episodes

  • Preview: American Utopia

    Preview: American Utopia
    Feb 20 2018
    American Utopia tells the story of the Oneida Community, a radical 19th century free-love experiment in communal living. Building on his own research, as well as interviews with top historians, host Dan Greenstone illuminates the fascinating lives of the liberated women and men who overturned society’s conventions about gender, marriage, love, sex, work and childrearing. Subscribe now and be sure not to miss the first episode, which comes out on Wednesday, February 28th.

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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    3 mins
  • Episode 3: First Comes Marriage

    Episode 3: First Comes Marriage
    Feb 28 2018
    Dan and historian Stephanie Coontz talk vibrators, graham crackers, and female orgasms, as they try to make sense of Oneida's Complex Marriage system, in which 300 adults were (heterosexually) married to each other. This (complicated!) arrangement grew directly out of the wide ranging, and sophisticated, critique of 19th century marriage and family structure put forth by John Humprhrey Noyes, Oneida's founder. Dan and Stephanie evaluate both Noyes' critique of 19th century sex, love and marriage and the commune's attempt to improve all three. So, yeah, this one might not be for kids.

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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    45 mins
  • Episode 2: A Perfect Man

    Episode 2: A Perfect Man
    Feb 28 2018
    In this episode we meet Oneida's founder, John Humphrey Noyes, a painfully shy boy whose life and character are transformed after he attends a wild, four day religious revival. We watch as Noyes becomes a religious and sexual revolutionary so extreme that Yale College expels him. Still, Noyes manages to convince himself, and others, that he's actually perfect. And with the help of historians Christian Goodwillie and Ellen Wayland Smith, we compare Noyes’ ideas to those of other fringe religious visionaries of the 1830s and 1840s.

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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    37 mins
  • Episode 1: Harriet Worden's Whiplash

    Episode 1: Harriet Worden's Whiplash
    Feb 28 2018
    In the first episode of American Utopia, we meet Harriet Worden. After Harriet's mother died, Harriet's father, in a decision that would profoundly shape her life, brought his 9 year old daughter to live in the brand new Oneida Community. Through Harriet's eyes, we learn about the excruciating process of Mutual Criticism, what it was like to grow up in the Children's House, the vibrant cultural pursuits that made life joyous, and the complicated, and sometimes painful sexual practices of the Community.

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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    44 mins
  • Episode 4: Building Utopia

    Episode 4: Building Utopia
    Mar 7 2018
    In 1848, when word of his free-love practices spread in his hometown of Putney, Vermont, John Humphrey Noyes and a few followers fled to Oneida Creek, in central New York state. There, bucking terrible odds, a harsh climate, and the nostalgic pull of the agrarian past, Noyes, and his followers managed to build a flourishing, vibrant community of 300 people who lived and loved together under one giant roof. This is the story of how they did it.

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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    40 mins
  • Episode 5: The Assassin and the Prophet

    Episode 5: The Assassin and the Prophet
    Mar 14 2018
    In 1881, an Oneida Community alumnus named Charles J. Guiteau, shot and killed president James A. Garfield. And in many ways, Guiteau’s trial centered on the six year period that Guiteau had spent at Oneida. Guiteau’s lawyers, who mounted one of the first uses of the insanity defense, argued that the tyrannical policies and leadership style of John Humphrey Noyes had sent their client over the edge. And while Guiteau’s portrait of Noyes was hyperbolic and self serving, there was some truth to his critique of Noyes. And despite their many differences, these two men, one an assassin, the other a prophet, were surprisingly similar.

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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    36 mins
  • Episode 6: Sticky Love

    Episode 6: Sticky Love
    Mar 21 2018
    At the Oneida Community, everything was meant to be shared, including sex and love. And becoming too attached (or sticky) to another person, especially a lover, was regarded as sinful. But it turns out that sharing love is really, really hard. Even if, like John Humphrey Noyes, you're perfect.

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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    38 mins
  • Episode 7: Breaking Up

    Episode 7: Breaking Up
    Mar 28 2018
    On a summer night In 1879, wearing socks but no shoes, John Humphrey Noyes crept out of the Oneida Community Mansion House, and fled to Canada. He never returned to community he'd created. And soon after his escape the remaining residents of Oneida voted to end Communal living. This is the story of why.

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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    50 mins