Friedrich Engels, “Description of Recently Founded Communist Colonies Still in Existence” (1845). Based on travel accounts he read, Engels lauded the Shakers not only for their material abundance but the fact that their communities had no police, no prisons, and no judges.
A Summary View of the Millennial Church, or United Society of Believers, Commonly Called Shakers, 2nd ed. (1848). Originally published by the Shakers in 1823, this book was among the first to systematically outline their beliefs, aiming to dispel the scandal surrounding some of their practices.
Ed Rosenfeld, “Planetary People,” in The Last Supplement to the Whole Earth Catalog (1971). Typical of the countercultural foment, this short essay combines systems theory with gestalt psychology, psychedelic drugs with Sufism.
Excerpted from Liaisons, Horizons (Autonomedia, 2022).