01: Timothy Miller’s The 60s Communes: Hippies and Beyond (Syracuse University Press, $24.95) goes beyond a standard history of the intentional communities.
Miller, professor of religion at the University of Kansas, provides both the historical backgrounds and the current status of these communes, many of which were religious in origin. In fact, the much publicized hippies’ communes were a minority even in the sixties, as many new religious and political communities were established. Miller adds that Christian-based communities have been the most numerous after 1975, as well as groups started by Asian and other new religions.
Communities with a far- right religious and political orientation, such as Christian Identity and other white supremacists, are the most recent addition to the American communal mix. Particularly valuable is the appendix, where Miller lists hundreds of communities started from 1960-1975. Miller promises updated listings in forthcoming volumes on communities.