The 60s Communes Book Review

After working on startup societies for awhile I began to wonder about the 60s communes. People often brought up communes, and I only had a vague idea


Writing Style Review:

I really enjoyed Thomas Miller's writing style. Miller uses a barebones construction and is very easy and enjoyable to read. Despite this I only read the book halfway. Each chapter is about a commune, and the book reads like a laundry list of wikipedia articles.

Insights and Summary:

Before reading this book I assumed that the communes were a benign experiment in communism and was generally sympathetic. Miller portrays most communes as squalid, tumultuous, and impoverished drug dens filled with low lives who were pretending to be artists. The residents had constant sex with everyone else, and STDs were commonplace. Children were routinely molested, and women were expected to consent to sex with every man who was interested. The other communes that weren't this way were either authoritarian agrarian enclaves with many strict rules, or religious cults.