{"product_id":"heaven-is-a-place-on-earth-searching-for-an-american-utopia-9781640093300","title":"Heaven Is a Place on Earth: Searching for an American Utopia","description":"\u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003eAn exploration of American ideas of utopia through the lens of one millennial's quest to live a more communal life under late-stage capitalism. \u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eTold in a series of essays that balance memoir with fieldwork, \u003ci\u003eHeaven Is a Place on Earth\u003c\/i\u003e is an idiosyncratic study of American utopian experiments--from the Shakers to the radical faerie communes of Short Mountain to the Bronx rebuilding movement--through the lens of one woman's quest to create a more communal life in a time of unending economic and social precarity. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eWhen Adrian Shirk's father-in-law has a stroke and loses his ability to speak and walk, she and her husband--both adjuncts in their midtwenties--become his primary caretakers. The stress of these new responsibilities, coupled with navigating America's broken health-care system and ordinary twenty-first-century financial insecurity, propels Shirk into an odyssey through the history and present of American utopian experiments in the hope that they might offer a way forward. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eAlong the way, Shirk seeks solace in her own community of friends, artists, and theologians. They try to imagine a different kind of life, examining what might be replicable within the histories of utopia-making, and what might be doomed. Rather than \"no place,\" Shirk reframes utopia as something that, according to the laws of capital and conquest, shouldn't be able to exist--but does anyway, if only for a moment.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Counterpoint LLC\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 03\/15\/2022\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781640093300\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 352\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eReview Citations: \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e 12\/06\/2021\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eBooklist\u003c\/i\u003e 01\/01\/2022 pg. 30\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Adrian Shirk","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":41574465437877,"sku":"9781640093300","price":22.1,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0473\/0804\/6492\/products\/img_572e3cf2-62f0-45e9-bedd-7ae357ec54a4.jpg?v=1643694588","url":"https:\/\/pastforward.org\/products\/heaven-is-a-place-on-earth-searching-for-an-american-utopia-9781640093300","provider":"Past Forward","version":"1.0","type":"link"}