Description
The three essayists discuss the history of utopian thinking and how it often fails. They argue that utopia is a "disaster in the making" and that it overlooks the nature of humanity and the impossibilities of paradise. They also discuss how utopian thinking can be found in literature and in the work of architects. They argue that while utopia is never realized, it can still be of value.
From the sex-free paradise of the Shakers to the worker's paradise of Marx, utopian ideas seem to have two things in common-they all are wonderfully plausible at the start and they all end up as disasters. In Visions of Utopia, three leading cultural critics-Edward Rothstein, Martin Marty, and Herbert Muschamp-look at the history of utopian thinking, exploring why they fail and why they are still worth pursuing. Edward Rothstein, New York Times cultural critic, contends that every utopia is really a dystopia-a disaster in the making-one that overlooks the nature of humanity and the impossibilities of paradise. He traces the ideal in politics and technology and suggests that only in art-and especially in music-does the desire for utopia find satisfaction. Martin Marty examines several models of utopia-from Thomas More's to a 1960s experimental city that he helped to plan-to show that, even though utopias can never be realized, we should not be too quick to condemn them. They can express dimensions of the human spirit that might otherwise be stifled and can plant ideas that may germinate in more realistic and practical soil. And Herbert Muschamp, the New York Times architectural critic, looks at Utopianism as exemplified in two different ways: the Buddhist tradition and the work of visionary Viennese architect Adolph Loos. Utopian thinking embodies humanity's noblest impulses, yet it can lead to horrors such as Nazi Germany and the Soviet Regime. In Visions of Utopia, these leading thinkers offer an intriguing look at the paradoxes of paradise. Review: In their cautionary and inspiring essays on the history of utopian practice and thought... Edward Rothstein, Herbert Muschcamp, and Martin E. Marty maintain that while the road to utopia often leads to failure or dystopia, the utopian impulse and quest is in itself of great value. With impassioned acuity, Rothstein, a cultural critic at The New York Times, analyzes the legacy of literary and political utopias. The New York Times
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