author
John Humphrey Noyes
1811–1886
A fiery 19th-century religious thinker, he founded the Oneida Community and became one of the best-known leaders of America’s utopian experiments. His ideas about perfectionism, communal life, and marriage made him deeply influential and deeply controversial.
1 Audiobook
History of American Socialisms
by John Humphrey Noyes
About the author
Born in Brattleboro, Vermont, in 1811, John Humphrey Noyes was educated at Dartmouth and later turned from law toward religious study. After a powerful conversion experience, he developed a theology of Christian perfectionism and began preaching that believers could overcome sin in this life.
Noyes is best remembered as the founder of the Oneida Community, first shaped by earlier efforts in Putney, Vermont, and later established in Oneida, New York. The community became one of the most successful utopian societies in the United States, known for its shared property, communal labor, and the highly controversial system Noyes called "complex marriage."
He was also a prolific writer and organizer whose influence reached far beyond his own lifetime. Even for readers who strongly disagree with his beliefs, his life opens a vivid window onto American religious radicalism, social reform, and the bold experiments of the 1800s.