Avant-Garde in the Cornfields

"New Harmony has long been the American Eden that almost was—a place of learning, spirituality, and experimental architecture lost somewhere south of Indianapolis. This eclectic and sweeping volume brings its many lives, from utopian outpost on the frontier to center for contemplation and tourist site anchored by great works of modern architecture, to life. The equally diverse figures who animated the place, from the English industrialist Robert Owen to his distant heir Jane Blaffer Owen, and including architects Philip Johnson and Richard Meier, each receives a careful historic and formal analysis in this masterful collection of essays."—Aaron Betsky, president, School of Architecture at Taliesin

"A detour to the rural heartland can alter many presumptions about American modern culture. Reformers included Robert Owen, who bought the communitarian settlement of New Harmony, Indiana, in 1825, espousing equal rights for workers, women, and former slaves. This book looks closely at New Harmony in the post-WWII era, when historic preservation and environmentalism held sway, while protean architects like Philip Johnson and Richard Meier collaborated with their visionary client, Jane Blaffer Owen. Readers too will look at American modernism from a radically new perspective."—Gwendolyn Wright, Columbia University

"Three visionaries created New Harmony, and their visions could hardly be more different. Ben Nicholson and Michelangelo Sabatino, with their splendidly comprehensive study of Jane Blaffer Owen, the most elusive of the three, have completed the story of one of America’s most consequential experiments in town-building."—Michael Lewis, Williams College

"The book is carefully produced and edited, with abundant photographs and is well suited for college readers at all levels, particularly those in heritage preservation studies."—ARLIS/NA Reviews

"This anthology, filled with insights on design, philanthropy, and the making of place, will be most valued by specialists but should also attract many readers interested in the built environment and historic preservation."—CHOICE

"Avant-Garde in the Cornfields, a scholarly history of New Harmony's built environment in the second half of the twentieth century, is very welcome."—A Daily Dose of Architecture

"Avant-Garde in the Cornfields is a tremendous achievement that promises to be the crucial resource for chronicling New Harmony’s long and important utopian evolution."—The Annals of Iowa

"Avant-Garde in the Cornfields is a comprehensive and beautifully illustrated resource for architectural scholars and lovers of the modern portion of the eclectic place that is New Harmony."—Winterthur Portfolio