![]() ![]() That Utopia was originally from New York suggests that the band's name originated as much from utopian idealism as from Utopia Parkway in Queens – another road named for utopia. …but I find Utopia's original "Utopia Theme" as hard to listen to as to watch. The lyrics of "The Road to Utopia" are suggestive… Even though they had a lot of talent they never really went anywhere, which is actually sort of typical of the history of utopian social experimentation. ![]() Utopia was a seventies band that tried to borrow a lot from the Beatles. And it turns out that Thomas More wasn't alone in his use of satire… In putting together this playlist, I came to realize that a number of songs I became familiar with as a kid had perhaps entirely different meanings that what I'd thought originally. That is, he didn't intend to create a thing that others would use as a blueprint for real life. The first thing to note about utopian thought is that Thomas More's original Utopia wasn't meant earnestly. Given its travelogue nature (and the fact that one section was named for the 2010 Best American Travel Writing), it sort of makes sense that first song in my playlist is… In it – and despite my admittedly dystopian roots – I try to defend the utopian spirit by examining the impact of utopian literature on real life. In Utopia is sort of a brief history of hope. Having been raised in paradise, it's perhaps only natural that I eventually turned to the history of utopian thought for a new book. One of the stories was called "Utopia Road," and as unlikely as it seems it's autobiographical: I grew up on a street called Utopia Road in a master-planned community in Southern California. Hallman's Book Notes music playlist for his book, In Utopia: Six Kinds of Eden and the Search for a Better Paradise:Ī few months I did a Book Notes essay for a collection of short stories entitled The Hospital for Bad Poets. ![]() "Hallman entertains with an ironic, Alain de Botton style of erudite bonhomie and scads of self-referential postmodernism, but his intellectual embrace is copious and his conclusion sincere: 'the failure of good intentions should not be met with inaction, but with further good intentions, with better intention." Like his previous books, In Utopia's writing is smart, sincere, and witty while never sacrificing its subjects' dignity. Hallman is back with In Utopia: Six Kinds of Eden and the Search for a Better Paradise, a book that not only explores six modern Utopian communities, but also Utopian literature. Earlier this year I enjoyed his short story collection, The Hospital for Bad Poets. The first Hallman book I read was the always interesting William James-inspired look at religious cults, The Devil Is a Gentleman. Hallman is a writer equally adept at writing fiction and nonfiction. In the Book Notes series, authors create and discuss a music playlist that relates in some way to their recently published book. ![]()
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