Étienne Cabet and the Utopia of Icaria

Stuff You Missed in History Class

In the mid-19th century Étienne Cabet had an idea to establish a utopian society in Texas, and he moved his followers from France to do it. Things went badly, but he persisted, and established multiple communities in North America.

Research:

  • American Experience. “Timeline: The Early History of the Mormons.” https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/mormons-timeline/
  • Beautiful Nauvoo. “Nauvoo German-Icarian History.” https://beautifulnauvoo.com/nauvoo-german-icarian-history/
  • Christopher E. Guthrie, “Cabet, Étienne,” Handbook of Texas Online, accessed September 04, 2024, https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/cabet-etienne.
  • "Étienne Cabet." Encyclopedia of World Biography Online, Gale, 1998. Gale In Context: U.S. History, link.gale.com/apps/doc/K1631001065/GPS?u=mlin_n_melpub&sid=bookmark-GPS&xid=e54772f5. Accessed 29 Aug. 2024.
  • JOHNSON, CHRISTOPHER H. "Cabet, Étienne." Europe 1789-1914: Encyclopedia of the Age of Industry and Empire, edited by John Merriman and Jay Winter, vol. 1, Charles Scribner's Sons, 2006, pp. 337-338. Gale In Context: World History, link.gale.com/apps/doc/CX3446900127/GPS?u=mlin_n_melpub&sid=bookmark-GPS&xid=2e6d79bb. Accessed 29 Aug. 2024.
  • Kagay, Donald J. “Icaria: An Aborted Utopia on the Texas Frontier.” The Southwestern Historical Quarterly , April, 2013, Vol. 116, No. 4. Via JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/24388374
  • Last, John. “The 19th-Century Novel That Inspired a Communist Utopia on the American Frontier.” Smithsonian. 11/28/2023. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-19th-century-novel-that-inspired-a-communist-utopia-on-the-american-frontier-icarians-180983302/
  • Nordhoff, Charles. “The Communistic Societies of the United States From Personal Visit and Observation.” London: John Murray, Albemarle Street. 1875. https://www.google.it/books/edition/The_Communistic_Societies_of_the_United/EXsRAAAAYAAJ
  • Rousselière, Damien. “’It Was Not a Failure, and It Will One Day Be Recognized as the Only Right Social Order’. On Icarian Communism.” American Communist History, 22:1-2, 51-67, DOI: 10.1080/14743892.2022.2142020
  • Shaw, Albert. “Icaria : a chapter in the history of communism.” New York : G.P. Putnam's Sons. 1884. https://archive.org/details/icariachapterinh00shaw/
  • Sutton, Robert P. “Etienne Cabet and the Nauvoo Icarians: The Mormon Interface.” The John Whitmer Historical Association Journal , 2002. Via JSTOR. http://www.jstor.com/stable/43200389
  • Vallet, Emile. “Communism: history of the experiment at Nauvoo of the Icarian settlement.” Nauvoo, Illinois : Printed by The Nauvoo Rustler. 1917. https://archive.org/details/communismhistory01vall/
  • Wiegenstein, Steve. “The Icarians and Their Neighbors.” International Journal of Historical Archaeology , September 2006. Via JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/20853106
  • Winnerman, Jim. "Icarians went West in search of utopia: the colonies are long gone, but lowans recall the movement." Wild West, vol. 28, no. 4, Dec. 2015, pp. 20+. Gale In Context: U.S. History, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A431578978/GPS?u=mlin_n_melpub&sid=bookmark-GPS&xid=f46ed77e. Accessed 29 Aug. 2024.

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