{"product_id":"becoming-utopia-history-heritage-and-sustainability-in-the-american-midwest-hardcover","title":"Becoming Utopia: History, Heritage, and Sustainability in the American Midwest - Hardcover","description":"\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cp style=\"text-align: right;\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/reportcopyrightinfringement.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eReport copyright infringement\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eMargaret E. Farrar\u003c\/b\u003e (Author), \u003cb\u003eAdam Kaul\u003c\/b\u003e (Author)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eBecoming Utopia\u003c\/i\u003e centers on the tiny community of Bishop Hill, Illinois, whose marketing materials call it \"Utopia on the Prairie,\" home to a radical communal religious sect that emigrated from Sweden in the 1840s. Through rich textual and ethnographic analyses, Margaret E. Farrar and Adam Kaul tell the story of what happens when a small, historically significant Midwestern community negotiates the contradictory impulses of twenty-first-century place-making. At first glance, Bishop Hill is simply a small heritage tourism destination in Midwestern flyover country, but further inspection reveals it to be a complex place that mixes a deep nostalgia for the past undercut by complex origin stories of displacement and colonialism, an active historic preservation movement amid futuristic green energy technologies built by multinational corporations, and a commitment to localism in the context of omnipresent globalization.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBased on fifteen years of fieldwork, \u003ci\u003eBecoming Utopia\u003c\/i\u003e is an interdisciplinary contribution to conversations about the importance and meaning of place-making, heritage-making, and sustainability (social, economic, and environmental) in the twenty-first century.\u003cbr\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eMargaret E. Farrar\u003c\/b\u003e is a professor of political science at John Carroll University. She is the author of \u003ci\u003eBuilding the Body Politic: Power and Urban Space in Washington, D.C.\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cb\u003eAdam Kaul\u003c\/b\u003e is a professor of anthropology at Augustana College. He is the author of \u003ci\u003eTurning the Tune: Traditional Music, Tourism, and Social Change in an Irish Village\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 256\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 0.75 x 9 x 6 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e July 01, 2026\u003c\/div\u003e\n            ","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50052345135352,"sku":"9781496243515","price":170.94,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0698\/5629\/7208\/files\/17n7YSGCiU9781496243515.webp?v=1784880389","url":"https:\/\/barneysbooksellers.com\/products\/becoming-utopia-history-heritage-and-sustainability-in-the-american-midwest-hardcover","provider":"Barney's Book Sellers","version":"1.0","type":"link"}