To make my observations I was obliged to travel from Maine in the
northeast to Kentucky in the south, and Oregon in the west. I have
thought it best to give at first an impartial and not unfriendly account
of each commune, or organized system of communes; and in several
concluding chapters I have analyzed and compared their different customs
and practices, and attempted to state what, upon the facts presented,
seem to be the conditions absolutely requisite to the successful conduct
of a communistic society, and also what appear to be the influences, for
good and evil, of such bodies upon their members and upon their
neighbors.

I have added some particulars of the Swedish Commune which lately
existed at Bishop Hill, in Illinois, but which, after a flourishing
career of seven years, has now become extinct; and I did this to show,
in a single example, what are the causes which work against harmony and
success in such a society.

Also I have given some particulars concerning three examples of
colonization, which, though they do not properly belong to my subject,
are yet important, as showing what may be accomplished by co-operative
efforts in agriculture, under prudent management.

It is, I suppose, hardly necessary to say that, while I have given an
impartial and respectful account of the religious faith of each commune,
I am not therefore to be supposed to hold with any of them. For
instance, I thought it interesting to give some space to the very
singular phenomena called "spiritual manifestations" among the Shakers;
but I am not what is commonly called a "Spiritualist."