The Society's Selection of Books
Citoyennes and Icaria is the historical account of Citoyennes' quest for full equality in seven Icarian colonies in America, between the years 1848 and 1898. Their requests for equal opportunities and rights were dismissed by the male Assembly. In response, the Citoyennes told the governing body that they would not be "silenced by a sentiment of equality."
Icaria was a community where everyone shared all goods in common. It was premised on imaginative depictions in a utopian novel, Voyage en Icaria by Étienne Cabet (1840). Women and men were obliged to marry. No dowry was necessary, for the state provided housing, food, material goods, medical care, funded modern research, and lifelong security for all. Like men, women were educated and could become professionals, even doctors or priestesses.
In the novel, the community goals took fifty years to realize. The Icarians who came to America worked towards the book's principled social aims. The first immigration left for America shortly before the February 23, 1848 Revolution. The excited Icarian women, who planned to leave in March, were subsequently addressed as Citoyennes. They joined the French feminists' drive to be included in universal suffrage, but were not. However, the Citoyennes anticipated better conditions in the Icarian colony. This chronicle follows their efforts to have a political vote, which did come in 1879 in one Icarian Branch. Although legal and economic problems led to the final dissolution of the community in 1898, the Citoyennes legacy has survived, and now is carefully documented in Professor Garno's book.
Citoyennes and Icaria, by Dr. Diana M. Garno, 2005, 290 pp. University Press of America.
Dale R. Larsen
Soldiers of Humanity, by Dale R. Larsen, 1998, 332 pp, 25 photos or illustrations. The National Icarian Heritage Society.
Voyage en Icarie, by Etienne Cabet, 5th ed., 1848, Paris, 600 pp (in French). Classically bound, hardcover, reprint by August M. Kelly Publishers, Clifton, NJ 1973. In his book, Cabet described the travels of a fictional Lord Clarisdall's journey to an island where a perfect utopian society lived in peace and harmony. This is the novel which gave birth to the Icarian movement and rallied a reported 400,000 followers by the mid 1840s. A handsome addition to any library. Formerly sold by Kelly Publishers at $57.50 per copy, an extraordinary bargain!
Marie Marchand
Armand J. Dehay
Dr. Robert P. Sutton
Les Icariens, The Utopian Dream in Europe and America, by Robert P. Sutton, 1994, 193 pp, 14 photos or illustrations. University of Illinois Press. Included in the Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Centennial series, Les Icariens is Dr. Sutton's complete account of the Icarians and their dream of creating a perfect society. It covers the origins of Icarianism under the political scene in France and the creation of the historic communitie-America's longest-lived secular communal experiment. Includes extensive bibliographical references and index.
Dr. Lillian M. Snyder
The French-Icarian Persimmon Tree Cook Book, compiled by Louise Anderson Lum, Pollard Press, Jacksonville, Florida. A delightful collection of Old World and New World French recipes. Features an unimaginable variety of uses for the persimmon. A treasury of dishes "like Grandma used to prepare."