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Reviews
New Buffalo
- "There were also, surprising
to me...amicable exchanges among
New Buffalonians and their Hispano
neighbors...."
Review by Lois Rudnick
University of Massachusetts,
Boston
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Full Review
- “Kopecky… faithfully
recorded daily life in an open
journal that reveals much about
him as a person. His writing,
a window in the thoughts of a
utopian idealist, reflects a deep
commitment to the anarchistic
experiment of living on the land.” Albuquerque
Journal
- “Kopecky’s greatest
contribution to understanding
the commune movement of a generation
ago may be in writing day after
day of the love and generosity
of these young people.” Denver
Post
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Full Review
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- I remember visiting the New Buffalo
commune in the spring of 1970. It
was a clear day, probably a Sunday
and because poet Alan Ginsburg was
there, too, the place was packed
with people. Ginsburg had a very
deep and distinctive voice which
seemed to boom over everything in
a certain way that suggested depth
of understanding. And though the
place was impressive in its adobe
construction, it seemed to shrink
back from the presence of the poet
and the crowds. It was impossible
to tell who lived there and who
was visiting and even to determine
what was going on at all. But the
place was welcoming, open and had
good vibes. Solon, Fountain
of Light.net
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Full Review
- “Kopecky’s book celebrates
the counter cultural revolutionaries
of the 1960’s…[and]…the
practical application of hippie
idealism.” Taos HorseFly
- “[Kopecky’s] conflict
over the community’s need
for both individual freedom and
rules and the role of private ownership
verses communal sharing create a
smooth undertone for many of the
journal entries.”
Albuquerque Journal North Edition
- "It is enormously
welcome to see a published primary
document that lets us into the daily
life of one of the fabled communes
of the era. This first-person voice
captures the magic-and the more
sordid realities-of the 60s communal
enterprise as well as anything that
has yet appeared." Tim
Miller, University of Kansas,
for Communal Societies
Read
full review.
- “Wallace Stegner referred
to communal living in his novel, Angle
of Repose: ‘I want
a society that will protect the
wild life without confusing itself
with it.’ Such is the genius
of Kopecky's lesson at New Buffalo."
Southwest Bookviews Read
Full Review
- "The journal is a primary
source, written at the time of
the events it describes. As such
it is a valuable record of life
at New Buffalo."
Santa Fe New Mexican Read
Full Review
- "Those who want
a detailed, if informal, record
of how a commune actually worked
will prefer Kopecky and perhaps
react to his belief in the possibility
of attaining 'harmony and a sustainable
future.' I hope that he is right." Crosswinds
Weekly
- “The Journals are
also a record of New Buffalo itself
growing up, from wide-eyed idealism
and endless parties, to crafts
production as livelihood, to full
self sufficiency as a dairy farm.
And though the details are sparse,
by the end, a story arises that
is far more than the sum of its
individual entries.”
North Bay Bohemian
- "The dream was nothing
less than Jeffersonian,… [and]
would provide both the rationale
and nourishment for community-based
democracy. New Buffalo makes
a plaintively naïve, refreshingly
idealistic case for post-corporate
capitalism and cooperative self-rule." Su
Casa Magazine
Read Full Review
- “Kopecky began his account
in the spring of 1971 as he and
a small band of like-minded people
left Bolinas, Calif., and traveled
throughout the U.S. in a converted
Wonder Bread truck, called the
Mind Machine.” Pasatiempo
Magazine
Read Full Review
- "….the seasonal
cycles of activity and the drug
and alcohol-laced entertainment
provide accurate snapshots of
the living conditions, personal
relationships, and community involvement
that hippie communes everywhere
shared in one form or another." Bloomsbury
Review
- "Kopecky finds that ideas
of intentional communities, eco-villages
and people working together to
create a safety net is more appealing
than ever in today's world of
too much traffic, too much worrying
about downsizing and out-sourcing,
and a conspicuous absence of joy
and optimism. This is his testament
to how it can work." Sonoma
Index Tribune
- "Although communes are
generally thought of as part of
the counterculture, utopian communities
have been part of the American
scene almost from the original
colonies, which were their own
utopian dream."
New Mexico Magazine
- "New Buffalo…had
a total open-door policy. Decisions
weren't made by consensus or voting,
but rather a kind of amorphous
vibe-grok among folks there at
the time….[Kopecky] had
hope that it and other communes
would make a difference in our
society." by
Diana Leafe Christian,Communities
Magazine Read
full review.
- "This book is unique. It
is like nothing else you are likely
to read. There are incidents,
anecdotes, and life situations.
It's all here. In my experience,
it takes a long time to read a
journal. It's different from a
story, since there's no narrative
thread per se. But the time is
well worth it. The threads you
do find are of solid gold." Pam
Hanna, Amazon.com
- "New Buffalo: Journals
from a Taos Commune is
a unique contribution to the
sum of human experiential learning.
The experience of New Buffalo,
so honestly presented here,
may prove to be more precious
than a memory. We all may yet
need those skills, we all may
yet need that mind, to master
what may come."
Daniel S Cohn, Amazon.com. Read
Full Review
- These are on-the-spot journal
entries from the serious, day-to-day
heart of life at New Buffalo-a
real picture of the interrelations
within the early to middle years
of the rise of the adobe, pot,
and peyote counterculture."
Clark Diamond, Amazon.com.
For more information on
Kopecky or New Buffalo, please
contact Amanda Sutton, UNM Press publicity
at 505-277-0655, 505-277-9270 (fax),
or asutton@unm.edu.
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