The history of American communes is one of imperfect people trying to make a perfect place. The physical layering of utopian life on particular plots of land is not so unusual in the United States.

What's known as "cohousing" is today considered a more independent form of communal living, says Yvonne Daley, author of "Going Up the Country." The 1960s were a time of upheaval in the United States.

Analyzes several American communes including the Twin Oaks community in Virginia based on BF Skinners theories of behaviorism an anarchists community in Maryland a network of loosely connected ...