At the end of February Upper School history teacher Dan Greenstone released “American Utopia,” a new podcast that tells the story of the Oneida Community, “a radical 19th century free-love experiment in communal living,” according to the description on iTunes.

In the podcast, Greenstone tries to make sense of this radical way of living under the Christian perfectionist John Humphrey Noyes (pronounced “noise”). Noyes’ unconventional belief was that selfishness was a sin, so his followers practiced what he called “bible communism.”

“Oneida comes out of the Second Great Awakening in the 1830’s and 40’s, which is a really explosively fervent time of religion,” Greenstone said. “In most American history textbooks Oneida only gets a couple of sentences, or maybe a paragraph.”

Greenstone spent a year reading and studying the Oneida community and recorded 12 hours of interviews with scholars and experts in this field in preparation for his podcast.  He finds Oneida to be a fascinating, yet underappreciated topic.

“I see myself as sort of a stand-in for the listener,” Greenstone said. “I’m asking questions that hopefully the lister would be asking, then weaving that into a story.”

Greenstone’s interest in 19th century community began when he taught US history before coming to Parker.

“I remember reading about it,” Greenstone said of the odd lifestyle and norms of the Oneida community, “and it just sounded so weird.”

Greenstone was intrigued by the odder than life ways of the Oneida community, and bought books to read up. Though Greenstone thinks that the people of Oneida were misguided in some way, he applauds the bravery they showed in challenging the societal norms of the time.

Greenstone’s goal was to take this story, one that most people don’t know about, and make it accessible to a larger group of learners.

After listening to the first few episodes of “American Utopia,” I can see why Greenstone wanted to devote a whole series to this truly fascinating story. It deals with some mature, sexual themes, which makes this podcast suitable for upperclassmen.

The story is easy–and more importantly, exciting–to follow. It’s crazy and captivating. It feels like listening to a dystopian novel, and it was sometimes hard to remind myself that this was something that actually happened in the United States. Learning about the ways these people in the Oneida community lived was shocking, and I couldn’t stop listening.

In the first episode, Greenstone discusses how women of the Oneida community took a stance against the clothing of their time. They decided to “make short dresses of their long ones,” but these women weren’t sure if they were brave enough to wear the new garments and worried they might be regarded as “bold and unfeminine.” Nevertheless, they still showed the community regardless of the consequences they might face. The second episode introduces listener to to Noyes from his upbringing to his “bizarre and controversial” methods of  beginning this utopian society through interviews Ellen Wayland Smith, an author and relative of Noyes.

Greentone blends storytelling, primary sources, and interviews seamlessly to tell a gripping tale. I’m not done listening to the podcast, but I can’t wait to finish. Even if you don’t think you like history, I highly suggest that you give “American Utopia” a try.

“A lot of people tend to think of the past as kind of musty and stale and lame and boring,” Greenstone said. “I’ve realized that’s not true. It’s filled with really weird, interesting things.”