Reflects on the experiences of two very different communities, one inhabited by impoverished former refugees in the mountains of El Salvador and the other by Amish farmers in the Midwestern US. This book examines their community organization, religious life, environmental values, and agriculture practices.

"To some, 'utopian' means 'impossible.' To others, 'visionary.' This fascinating book will help you make up your mind." --Bill McKibben, author of The End of Nature "In a world in which environmental and social problems often seem overwhelming, and creative visions of the future remain elusive, Peterson's work is a gift and a challenge. Peterson offers a vision of hope for us all, a vision based on the stories of two communities, Anabaptists in North America and Catholics in El Salvador, that embody social solidarity and ecological restoration. Written with grace, clarity and insight, this book is essential for all who seek alternatives to a dominant order that is ecologically and socially destructive. Peterson reminds us that 'the future is open,' and we, like the people whose stories she recounts, can forge communities of social justice and environmental protection." --Sharon D. Welch, author of After Empire: The Art and Ethos of Enduring Peace "Environmentalists have relied heavily on the idea of community in the half-century since Aldo Leopold urged us to regard ourselves as members of the land community, but have generally dealt with it in abstract terms, as a good, while paying little attention to what community actually entails, or what it might cost to join a community or to extend the prerogatives of community beyond traditional boundaries. The great strength of Prof. Peterson's book is that she deals with actual communities, and deals with them concretely, going beyond the abstractions of philosophy to the concrete data of anthropology, history and religious experience as she considers what it might actually mean to fashion---and to inhabit---a land community." --William R. Jordan III, author of The Sunflower Forest: Ecological Restoration and the New Communion with Nature "A compelling case for the utility of utopias. Peterson's careful scholarship into the origins of progressive Catholic and Anabaptist theology and emergence as social movements makes her comparison of the current lived experience of the two groups in the rural U.S. Midwest and rural El Salvador extremely powerful. In her analysis of these communities, different in almost every aspect except their origins in persecution and their overt commitment to create God's kingdom on earth, Peterson show us that alternative futures that are environmentally sound and socially just are both necessary and possible." --Cornelia Butler Flora, co-author of Rural Communities: Legacy and Change, 2nd edition "To some, 'utopian' means 'impossible.' To others, 'visionary.' This fascinating book will help you make up your mind." --Bill McKibben, author of The End of Nature "A compelling case for the utility of utopias. Peterson's careful scholarship into the origins of progressive Catholic and Anabaptist theology and emergence as social movements makes her comparison of the current lived experience of the two groups in the rural U.S. Midwest and rural El Salvador extremely powerful. In her analysis of these communities, different in almost every aspect except their origins in persecution and their overt commitment to create God's kingdom on earth, Peterson show us that alternative futures that are environmentally sound and socially just are both necessary and possible." --Cornelia Butler Flora, co-author of Rural Communities: Legacy and Change, 2nd edition "In a world in which environmental and social problems often seem overwhelming, and creative visions of the future remain elusive, Peterson's work is a gift and a challenge. Peterson offers a vision of hope for us all, a vision based on the stories of two communities, Anabaptists in North America and Catholics in El Salvador, that embody social solidarity and ecological restoration. Written with grace, clarity and insight, this book is essential for all who seek alternatives to a dominant order that is ecologically and socially destructive. Peterson reminds us that 'the future is open,' and we, like the people whose stories she recounts, can forge communities of social justice and environmental protection." --Sharon D. Welch, author of After Empire: The Art and Ethos of Enduring Peace "Environmentalists have relied heavily on the idea of community in the half-century since Aldo Leopold urged us to regard ourselves as members of the land community, but have generally dealt with it in abstract terms, as a good, while paying little attention to what community actually entails, or what it might cost to join a community or to extend the prerogatives of community beyond traditional boundaries. The great strength of Prof. Peterson's book is that she deals with actual communities, and deals with them concretely, going beyond the abstractions of philosophy to the concrete data of anthropology, history and religious experience as she considers what it might actually mean to fashion---and to inhabit---a land community." --William R. Jordan III, author of The Sunflower Forest: Ecological Restoration and the New Communion with Nature

Anna L. Peterson is Professor of Religion and affiliate Professor in the Center for Latin American Studies and the School of Natural Resources and the Environment at the University of Florida. She is the author of Being Human: Ethics, Environment, and Our Place in the World and Martyrdom and the Politics of Religion: Progressive Catholicism in El Salvador's Civil War, as well as co-editor of Christianity, Social Change, and Globalization in the Americas.