Rebels in the Wild: The Equality Colony and the Taming of American Capitalism

Rebels in the Wild: The Equality Colony and the Taming of American Capitalism tells the true story of an 1890s experiment in socialism long buried in the sands of time. It explores the rise and fall of the Equality colony, built from scratch by a little band of dreamers in an evergreen forest near Washington's Puget Sound.What sets this character-driven narrative apart is its framing of Equality colony not as an isolated oddity but as a representative expression of social discontent—the kind that would grow from coast to coast and lead to a historic reshaping of American capitalism.Drawing on a wide range of government records, old newspaper articles, personal letters, diaries, and memoirs, the book weaves together narrative history and political analysis. It brings to life a colorful cast of idealists, agitators, oddballs, and everyday people who set out to challenge capitalism at its frontier edges.The Equality colony was built on a brotherly pledge of "all for one, and one for all," but in the end self-interest proved the stronger instinct. Some remained loyal to the idea of creating a socialist society—a cooperative commonwealth, they called it—but others proved to be unbending individualists with unworkable ideas. In frustration they turned on one another, at first gently, then violently. Read more