Date: Fri 21-May-1999

Publication: Ant

Author: JUDIR

Quick Words:

Simpson-Utopia-Chautauquaa

Full Text:

AA BOOK REVIEW: Chautauqua -- An American Utopia

(Chautauqua: An American Utopia by Jeffrey Simpson; Abrams, New York, June

1999, $19.95 paperback.)

Chautauqua is home to the oldest summer arts festival in the United States.

Since 1874, people young and old have been coming to this enchanting lakeside

community in upstate New York for the Chautauqua Institution's unique program

of music, art, drama, stimulating discussion and recreation. This profusely

illustrated book explores Chautauqua's history as the Institution celebrates

its 125th anniversary.

Jeffrey Simpson, a lifelong Chautauquan, uses evocative photographs to show

how Chautauqua developed from an educational haven for Sunday-school teachers

to a world-famous center for the arts. As the community's tents were replaced

by fanciful Victorian houses, its programs expanded to include a full-scale

resident symphony orchestra, an opera company, dance and theater programs, an

art school, and lectures by speakers of world renown -- including nine

American presidents.

A National Historic Landmark, Chautauqua is also a model for contemporary

planned communities. This book allows everyone to share in what Supreme Court

Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, a frequent visitor, has called, "a good world

where beauty and reason come together."

Jeffrey Simpson is a historian and writer. His most recent book is American

Elegy: A Family Memoir. He lives in New York.