Naked in the Woods: My Unexpected Years in a Hippie Commune

This was a very well written personal history of this phenomenon. The author has a knack, and I would imaginewe could be hearing more from her in the future. I was about 6 when she was beginning to make these decisions,and this movement did end up helping to pave the way for the more mature development of self reliant living andthe very necessary questioning of the status quo which continues to go on today. Even though I would have lasted2 days in a place without structure, intention, showers and bathrooms, most anyone who has going through youthunderstands the power of human connection and camaraderie which held these folks together in the wilderness forso long. I also think the presence of all the drugs (on day to day living and productivity) could bear more examination.

This book arrived quickly and looks brand new. 100% satisfied.

This took me back to the sixties and seventies like a time-travel machine! I had read Hippie Woman Wild, Carol Schlanger's account of life in the same Oregon commune, and enjoyed that, but I found Carol as narrator hard to relate to. Margaret is by far a better writer, and her chronicle of communal life in the woods made me sadly and sweetly recall the time I had longed to do the same thing. I don't think that life would have exactly suited me, but experiencing it vicariously through Grundstein's amazing narrative was the next best thing. I now desperately want to read her memoir Not Dead Yet, which I understand is currently seeking a publisher. It can't come soon enough for me, I'm now a huge fan of this writer.

I liked the book but am giving it only three stars due to the lack of photos and the repetitive trope that healthy food and eating originated with the communal crowd. The author goes into detail with physical descriptions of the people but includes few photos. What is missing from the communal record is not written but visual. All positive progress in the last forty years isn't just due to the hippies as she seems to think. Still, buy the book; it's a good read!

Margaret Grundstein's Naked in the Woods is a loving yet unsentimental portrait of a place and time in history of monumental change and experimentation. Grundstein was on the front lines in the Sixties, living the utopian dream on a hippie commune in Oregon. She writes with the sharp eye of a photographer and the analytical mind of the urban planning student she was when she left East Coast academia for the forest. The photographs she took at the time illustrate the book beautifully. How could she and her band of friends, all twenty-somethings, live for over five years without electricity or plumbing or the support of their families or elders of any kind, isolated by miles of dirt roads deep in the woods? Grundstein tells us how. They chopped the wood to build the fire to heat the water to boil the diapers. They practiced free love and scavenged for free food and plowed the fields and slaughtered the chickens and often went hungry. Rural living set back the clock for women in many ways. It also taught the women of the commune how to survive. Grundstein writes with candor about the ethical dilemmas she and the others faced over the years. It's a fantastic, mind-blowing story told with direct, confident style, well-written, and ultimately universal.

Free love, free food, make-your-own home with what we now call "repurposed" materials -- it's all in this book. Contemporary locavore, organic and "simple" life movements began here. The details are undoubtedly different from group to group, but Grundstein touches on the issues with vignettes and incisive musings from a "thirty years later" perspective. The roles of men and women in their community are especially telling, and Grundstein doesn't pull any punches when it comes to what became the division of labor among the genders. Having lived through their early missteps, Grundstein balances her idealism (still seemingly intact!) with the realities of life on a mountain with minimal utilities. The phrase "start by chopping the wood" will stay with me always now as I blithely wipe my hands on a clean towel after doing the dishes in my sink, provided with both hot and cold water. A fascinating look into a time and place of societal change and a truly engaging read.

Reading Ms Grundstein's book gave me a visual and visceral look into the dream and life I had only heard about during that special era of my young adulthood. She injected the image with color and texture with her inner flashlight and I appreciate her heart, soul and sense of family. Her daughters are very lucky to have her as mother and life guide. I could go on about the many women's issues she addressed as well as those of the era and the roles women and men played, both literally and in our minds. But I'll leave that for another time. And one last thing: I read for pleasure, but as important to me as the story, is how it is expressed. After I finished the book, it was not surprising to me how many phrases I had underlined, to be visited again at another time.

This is the second book about this commune I have read. The first one was by Carol Schlanger. It’s essentially the same story, from two view points. I found it interesting that the same group of people who started out on this adventure to get away from capitalistic society and materialism ended up breaking their ties over Carol’s refusal to give away parcels of her land to them.