This Land is My Land: A Graphic History of Big Dreams, Micronations, and Other Self-Made States (2019)

by Andy Warner, Sofie Louise Dam (Illustrator)

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52	14	498,841	(3.84)	7
"Your country isn't perfect--but with a little planning and a personalized flag, your true utopia may be as close as your own backyard! Here are the stories of thirty self-made places around the world built with a dream of utopia: from the Gay and Lesbian Kingdom of the Coral Sea Islands to the Indian rock garden of Nek Chand to the micronation of Sealand and much more. Whether they were building an ideal community, a safe haven, an inspiring structure, or a better-run country, these creators struck out against the laws of their homelands, the approval of their peers, or even nature itself to shape the world around them."--… (more)

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Does exactly what it says on the tin. Worthy and interesting idea to compare and contrast the different kinds of experiments. I might have put intentional communities last or next-to-last instead of first however. They are (currently) striking the balance that the other types aren't/didn't/didn't intend to, so I think you'd want to see the different ways that imbalanced projects failed before seeing how others successfully adapt and perpetuate themselves over time. (

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caedocyon | Feb 20, 2024 |

Note: I accessed a digital review copy of this book through Edelweiss.

fernandie | Sep 15, 2022 |

Really cool book about a wide range of communities/utopias from around the world -- love the concise storytelling, the excellent graphic novel aspect, and the completely fascinating things that people too. (

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jennybeast | Apr 14, 2022 |

This review was written for LibraryThing Early Reviewers.

A fascinating graphic novel about the dreamers, visionaries, and oddballs who claimed a piece of land or built a monument or otherwise staked a claim to their own utopian places. The book covers international communities, micro nations, failed utopias, visionary environments, and strange dreams. I enjoyed learning random tidbits like a community founded in upstate NY in the mid-1800s based on free love ended up being one of the largest manufacturers of silverware in the country (Oneida); Ford building a (failed) midwestern town in Brazil called Fordlandia, and more. (

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sylliu | Aug 13, 2019 |

This review was written for LibraryThing Early Reviewers.

This graphic nonfiction exploration of intentional utopian communities gives a good primer of the history of many different attempts at new ways of living. The book only dips briefly into each community, so it should be seen as a brief introduction that might spur one to do further research.

zhejw | Aug 13, 2019 |

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Author name	Role	Type of author	Work?	Status
Andy Warner	—	primary author	all editions	calculated
Dam, Sofie Louise	Illustrator	main author	all editions	confirmed

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Great Graphic Novels for Teens (2020)

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Canonical title

This Land is My Land: A Graphic History of Big Dreams, Micronations, and Other Self-Made States

Original title

Alternative titles

Original publication date

2019

People/Characters

James Misson

Father Caracciali

Heather Elizabeth (Lamar Van Dyke)

Lamar Van Dyke (Heather Elizabeth)

Ange Spalding (Brook Van Dyke)

(show all 55 items)

Important places

Libertatia, Madagascar

Freetown Christiania, Copenhagen, Denmark

Copenhagen, Denmark

Tamil Nadu, India

Auroville, Tamil Nadu, India

(show all 49 items)

Important events

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Epigraph

Dedication

First words

Has the unending grind of everyday life or the horrifying state of politics got you down?

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(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)

Disambiguation notice

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Blurbers

Bellwood, Lucy

Bors, Matt

Original language

English

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Canonical LCC

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▾Book descriptions

"Your country isn't perfect--but with a little planning and a personalized flag, your true utopia may be as close as your own backyard! Here are the stories of thirty self-made places around the world built with a dream of utopia: from the Gay and Lesbian Kingdom of the Coral Sea Islands to the Indian rock garden of Nek Chand to the micronation of Sealand and much more. Whether they were building an ideal community, a safe haven, an inspiring structure, or a better-run country, these creators struck out against the laws of their homelands, the approval of their peers, or even nature itself to shape the world around them."--

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