Shaker Fever: America's Twentieth-Century Fascination with a Communitarian Sect

Abstract

The Shakers, a small, communal, and celibate pietistic sect of Christianity, were already in serious decline when, in the years 1925 to 1965, they were rediscovered and made to represent what various twentieth-century American actors saw in them. This is the phenomenon explored exceedingly well by William D. Moore in Shaker Fever, a book that, like the Shaker enthusiasts themselves, tells us more about the middle decades of the twentieth century than about the Shakers. First came the collectors, who simply wanted to possess historically significant objects, or, like the driven Faith Andrews and Edward Deming Andrews, wanted to be the leading experts on the Shakers through their material culture. Soon came the artists and designers, who saw in Shaker furniture and objects the foretaste of modern design's clean lines and emphasis on use. Then came dramatic and dance productions that performed the Shakers, often with sexual undertones or...