Creating a Life Together

$35.00

Do you want to start an intentional community? Read this first! Diana Leafe Christian’s classic Creating a Life Together has been a source of guidance for generations of community founders. The book covers the practical steps you’ll need to take to make a community happen — from gathering a forming group to setting up legal structures, purchasing property, and more. The book includes case studies from communities that have both flourished and failed. Build a community with this helpful guide at your side. This product does not ship outside of North America. We apologize for the inconvenience. 

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Description

Creating a Life Together

by Diana Leafe Christian

Creating a Life Together is a classic, evergreen resource found on nearly every communitarian’s bookshelf. This book provides step-by-step, practical information on how to launch and sustain a successful ecovillage or intentional community.

After visiting and interviewing founders of dozens of successful and failed communities, along with her own forming-community experiences, the author concluded that “the successful 10 percent” had all done the same five or six things right, and “the unsuccessful 90 percent” had made the same handful of mistakes. Recognizing that a wealth of wisdom were contained in these experiences, she set out to distill and capture them in one place.

Through anecdotes, stories, and cautionary tales about real communities, and by profiling seven successful communities in depth, the book examines:

  • “The successful 10 percent” and why 90 percent fail
  • The role of community founders
  • Getting a group off to a good start
  • Vision and vision documents
  • Decision-making and governance; agreements
  • Legal options
  • Finding, financing, and developing land
  • Structuring a community economy
  • Selecting new members
  • Communication, process, and dealing well with conflict

Sample vision documents, community agreements, and visioning exercises are included, along with abundant resources for learning more.

About the author of Creating a Life Together

Diana Leafe Christian is the author of two books and dozens of articles and blog posts on the topic of intentional community. She offers workshops and consultation, and resides at Earthaven Ecovillage in North Carolina.

 

Want to join a community instead of starting one?

Check out Diana’s other book…

Finding Community presents a thorough overview of ecovillages and intentional communities and offers solid advice on how to research thoroughly, visit thoughtfully, evaluate intelligently and join gracefully. Useful considerations include:

Important questions to ask of members and of yourself
Signs of a healthy (and not-so-healthy) community
Costs of joining and staying
Common blunders to avoid

 

 

 

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