# The Story of Utopias — Chapters explained > Chapter companions for The Story of Utopias by Lewis Mumford. - [Epigraph](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_story_of_utopias_se/chapters/epigraph.md): The epigraph presents a single, powerful aphorism asserting the essential value of Utopia in any comprehensive worldview, suggesting that a map of the world omitting utopian possibility is fundamentally incomplete and un - [Acknowledgments](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_story_of_utopias_se/chapters/acknowledgments.md): Lewis Mumford acknowledges the ten-year development of his book, crediting Mr. Van Wyck Brooks for the suggestion to begin composition, Professor Patrick Geddes for shaping his ideas, and various friends and editors for - [The Story of Utopias](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_story_of_utopias_se/chapters/the-story-of-utopias.md): This chapter introduces the concept of utopia as both an ideal commonwealth and a social myth, exploring how human imagination has constructed perfect societies throughout history as a critique of existing conditions and - [I](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_story_of_utopias_se/chapters/i.md): This chapter introduces the concept of the 'will-to-utopia' as a driving force that causes humanity to inhabit two worlds: the actual and the ideal. It frames the story of utopias as the other half of the story of mankin - [I](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_story_of_utopias_se/chapters/i.md): This chapter introduces the concept of utopia as a separate reality that shapes human life and aspiration, contrasting it with the real world. It argues that utopias are not merely impossible dreams but are the patterns > 106 more chapter companions — [open a free preview](https://www.betterreads.dev/reader?bookId=the_story_of_utopias_se_959kb&preview=1) to unlock the rest. - [II](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_story_of_utopias_se/chapters/ii.md) - [III](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_story_of_utopias_se/chapters/iii.md) - [The Two Utopias: Escape and Reconstruction](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_story_of_utopias_se/chapters/iv.md) - [V](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_story_of_utopias_se/chapters/v.md) - [How the Greeks lived in a New World, and utopia seemed just round the corner. How Plato, in The Republic, is chiefly concerned with what will hold the ideal city together.](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_story_of_utopias_se/chapters/ii.md) - [I](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_story_of_utopias_se/chapters/i.md) - [II](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_story_of_utopias_se/chapters/ii.md) - [III](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_story_of_utopias_se/chapters/iii.md) - [IV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_story_of_utopias_se/chapters/iv.md) - [V](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_story_of_utopias_se/chapters/v.md) - [Plato's Republic: The Foundation of Civic Unity](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_story_of_utopias_se/chapters/vi.md) - [VII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_story_of_utopias_se/chapters/vii.md) - [VIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_story_of_utopias_se/chapters/viii.md) - [IX](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_story_of_utopias_se/chapters/ix.md) - [The Business of the Guardian](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_story_of_utopias_se/chapters/x.md) - [XI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_story_of_utopias_se/chapters/xi.md) - [XII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_story_of_utopias_se/chapters/xii.md) - [How something happened to utopia between Plato and Sir Thomas More; and how utopia was discovered again, along with the New World.](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_story_of_utopias_se/chapters/iii.md) - [I](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_story_of_utopias_se/chapters/i.md) - [II](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_story_of_utopias_se/chapters/ii.md) - [III](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_story_of_utopias_se/chapters/iii.md) - [IV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_story_of_utopias_se/chapters/iv.md) - [V](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_story_of_utopias_se/chapters/v.md) - [VI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_story_of_utopias_se/chapters/vi.md) - [VII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_story_of_utopias_se/chapters/vii.md) - [VIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_story_of_utopias_se/chapters/viii.md) - [IX](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_story_of_utopias_se/chapters/ix.md) - [The Utopian Way of Life](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_story_of_utopias_se/chapters/x.md) - [How the new Humanism of the Renaissance brings us within sight of Christianopolis; and how we have for the first time a glimpse of a modern utopia.](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_story_of_utopias_se/chapters/iv.md) - [I](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_story_of_utopias_se/chapters/i.md) - [II](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_story_of_utopias_se/chapters/ii.md) - [III](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_story_of_utopias_se/chapters/iii.md) - [The Artisan Democracy of Christianopolis](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_story_of_utopias_se/chapters/iv.md) - [The Place of Commerce in Utopia](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_story_of_utopias_se/chapters/v.md) - [The Constitution of the Family in Christianopolis](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_story_of_utopias_se/chapters/vi.md) - [VII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_story_of_utopias_se/chapters/vii.md) - [VIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_story_of_utopias_se/chapters/viii.md) - [How Bacon and Campanella, who have a great reputation as utopians, are little better than echoes of the men who went before them.](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_story_of_utopias_se/chapters/v.md) - [I](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_story_of_utopias_se/chapters/i.md) - [II](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_story_of_utopias_se/chapters/ii.md) - [The Eighteenth Century: Industrialism and the Birth of Modern Utopias](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_story_of_utopias_se/chapters/vi.md) - [I](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_story_of_utopias_se/chapters/i.md) - [II](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_story_of_utopias_se/chapters/ii.md) - [III](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_story_of_utopias_se/chapters/iii.md) - [IV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_story_of_utopias_se/chapters/iv.md) - [V](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_story_of_utopias_se/chapters/v.md) - [VI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_story_of_utopias_se/chapters/vi.md) - [How some utopians have thought that a good community rested at bottom on the right division and use of land; and what sort of communities these land-animals projected.](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_story_of_utopias_se/chapters/vii.md) - [I](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_story_of_utopias_se/chapters/i.md) - [II](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_story_of_utopias_se/chapters/ii.md) - [Freeland: The Individualist Utopia on a Social Foundation](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_story_of_utopias_se/chapters/iii.md) - [A Visit to Freeland](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_story_of_utopias_se/chapters/iv.md) - [V](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_story_of_utopias_se/chapters/v.md) - [VIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_story_of_utopias_se/chapters/viii.md) - [I](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_story_of_utopias_se/chapters/i.md) - [II](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_story_of_utopias_se/chapters/ii.md) - [III](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_story_of_utopias_se/chapters/iii.md) - [Looking Backward into the Future](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_story_of_utopias_se/chapters/iv.md) - [Bellamy's Industrial Army](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_story_of_utopias_se/chapters/v.md) - [VI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_story_of_utopias_se/chapters/vi.md) - [How William Morris and W. H. Hudson renew the classic tradition of utopias; and how, finally, Mr. H. G. Wells sums up and clarifies the utopias of the past, and brings them into contact with the world of the present.](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_story_of_utopias_se/chapters/ix.md) - [I](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_story_of_utopias_se/chapters/i.md) - [The Crystal Age: A Beehive Utopia](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_story_of_utopias_se/chapters/ii.md) - [III](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_story_of_utopias_se/chapters/iii.md) - [IV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_story_of_utopias_se/chapters/iv.md) - [V](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_story_of_utopias_se/chapters/v.md) - [VI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_story_of_utopias_se/chapters/vi.md) - [VII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_story_of_utopias_se/chapters/vii.md) - [The Country House and Coketown](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_story_of_utopias_se/chapters/x.md) - [I](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_story_of_utopias_se/chapters/i.md) - [II](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_story_of_utopias_se/chapters/ii.md) - [III](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_story_of_utopias_se/chapters/iii.md) - [IV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_story_of_utopias_se/chapters/iv.md) - [The Country House and Its Idolum](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_story_of_utopias_se/chapters/v.md) - [VI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_story_of_utopias_se/chapters/vi.md) - [VII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_story_of_utopias_se/chapters/vii.md) - [VIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_story_of_utopias_se/chapters/viii.md) - [IX](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_story_of_utopias_se/chapters/ix.md) - [The Social Myth of the National State](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_story_of_utopias_se/chapters/x.md) - [XI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_story_of_utopias_se/chapters/xi.md) - [XII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_story_of_utopias_se/chapters/xii.md) - [The Idolum of National Utopia and Megalopolis](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_story_of_utopias_se/chapters/xiii.md) - [XIV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_story_of_utopias_se/chapters/xiv.md) - [XV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_story_of_utopias_se/chapters/xv.md) - [How we reckon up accounts with the one-sided utopias of the partisans.](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_story_of_utopias_se/chapters/xi.md) - [I](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_story_of_utopias_se/chapters/i.md) - [II](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_story_of_utopias_se/chapters/ii.md) - [III](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_story_of_utopias_se/chapters/iii.md) - [IV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_story_of_utopias_se/chapters/iv.md) - [V](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_story_of_utopias_se/chapters/v.md) - [The Partisan Utopias and the Need for a New Foundation](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_story_of_utopias_se/chapters/vi.md) - [How the half-worlds go, and how eutopia may come; and what we need before we can build Jerusalem in any green and pleasant land.](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_story_of_utopias_se/chapters/xii.md) - [I](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_story_of_utopias_se/chapters/i.md) - [II](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_story_of_utopias_se/chapters/ii.md) - [III](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_story_of_utopias_se/chapters/iii.md) - [IV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_story_of_utopias_se/chapters/iv.md) - [V](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_story_of_utopias_se/chapters/v.md) - [VI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_story_of_utopias_se/chapters/vi.md) - [The Arts in the Modern Community](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_story_of_utopias_se/chapters/vii.md) - [VIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_story_of_utopias_se/chapters/viii.md) - [IX](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_story_of_utopias_se/chapters/ix.md) - [The Eutopian Challenge: From Idola to Action](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_story_of_utopias_se/chapters/x.md) - [XI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_story_of_utopias_se/chapters/xi.md) - [XII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_story_of_utopias_se/chapters/xii.md) - [Bibliography](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_story_of_utopias_se/chapters/bibliography.md) - [Utopias](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_story_of_utopias_se/chapters/utopias.md) HTML index: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_story_of_utopias_se/chapters