Crucible of the Millennium: The Burned-Over District of New York in the 1840s (A New York State Study Series)

xi, 194 pp. "During the nineteenth century apocalyptic and utopian fervor blazed across much of the northeastern United States, nowhere with greater intensity than in that part of upstate New York called the "Burned-over District." The Millerites, religiously inspired, believed that the Second Coming of Christ was imminent (it was confidently predicted for some time in 1843 or 1844), and they actively sought converts to their belief. Other groups--following the doctrines of Robert Owen, Mother Ann Lee, Charles Fourier, and John Humphrey Noyes--separated from society, which they perceived as imperfect and sinful, to establish new social patterns in utopian communities. "--rear wrapper