An Uneasy Dwelling: The story of the Philadelphia Association community houses

I didn't expect to find An Uneasy Dwelling, an historical account of the Philadelphia Association's community houses, quite so gripping. Paul Gordon writes eloquently yet with an honesty that at times shocked me - our current culture is so dominated by people whose main aim is to sell their wares that writing like this is astonishingly rare. The book corrects some of the myths about Kingsley Hall - made famous by R.D. Laing and residents such as Mary Barnes - and describes in detail some of the subsequent PA community households which had support from less well-known house therapists such as Hugh Crawford, Robin Cooper and Paul Gordon himself. The philosophies behind the houses are beautifully explained and illustrated with moving descriptions of the experiences of house residents and therapists alike. For example, the importance of allowing people, and them having time, to `find their own way' - even going through psychotic breakdowns (`freak outs') without being drugged and with support exclusively from others in the shared house. The practicalities, such as how people join an established household, how they live together, the ways people spend their day, the regular house meetings between residents and house therapists, the management of crises, the wrangles with local authorities and neighbours, and the funding of the houses are described in a straight forward but often very moving way. In thinking about the complexities of communal living, what is a home, and how people find different ways of being in the world, the experience and wisdom of many PA members is drawn upon, which makes this an important book given that, post Laing, there has been a paucity of records and publications detailing the thoughts and practices of this organisation........ Dr Guy Holmes, reviewed on Amazon