Country Lesbians: The Story of the Womanshare Collective [first edition]

Grants Pass, OR: WomanShare Books, 1976. In illustrated wraps. 196 pp. Illustrated throughout. Very good; contemporary ownership inscription to inside front cover and flypaper, and light edgewear. Item #10314

The rare first edition of Country Lesbians, the book published by members of WomanShare about their experiences building, operating, and living in a lesbian separatist commune is southern Oregon.

Illustrated throughout with photographs of life on the commune and line drawings by the communards, the book provides a detailed account of the first two years of Womanshare, established in 1974 and built upon 23 acres of wooded private land. The space now includes six women-built cabins, with one reserved for visitors, and a main house.

WomanShare owned the land collectively and engaged in an anti-capitalist, anti-patriarchal praxis, eschewing traditional gender roles as they practiced subsistence agriculture, made consensus-based decisions, and rejected monogamy. A superb firsthand account of the struggles and successes of mid-1970s lesbian separatist communal life and ecological practice.

Sold