The Sullivanians: Sex, Psychotherapy, and the Wild Life of an American Commune

Journalist Stille (Excellent Cadavers) takes an intimate and engrossing look at the Sullivan Institute, a radical polygamous therapy group that emerged in 1950s New York City and Amagansett, Long Island. Named for Harry Stack Sullivan, a mental health pioneer who challenged traditional family values, and founded in 1957 by married therapists—and avowed communists—Saul Newton and Jane Pearce, the institute aimed to “champion repressed desires” by encouraging patients to “experiment sexually, trust their impulses, and break free of family dependency relationships.” Celebrity followers included novelists Richard Elman and Richard Price, singer Judy Collins, and art critic Clement Greenberg, who recruited painters Jackson Pollock and James Olitski. In 1975, some members launched a political theater group, The Fourth Wall Repertory Company, that was eventually taken over by Newton and his fifth wife, actor Joan Harvey, and became a vehicle for reinforcing Newton’s “personality cult” and asserting his “autocratic” control over the community. Drawing on candid interviews with ex-members and their children, Stille documents how Newton and his wives seduced patients, promoted alcohol and promiscuity, and raised children communally. Eventually, a series of custody battles between defectors and members—coupled with Newton’s advancing dementia and violent behavior—led to the institute’s dissolution in 1991. Doggedly researched and thoroughly compassionate, this is a page-turning exposé. (June)