Join us for a multimedia tour of the decadence and divinity of two New Jersey utopian communities founded in the 19th century: one for pleasure, the other for purity.

Edith Gonzalez presents two faces of the utopian mind of the 19th century: Ocean Grove, which remains to this day a “religious resort”, while Asbury Park, a secular pleasure zone, has faced more worldly ups and downs. Since their respective founding side by side on the NJ coast, these two communities have been engaged in a dynamic dialogue of morality.

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Edith Gonzalez is an historical anthropologist specializing in nineteenth-century systems of power, and a native New Yorker with a deep and abiding love for New Jersey.