20 Years of Utne Reader

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A Census of the Global Village ? 1990
We've had tons of requests to reprint a back-page feature, originally taken from World Development Forum, that imagined the world as a village of 1,000 people. There would be 564 Asians and only 60 North Americans -- and no fewer than 600 people would live in shanty towns.

The Spirit of the Salon ? 1991
Utne issued an invitation: Why not restart salons, those open-form talkfests hosted by aristocratic French ladies and bohemian artist divas? The response bowled us over: 8,000-some requests for information about how to get together and talk. Utne inaugurated the Neighborhood Salon Association and eventually published a book about salon history and technique. Thirteen years later, many salons are still running, and many have changed people's lives by cementing friendships, changing minds -- even sparking marriages.

Is Psychotherapy Useless? ? 1992
We looked at the pros and cons of the burgeoning Science of Mind movement -- a therapy with New Age roots that says going to the shrink is pointless. You're unhappy simply because you think you are; you've bought in to erroneous perceptions that obscure your essential mental wellness. We included a screed by Jungian analyst James Hillman, who accused therapy of standing in the way of social change.

A Blueprint for Sustainable Business ? 1993
'Let Them Eat Rainforest Crunch' was an influential section whose highlight was Green businessman Paul Hawken's 'Declaration of Sustainability.' Among other things, Hawken called for a radical new tax scheme that would make renewable energy cheaper than industrial technology; he reminded us that corporations are chartered by governments and can be reined in by public action; and he insisted that human health should be considered in all business decisions.

Too Busy! ? 1994
We analyzed everybody's time crunch as a complex of factors: diminished leisure enforced by sped-up workplaces; our addiction to busyness as a way to prove ourselves worthy; busyness as a marketing opportunity (hucksters love to sell us images of peaceful leisure). Plus a defense of busyness by (of all people) a Buddhist teacher.

Utne Celebrates 100 Visionaries ? 1995
This cover section was the culmination of a long-term project: contacting 100 fresh and vital thinkers in many fields, from spirituality (Thich Nhat Hanh, Starhawk) to deep ecology (Wendell Berry), Afrocentrism (Molefi Kete Asante) to politics (Noam Chomsky, Winona LaDuke). Along the way we weighed in with cyberpioneer and Grateful Dead lyricist John Perry Barlow, poet Gary Snyder, playwright and performer Anna Deveare Smith, feminist historian and theorist Riane Eisler, and philanthropist Teresa Heinz (who was soon to become Teresa Heinz Kerry). We celebrated these visionaries in an evening at New York's Town Hall, during which performance-art stars Blue Man Group entertained and technoskeptic writer Kirkpatrick Sale smashed a computer onstage.

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