From the ancient Greek symposia to Gertrude Stein's famous Paris gatherings, salons have always been the incubators of provocative-at times even dangerous-ideas: the frontiers of cultural change. People who might elsewhere have been socially ostracized were included in salons, welcomed for their wit, intelligence, charm, and insight. And passionate conversation often led to passionate action.

In 1991 Utne Reader launched a salon renaissance all over North America when it featured a cover story on salons. The response to the article was staggering, leading Utne to organize a National Salon Association that quickly drew over 20,000 members. Conceived and written by the folks at Utne, Salons is the quintessential authority on the subject, demonstrating that joining or starting your own salon is just a living room away.

Salons offers a fascinating history of the salon and supplies all the tools readers need to join or start a group of their own. Variations on the salon theme are explored, from studious book clubs and book circles to creativity salons, and finally online saloning. A closing chapter looks at salons as bedrocks for activism and institutions for keeping social consciousness alive for the long-haul.

Marketing:

Utne Reader will heavily promote Salons in their magazine and website
National print advertising
National publicity
Author events in Minnesota
Co-op available

Jaida n'ha Sandra is a long-time salon-keeper and on staff for two years with Utne Reader. She now teaches Anthropology at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. She lives in Honolulu, Hawaii. Jon Spayde is a Contributing Editor at Utne Reader and a freelance writer. He developed art-based salons in San Francisco and Minneapolis. He lives in St. Paul, Minnesota.

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Also available from Utne Reader

Visionaries

TP $17.95 0-86571-445-2 USA

This book is a a great "how to" book for anyone interested in starting their own salon. It gives advice on what to do and not to do when starting a salon. It tells how to solicit membership, how to pick topics, and how to keep the ball rolling during conversation. This book is indespensible for anyone wanting to learn more about salons. Most other books just give dry biographical information on the leaders of the salons without giving any details of the actual conversation. This book, however, is well-written and very informative. Now, if only I could get up the nerve to start one!

2 of 2 found the following review helpful:


conversation - a lost art  Jan 07, 2010 By John R. Selser
Conversation is a dying art, if not lost. This book offers a chance to revive conversation from the gallows. Easy to read and full of helpful information available almost no where else. I wish more people would read it and start conversation salons. It helped me start mine.