Glen W. Olson on Christopher M. Gleason’s *American Poly: A History*

American Poly: A History by Christopher M. Gleason was released in November 2023 by Oxford University Press. American Poly is an honest attempt to explain the cultural shift in relationship patterns we have seen in America, starting in the 1920s and continuing to today. He specifically concentrates on a portion of this change by tracing the development of non-monogamous relationships told through the actions of several prominent people in the polyamory communities.

In his acknowledgments, Gleason explains that he was drawn to the subject partially because of his intellectual journey to understand and think critically about religion.(i) This was very helpful for me to know because the rest of the book will turn out to be a deep and very informative dive into one side of the polyamory movement, about people inspired by religious or spiritual belief systems, to the detriment of other philosophical underpinnings of the movement like the kind that came from the Human Potential Movement.

The fact that he concentrates so heavily on the spiritual side of the cultural change that polyamory has become means that the only way we see some of the changes happening during the formative years of the 1970s to the early 2000s is through limited, almost momentary, mention of organizations and people who peripherally interact with the main persons in this book.(ii)

American Poly’s introduction begins in the year 2017 with an event that could only happen after the massive shift in cultural values that Gleason will explore in the rest of the book. A baby girl is born with three proud parents, all of them male. The parents go to court to get the right to have all three of their names on the birth certificate- and succeed! The rest of the introduction is a step back in time, with quick explanations of America’s historical relationship with monogamy and marriage, Gleason’s assessment of the struggle between religious monogamy and the American spirit of religious experimentation, a quick primer on what polyamory is, and how media exposure over time has allowed more and more people know about the existence of these relationship options.

The book’s six chapters are labeled Paganisms, Communes, Collaborations, Partnerships Technologies, and Polyamories. This might lead one to assume that these themes are the major thrust of each chapter and there is some of that, but in fact, the book will follow a few people throughout their lives and is structured chronologically.

Chapter One: Paganisms, begins with a narration of the sexual revolution of the 1960s, fueled by idealism, eastern mysticism, and the counterculture’s desire to tear down their parents’ sexual mores. We meet Tim Zell in 1961 and follow the life of this extraordinary young man from his college days of student activism to the formation of his life philosophies that will allow him to help develop and create the American Pagan and Neo-Pagan movements. In 1968 he founds the Church of All Worlds and registers it as a formal religion. Throughout the 1970s the church gains adherents and Tim Zell, who will eventually take the name Oberon Zell-Ravenheart, gathers many wonderful people around him and lives an exemplary life that is distinctly ethically non-monogamous.

Gleason next assures us that the spiritual communes of the 60s were essential to the development of philosophies that would eventually lead to the successful development of polyamory.(iii) Then he begins a deep and meticulous study of one of these communes, the urban group Kerista, which existed for most of its time in San Franciso. After learning many details of the lives and philosophies of the Keristans we are left with the understanding that having a charismatic leader is a two-edged sword and may ultimately not be the best thing for your commune. Perhaps the most important things Kerista produced were the term compersion, the concept of polyfidelity, and their influence on the next important person Gleason introduces us to, Ryam Nearing.

We are now up to the 1980s and the narrative has shifted to two women who will have a profound effect on modern polyamory. This is still the era of social groups mailing newsletters out to the membership. Ryam Nearing and her two husbands put out a newsletter, and Deborah Anapol, working in parallel is putting out her newsletter. Both women are writing books about ethical non-monogamy, A chance meeting on a national TV show makes them aware of each other. They collaborate and Loving More, a national magazine of polyamory is born. Loving More begins hosting national conventions, and Oberon Zell and his poly family re-enter the narrative. We follow them all into the modern era.

Throughout the book Gleason offers an analysis of the issues he perceives the greater society, and specifically the Religious Right, have with people who follow, or promote, alternative lifestyles.(iv) He concludes with a broad review of the state of polyamory in America today, the number of people who may be practicing it, and its acceptance in media posts, movies, and TV shows.

American Poly is meticulously researched and well written. I particularly liked the organization of the notes section, which is organized in chapters, with group headers giving the page that a particular note is from.

End Notes:

(i) Christopher Gleason, American Poly: A History (New York, NY: Oxford University Press 2024) X.

(ii) Gleason, 80-81.

(iii) Gleason, 48.

(iv) Gleason, 184-85.