The Road to Texas

The Road to Texas tells the forgotten history of Dallas and its early role as a French socialist utopia. Today, Dallas is a metropolitan city full of light, art, and culture, an identity that delineates from a rich, complicated history. Following the French Revolution, ripples of revolutionary sentiment rang through the world. Conversations regarding political upheaval ran rampant and socialist Fourierism was born. In 1855, one French scholar-Victor Considerant-inspired by the ideas Fourier, sought out to create his own socialist utopia. Considerant's location for his city upon a hill? Dallas. He led a legion of over two hundred European settlers to found his settlement, La Reunion. He built his utopian socialist community just thirty miles outside of Downtown Dallas, along the scenic Trinity river. Met with the harsh agrarian realities of Texas, the settlers--mostly middle-class musicians and intellectuals--floundered in the heat and La Reunion wilted. Considerant's dreams and descendants still permeate the Dallas soil, the city still a beacon of liberty, equality, and brotherhood. In this text, Considerant records his experiences in Texas. The Road to Texas consists of his journal entries, letters to friends back home, and sketches of his surroundings. Full of lush descriptions, ardent aspirations, and harsh lessons, his historical account makes for a riveting read.