Arlo, Alice, and Anglicians: The Lives of a New England Church

This book is more than it seems to be. It appears at first to be a rather dry history of a New England church, like many others, and the first few chapters nearly lose the reader in distant church history. But wait, this isn't just any church; it's Alice's church. You know, from the song "Alice's Restaurant." Cut to the 1960s, and you have a fascinating story of the intersection of hippies, media, folk music, idealism and the brutal demands of real life. At the serene center of it all is Arlo, who had the naivete, charm and good fortune to dump trash where he shouldn't have and write a quirky song to tell the world about it. What happens when an obscure 18-minute song becomes a hit becomes a cultural phenomenon becomes a movie? Things implode, that's what. Relationships disintegrate as the very act of recording destroys the thing being recorded (like particle physics). Author Lee is clearly a church supporter, but she is also a fine reporter who has the sense to let the story tell itself. Just when things get a little too sentimental or weird, Lee brings it back to center. Only in the last few pages does she gush uncontrolably (or lets the quotes do so). In the end, the early history of the church makes sense in the light of its afterlife. At least as portrayed in the book, the whole thing fits into a grand gestalt. Alice's Church is now the Guthrie Center, supposedly named for Woody but really an extension of Arlo. It is devoted to charitable works that are vaguely defined and seem in danger of disgressing into Sixties-like anarchy. Only the charismatic force of Arlo seems to hold it all together.

I don't think I've ever seen a better piece of journalism.I didn't expect too much from this book. I bought it for the usual tourist reasons (we were in Stockbridge to hear Arlo sing in the church). Published by Berkshire House, it graces the "local shelves" tables of every local bookstore and gift shop.This book didn't actually need to be GOOD. It just needed to have some scraps of fan information about Arlo and some old pictures of the Church and Officer Obie and so forth...I cannot begin to describe how surprisingly satisfying this book is. It is really a first-rate job. It is so much more wide-ranging and thoughtful than might have been expected. And Laura Lee covers the exact range of topics I was interested in, with just the right balance. For example, about a quarter of the book is devoted to the "pre-Arlo" era. It's more than a lick-and-a-promise, interesting both in itself and as a jumping-off-point for musing on How Things Change. I never realized that the little fork-in-the-road Van Deusenville area of Housatonic was once a significant industrial town... At the same time, a quarter of the book is just about enough. I didn't want to wade through monograph on Great Barrington history, and after paying proper respect to the Bostwicks and the Van Deusens, we get to Ray and Alice Brock by page 65.The thing that makes this book so splendid is Lee's sympathetic attention and reporting of _mild_ differences in opinion. I'm not sure I've ever seen a better piece of journalism. You see events refracted through different peoples' eyes--NOT a big-deal Rashomon conflict, just, well, different people saw things a little differently.For example, Arlo's guru, Jaya Sati Bhagavati Ma, is seen through Arlo's eyes. She is also seen directly and with respect through Laura Lee's. However, Lee also reports the Berkshire Record's description of her as "a spiritual Ethel Merman wielding a Brooklyn persona" and Alice Brock's remark "Here is this dame, she's my age, she's from Brooklyn, she's Jewish, just like me, but she had this giant scam."Thoroughly satisfying, absolutely first rate.

I finished Laura Lee's lovingly crafted book over the Labor Day weekend, having enjoyed it immensely. It becomes obvious that Laura Lee has a special love for the Trinity Church (now the Guthrie Center) because the history of The Church is exhaustively recorded in the first half of her book. I think it's safe to say that if you need more information about the history of Christianity in colonial Western Massachusetts than what Laura provides, you're likely well out of the general audience this book aims at. I think Laura hit the highlights as it pertains to the Housatonic/Lee/Van Deusenville area, and the Trinity Church. The book springs forward in the second half to chronicle the uniquely strange and humorous events surrounding the Alice's Restaurant Massacree, the film "Alice's Restaurant" (itself a baffling blend of truth and fiction) and the subsequent history of the Church, having fallen out of the Brock's hands and ultimately into Arlo's. Lee closes the loop on all these wonderful events and brings us right into the modern era of the Guthrie Center, leaving the reader with an intimate feeling of hopefulness about the renewed Church and the lives surrounding it. I suggest reading the book, listening to the song, watching the film, visiting arlo.net, and visiting Great Barrington. These are all the pieces of the puzzle. Thank you, Laura, for providing such an informative, entertaining, and loving overview of the Church that was, the Church as it is, and the Church that will be.- J. Dock, Sept 2000

Ms. Lee has really captured the enduring spirit of a community and a time in this book. The history of a church in the Berkshires seems like an unlikely topic, but add the fact that the church is the same one from "Alice's Restaurant" and an element of interest is added. What was a nice surprise was how interesting the history of the church and its surrounding community really is. Ms. Lee has given a slice of American life through the church from its beginning to its famous showing in the saga of Arlo Guthrie in the '60's and now. I sincerely hope that this book will help others to see the importance of understanding of our history and will help the Guthrie Center.