Robert Dale Owen (1801–77) was a social reformer and politician who emigrated to the United States in 1825. He was elected to the US House of Representatives in 1842, and appointed US Minister at Naples in 1853. He was the author of political pamphlets, as well as books inspired by spiritualism, such as Footfalls on the Boundary of Another World (1860; also reissued in this series). First published in 1874, this autobiography focuses on Owen's early life, beginning with the history of his family before his birth. As well as Owen's childhood in New Lanark, it documents the beginnings of the experimental community set up by Robert Owen, the author's father, in New Harmony, Indiana. Owen, who emigrated to the United States to help his father in this project, tells of his own experience of communal life, and sheds light on an early example of Utopian socialism.