Albert Brisbane

In 1832, during his 6 year "educational sojourn through Europe," Brisbane found one of Charles Fourier's self-published books. "Brisbane had already met Goethe, Felix Mendelssohn, Franz Liszt, and Heinrich Heine, but it was the obscure Frenchman who transformed his thinking and gave the American his life's work." :2351

Brisbane spent the next two years with the "ailing, nearly destitute Fourier," learning all he could of his theories. Returning to New York with the "sole thought to transmit the thought of Charles Fourier to my countrymen." :2351

Brisbane wrote Social Destiny of Man; or, Association and Reorganization of Industry, which was the first American translation of Fourier, and the first "extrapolation of how those theories might be brought to life in the New World." :2351It was this work that brought him to the attention of Horace Greeley, editor of the popular New-York Tribune, who offered a front page column to Brisbane to spread the Fourierist message. It was somewhat of a sensation and "dramatically increased the Tribune's readership." :2351